Mahershala Ali is set to join the MCU in a big way in a few years’ time as he’ll be playing the title role in a Blade reboot. However, the Oscar-winning actor might just join the DC universe first as we’re hearing he’s being eyed for a major part in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, opposite Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight.
Aside from Pattinson, casting for the rest of the population of Gotham is still in its early stages, so we’ve been told that Ali hasn’t been contacted yet but Warner Bros. is apparently keen to get him on board. We can’t be sure exactly which role he’s being eyed for, but our source tells us that one option they’ve heard is that Ali might end up as Jim Gordon. Though at this point, they can’t say for certain.
Still, just as Pattinson is replacing Ben Affleck, and the whole film will cut ties with established DCEU canon, we were expecting Reeves to replace J.K. Simmons as Gordon for The Batman as well. Ali’s age – he’s currently 45 – would also fit with the fact that the movie will explore Bruce Wayne’s early days. In fact, he’s about the same age Gary Oldman was when he played the character in Batman Begins, which obviously did the same.
Just because we’re hearing he’s being sought after though doesn’t mean it’s going to happen for sure, but it may tell us that WB is planning to have Gordon be a person of color in The Batman, or at least is open to the idea. By extension, this could mean that Barbara Gordon might be African-American in the upcoming Batgirl movie, as the heroine’s typically Gordon’s biological daughter. Chalk that up as speculation for now, but we’ll let you know once we get more concrete updates on who Ali may be in the running for in The Batman.
