Jonah Hill Will Not Play The Batman Movie Villain

While casting news for Matt Reeves’ The Batman project has been arriving at a steady clip--Zoe Kravitz was just confirmed as Selina Kyle--the movie will be looking elsewhere for whoever Jonah Hill was in negotiations to play, Variety has reported.

News of Hill's potential involvement came several weeks ago amidst a slew of announcements, including Westworld's Jeffrey Wright entering talks to join the ensemble as Commissioner Jim Gordon. Though the role Hill was set to play was largely unconfirmed, many speculated he would be a likely candidate for Eddie "The Riddler" Nygma or Oswald "The Penguin" Cobblepot, two of Batman's most famous and most notorious villains. Both would have fit well into Reeves’ planned "detective-focused" story, with Riddler specifically geared toward challenging Batman's deductive skills with, you know, riddles.

Unfortunately, with Hill officially passing on the project for reasons unknown, it seems Reeves will have to continue the search for rogues. Of course, this doesn't mean Nygma and Cobblepot are out of the running entirely, but other likely candidates have yet to enter the fray.

The biggest piece of confirmed casting news so far include Bruce Wayne himself, who will be played by Robert Pattinson. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Pattinson said, "I love the director, Matt Reeves, and it's a dope character. He added, "His morality is a little bit off. He's not the golden boy, unlike almost every other comic-book character. There is a simplicity to his worldview, but where it sits is strange, which allows you to have more scope with the character."

The Batman releases in theaters on June 25, 2021.