5 Times Fans LOST IT Over Casting News... And Then Had To Eat Every Word

Michael Keaton As Batman Made Warner Bros Get 50,000 ANGRY LETTERS

When Tim Burton picked his 'Beetlejuice' star for the Dark Knight in 1988, comic fans absolutely revolted — this was pre-internet outrage, so they did it the old-fashioned way: by mail. Producer Mark Canton later marveled that the backlash was so huge it landed on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, questioning why on earth a comedy guy was playing Batman. Of course, Keaton's broody, obsessive Bruce Wayne became so beloved that decades later fans were begging for his comeback in 'The Flash.'

Daniel Craig's Bond Casting Got Its Own Hate Website (Seriously)

In 2005, fans were so mad about a blond, 5'10" Bond replacing Pierce Brosnan that they built entire sites like craignotbond.com and danielcraigisnotbond.com just to complain about his hair and height. There was even a real call for a boycott of his debut, 'Casino Royale.' Instead, that film outgrossed all three of Brosnan's previous outings and turned Craig into what many now call the definitive 007.

Heath Ledger As The Joker Was Called 'The Worst Casting Decision Ever Made'

Back in 2006, forum comments trashed the rom-com star for having 'the charisma of a lettuce leaf' and insisted Christopher Nolan had lost his mind. Jonathan Nolan, who co-wrote 'The Dark Knight,' later admitted even the studio was baffled, recalling that the whole team got 'pilloried' online. Ledger's performance ended up earning a posthumous Oscar and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest villain performances ever put on film.

Marvel's Own Board Thought Robert Downey Jr. Was Too Risky For Iron Man

Long before he was untouchable, RDJ's history of arrests and rehab stints made him such a liability that former Marvel Studios president David Maisel said his board 'thought I was crazy to put the future of the company in the hands of an addict.' Director Jon Favreau had to fight studio resistance repeatedly just to get him a screen test. That gamble didn't just work — Christopher Nolan later called casting Downey as Stark 'one of the most consequential casting decisions that's ever been made in the history of the movie business.'

Ben Affleck's Batman Casting Sparked Over 30 Petitions In A Single Day

When Warner Bros announced 'Batfleck' in 2013, Variety reported more than 30 separate Change.org petitions demanding he be removed sprang up within 24 hours, and one alone gathered nearly 100,000 signatures. Affleck later admitted on Howard Stern that the reaction genuinely hurt him. Fast forward to the 2021 release of 'Zack Snyder's Justice League,' and #ThanksBatfleck was trending as fans celebrated the very performance they once tried to cancel.