Clint Eastwood Turned Down One Of The Biggest Superhero Roles In Hollywood History

Superhero movies have been compared to Westerns as a type of genre film that Hollywood went all in on making but which will eventually peter out. It's not just cinephiles who've said this, either; even Steven Spielberg made this comparison in 2015. Clint Eastwood became a star thanks to Westerns in the 1960s at the tail end of the genre's dominance. But even though he's still around as superheroes have filled in cowboys' places on the silver screen, Eastwood has yet to appear in any superhero movies.

Not that he hasn't received, and declined, offers for comic book movies. Eastwood turned down the lead role in 1990's "Dick Tracy," supposedly because he couldn't see himself in the part when he'd also played Dirty Harry. About a decade earlier, Eastwood similarly turned down the chance to portray Superman. History tells us that 1978's "Superman" was the first modern superhero movie, but Eastwood didn't think it was right for him.

Speaking with the Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex in 2010, Eastwood recalled that Warner Bros. then-President Frank Wells reached out to him about playing Superman:

"This was when they first started to think about making it. I was like, 'Superman? Nah, nah, that's not for me.' Not that there's anything wrong with it. It's for somebody, but not me. [...] I always liked characters that were more grounded in reality. Maybe they do super things or more-than-human things — like Dirty Harry, he has a knack for doing crazy things, or the Western guys — but, still, they're not caped crusaders."

Notably, Eastwood's screen persona is built on stoic masculinity. He plays sometimes-brutal men of action who're willing to shoot first. Superman calls for more warmth — a smile, rather than Clint's trademark squint — plus someone who can play the befuddled Clark Kent as well.

It's now difficult to picture anyone else but Christopher Reeve playing Superman, so much so that every Superman actor since has worked within Reeve's shadow. But Reeve had some stiff competition for the role while "Superman" was in development. Him being a comparative unknown actually worked to his advantage. 

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2016, "Superman" director Richard Donner said audiences needed to see Superman, "a man who flies," first. Casting a known actor like Robert Redford would break that illusion, Donner claimed, and Clint Eastwood as Superman would have the same problem.

Besides, Eastwood is more of a Batman. The Dark Knight is the only A-List superhero who comes close to being "grounded in reality" as Eastwood prefers, and the grizzled attitude of Dirty Harry or the Man with No Name fits Batman much better than Superman. 

Part of that is recursive influence. Frank Miller's 1986 comic "The Dark Knight Returns" portrayed Batman much like Dirty Harry. Speaking with The Comics Journal in 1985, Miller explained:

"I think Clint Eastwood is more in touch with what we should do with superheroes than virtually anybody in comics. Dirty Harry is clearly larger than life; his behavior would certainly land him in jail. But that's irrelevant, what is relevant is that, through all his hostility, and despite his dirty language, Harry is a profoundly, consistently moral force, administering the 'Wrath of God' on murderers who society treats as victims."

"Dark Knight Returns" has influenced practically every Batman story told since, aligning the popular image of Batman with Eastwood. Unsurprisingly, when there were discussions of a "Batman Beyond" movie in the 2000s, Eastwood was floated to play an older, retired Bruce Wayne. But like Eastwood as Superman, that didn't pan out.