A year and a half ago, there were lots of rumors floating around about the Zack Snyder reboot of Superman, Man of Steel. Lists were made, candidates were discussed and dissected by fanboys and fangirls alike. The list seemed to come down to Henry Cavill, Jon Hamm (??), Matt Bomer and Joe Manganiello. Lots of people thought Big Joe had it in the bag – that the modern Superman was going to be a hairy, caveman-esque beefcake, grunting his lines. Considering Superman is pretty dull on a good day, I was fine with the idea of Joe in the role. Unfortunately for him, the role ended up going to Henry Cavill.

I never really heard that much from Joe about losing the role to Cavill… until now. Joe sat down for an interview with Ain’t It Cool News – the piece was supposed to be promoting Magic Mike, but they ended up discussing Superman and comic book movies for a while. You can read the whole piece here. While I understand what Joe is saying IN CONTEXT and I like that he’s being so honest about how much he wanted the part, I also think he’s being incredibly rude about Cavill’s casting, making it sound like Cavill only got the part because he (Joe) had a commitment to True Blood. That’s not all, though. Joe also really wants to play Batman. For real.

Joe on auditioning for the Superman reboot, Man of Steel: “Well, I mean, the thing about Superman was it… I mean, I know the right one is out there for me… there wasn’t anything I could do with Superman. There was interest from every single possible angle on that project, and the reason they were interested was because of TRUE BLOOD. From the director, to casting, to the producers involved, it was all because of TRUE BLOOD, that was why I was in the running. And at the end of the day, it was TRUE BLOOD’s schedule that kept me from doing it. There’s just no human way possible I could be in two places at once when I’m contracted to be on TRUE BLOOD. So it’s the thing that brought me… got me the notice is also the thing that… But with that said, you know, it’s not really a bridesmaids situation, because I play a superhero on TV.”

Joe on the hopes of being called in to audition for an eventual Batman reboot: “From your mouth to God’s ears, man. I mean of course, I grew up, as a kid, I read comic books, and I watched every single comic book movie that ever… You know, I was a big sci-fi fan, I was just that kid. I’m a fanboy at heart. So, yeah, that is on my radar, and I think in the back of my mind, even going getting classical theatre training to the way that I work out at the gym, all of it in the back of my mind has been to build this thing, this career in order to play… To play a superhero the way I would have liked to see it as a kid. And I think that was the really disappointing thing about the Superman situation was that I think that I know comic books really well, and I had a really fresh take on the character and I really think I… I was excited to share a take on where to take him and give him a little more edge.

Joe on Marvel versus DC characters: “The Marvel characters are really human, and I think that they get hurt, and they fall in love and there’s a whole side of that, to those Marvel characters, that I grew up with, to those X-Men characters. I think that’s what resonates. I was interested in taking that approach… There’s a series of comics called Supreme Power where they deconstruct the DC characters and I was looking at those thinking, “That’s the take.” There’s this baby that falls to Earth in a meteor, and why fight for America? Why fight for anything? Why choose them, and not them? How do you save this person’s life knowing that one dies if you save them? How do you make those choices? Feeling alone, being an alien. You know, there’s a whole side of that that I was interested in the human aspect of this alien living on the planet. That’s what really hooked me about the character and, you know, I had a long talk with Zack Snyder about it, and I was really excited. I got really excited about it. But at the end of the day, that wasn’t mine… That just wasn’t meant to be. You know Alcide is where my energy is right now as far as superheroes go. That’s where my energy is being channeled, and past that, I know there will be a superhero for me, I’m just not sure what it is. We’ll figure that out when it comes out… But Batman? Come on, man. Yeah. Okay. We’ll cross that bridge if and when it comes up.”

[Via Ain’t It Cool News]

See? I’m going back and forth on it in my mind. I think he’s showing some vulnerability (however unintentional) by discussing how emotionally involved he was when he thought he was going to get to play Superman, and how that casting choice is still a sore subject. And maybe his version is the truth – maybe Snyder really, really wanted him and they just couldn’t work out the schedule with True Blood. But even if all of that is true, it’s still a bitchy thing to say in an interview, and Joe has just publicly undercut Henry Cavill and now everyone thinks Cavill was the second choice. As for Batman… ugh. I really hope they don’t reboot that, like, next year. I like Batman as a character, but there should be a “rest” period between franchises. CoughSpidermancough.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.