Jamie Campbell Bower, most recently known for his role as the villain in “Stranger Things” season 4, has expressed a desire to play Batman’s villain, the Scarecrow, to the world of Gotham City pay tribute. Those who caught up with Stranger Things and are familiar with Batman’s rogues gallery may be excited about his choice.
Playing Vecna in Stranger Things isn’t the first time Campbell Bower has taken on a creepy role, revealing the kind of roles the actor is drawn to. Ball’s next big outing could be a Batman villain, at least if he has anything to say about it, and his stellar performance in Stranger Things will certainly assist other similar characters.
In an interview on the Geek House Show at Comfest 2023, Bower was first asked if the Dr. Manhattan transformation scene in Zack Snyder’s Watchmen was in any way inspired by Vecna’s transformation scene in Stranger Things. The actor wasn’t sure, but did say he was inspired by 80’s horror flick. The interview then mentioned James Gunn’s DCU roster, and Bower was asked what role he would play in the DCU if asked. Ball said that “there’s been a lot of talk about scarecrows lately” and that he “wanted to do that” and that “it would be fun,” adding that “something wacky and scary like that would be awesome.”
After all, Bower says he’s related to Weckner in “Stranger Things,” revealing his ability to extract relevant content from any performance, thereby captivating viewers even more. At the end of the video, the interviewer looks at the camera and says, “James Gunn, if you see this,” Ball holds up a peace sign. The “chat” Ball mentioned about the Scarecrow character was presumably about the upcoming Batman The Brave and the Bold, which will star The New Batman, Damian Wayne, and the Bat-Family. However, it could also be related to Batman Part 2, with production set to begin in November and casting news to follow.
Bower, 34, is the right age for any of Jonathan Klein’s adaptations, as it’s undeniably the same age as Cillian Murphy’s performance in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. In contrast, he has the charisma and acting ability to play Scarecrow and offers a very different interpretation. Hopefully the creatives behind the next Batman movie with a scarecrow will use the horror genre’s strengths to engage audiences psychologically, and may have taken some inspiration from the hallucinatory sequence in Spider-Man : Far From Home, which describes the How it portrays the nightmares that haunt scarecrow victims.
Seasons 1-4 of Stranger Things are now available on Netflix.