Liam Neeson Nearly Brought His Batman Villain To TV Against A Different Superhero

Though “The Dark Knight” is obviously the more successful of the Christopher Nolan movies, and one of the 100 best movies of all time according by our standardssome believe it’s not the best Batman movie Nolan made. That honor could go to “Batman Begins,” a movie that feels more like a comic book movie than a James Bond story, a movie with fantastic production design that doesn’t just look like New York City or Chicago. Instead, the film introduces Kowloon-inspired slum district of the Narrows that has become a big part of Batman mythos. “Batman Begins” also has one of the best Bat-suits in film and some incredible visuals in its recreations of all-time great scenes from Frank Miller’s “Batman: Year One.”

All right, we’ll concede that Ra’s al Ghul is not nearly as memorable a villain as Heath Ledger’s Joker, but Liam Neeson’s immortal antagonist is still menacing, with thrilling frozen lake fighting skills. Neeson’s performance was so good, in fact, that he nearly reprised the role in an entirely different DC title: The CW’s “Arrow.”

Former president of The CW, Mark Pedowitz, once told Buzzfeed that the producers of “Arrow” reached out to Neeson before season 3 of the show to see if he would reprise the role of Ra’s al Ghul. “We never thought he would,” Pedowitz said. “We quickly went to him, just on the off-chance that he had the time to do it.” Unfortunately, the Oscar-winning actor passed due to scheduling conflicts, and Matt Nable ended up playing the part.

Whether or not Neeson would have said yes to appearing in “Arrow” had his schedule allowed it, it’s safe to say he dodged a bullet by not being a part of the show in its third season. Indeed, season 3 of “Arrow” was not a good year for the show. It wasn’t its worst season, but it was far from the good ones. This is the season the show crossed the line in terms of its tone, which had always been dark and gloomy, and it went to new levels of bleak. Between the murder of Sara Lance and Thea Queen almost getting killed by Ra’s al Ghul, it was too grim of a season with little to be had in terms of fun.

Furthermore, season 3 is when the use of flashbacks, very much inspired by “Lost,” ran out of steam, complete with a nonsensical explanation for Oliver Queen’s five-year absence, and “Arrow” hit a low point in the show’s logic.

Neeson was a good Ra’s al Ghul, despite the misguided casting of a white Irish actor in the role of a North African character. There was a rage in the performance that made you consider that maybe Ra’s is right and Gotham should burn, all while still capturing the calm, smart Moriarty-like demeanor of the character in his interactions with Bruce. It would have been fun to see him reprise that role again, and even more fun to hear Stephen Amell shouting “Ra’s al Ghul, you have failed this city!” But perhaps it’s for the best that we avoided this particular multiversal headscratcher.