By The reaction to Robert Pattinson's unveiling as the next Batman was pretty telling. The people who make a habit of watching films with fewer than three characters wearing spandex buzzed off it. The comic book ultras who still habitually use Twilight as a mic-drop answer in Cards Against Humanity did not.
Pattinson himself is resolutely not arsed about the latter group's reaction, though.
"To be honest, it was less vitriolic than I was expecting," he told Variety. "It's much more fun when you're an underdog. There's no expectation of you."
He did think the whole thing might turn to dust before he'd had a chance to actually don the cape and cowl when an eleventh-hour leak made him think that he might be summarily dropped by the studio.
"When that thing leaked, I was f***ing furious," he said. "Everyone was so upset. Everyone was panicking from my team. I sort of thought that had blown up the whole thing."
It hurt all the more because Pattinson has been a Batman fan since he was a tiny vigilante cleaning up the mean streets of Barnes in west London.
"When I was a kid, it was the only outfit that I had," Pattinson said, which must have caused problems. However, for some reason he was extremely coy about where he actually wore it.
"If I actually said it in an interview, I would definitely have a lot of abuse afterwards," he said. "If I successfully play the character, I can say it at the end."
Where could he possibly have worn it that's so embarrassing? To his Year 11 prom? To the darts with the bloody lads? While climbing a railway bridge in a Fathers4Justice protest? Until we get confirmation one way or another we're going to have to assume the worst.
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