Robert Pattinson says that the Batman hate was less than his 'usual' hate

There have been a lot of actors to don the winged black cape of Batman over the years -- from the iconic caped crusaders Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, and George Clooney, to the more recent outings by Ben Affleck and Christian Bale. With every iteration, it's safe to say fans are very protective of their dark knight and VERY willing to voice their ~concerns~ about casting choices.

So when it was announced that Twilight heartthrob, Robert Pattinson, had won the role for the latest installment, The Batman, there was a wee bit of backlash -- something that RPatz says actually wasn’t so bad.

“I was actually mocked less than I usually am,” he laughed in a new interview with The LA Times. “I was quite shocked. ‘Only 70% negative? A-plus!’”

First of all, who is mocking RPatz and do we need to set them straight? Because he’s a highly-regarded actor who has taken his teen heartthrob status three times around the dancefloor with low-key arthouse roles in films like The Lighthouse, Cosmopolis, and Good Time.

“Even like five years ago, I was the last person I would think would be cast as Batman,” he admits in the Q&A. “I’m never normally in consideration for superhero parts at all. Usually [in those roles] you’re either a total unknown or someone who just, I don’t know, seems more obvious.”

He continued, “I don’t understand what it was about Batman, but I got really fixated on it and kept pushing my agent about it [ …] it just felt very different and kind of dangerous. It felt like a big, big mountain to climb.”

RPatz’s varied career beyond the Twilight series has proven that he approaches roles differently, and as he tells The LA Times, that’s exactly how he approached the cannonic Bruce Wayne. In fact, he approached the role literally like a rockstar.

“In our first meeting, [director Matt Reeves] mentioned Kurt Cobain was one of the linchpins of the character,” he explains. “Just that put something in my head. There’s something about this kind of self-imposed torment that I always found really interesting and also inheriting a life that you’re not entirely sure you want but also feel like you cannot give up at all.”

Taking a unique approach to the iconic characters of Gotham City is something Pattinson's co-star Zoe Kravitz says was also key to her performance. Earlier this week, Kravtiz, who plays Catwoman/Selina Kyle in The Batman, revealed that she purposefully portrayed her character as bisexual, something that hasn’t been seen in the DC cinematic universe yet (though is true in the comics). 

As for how The Batman will be received by long-time fans of the franchise, that is something Robert says he takes very seriously, because there are high expectations for a character everybody already knows.

“Every movie is a complete gamble, every single time. But it’s an entirely different thing when no one cares or knows what you’re doing and you need to drum up interest,” he says. “When people are expecting something, there’s definitely some trepidation. It feels like you’re going into the ring. You’re going into the Colosseum.”

BEFORE YOU GO: 'Batman' cast highlight some of the 'radical' changes in the latest film