But Warner Bros. did nix some of his more sweeping notions for Justice League, like adding a romance between Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne and Amy Adams’s Lois Lane, who was mourning Superman’s death in the previous film. “The intention was that Bruce fell in love with Lois and then realized that the only way to save the world was to bring Superman back to life,” says Snyder. “So he had this insane conflict, because Lois, of course, was still in love with Superman. We had this beautiful speech where [Bruce] said to Alfred: ‘I never had a life outside the cave. I never imagined a world for me beyond this. But this woman makes me think that if I can get this group of gods together, then my job is done. I can quit. I can stop.’ And of course that doesn’t work out for him.”

It didn’t work out for Snyder either. The studio said no.

Robin Williams is a capital "N" Nerd. He loves videogames, he loves anime, and he loves comic books. His favorite spot in New York City is the comic shop I used to work in, Forbidden Planet. Seriously. Look it up. One of the biggest and most exciting cities on the planet, and he's asking me if he can go upstairs and look at manga statues. Epic nerd, this man is. And an absolute delight.

And he loves Batman! So, you'd think, since Robin Williams is one of the biggest stars of the last 40 years or so, he'd have no problem being in a Batman movie at least once. But it's never happened, and it ain't for a lack of trying.

So let's run down his many attempts to be in a Batman movie (that we know of).

• In 1989, Tim Burton wants Jack Nicholson for the Joker in his Batman movie, but Jack's not sure about it. Who does Burton looks toward? Robin Williams, who would be a great Joker. But you know what happens when a girl starts courting another fella, don't you? The original dude gets jealous. And, lo and behold, no sooner did Williams' name appear than BOOM, suddenly Nicholson is on board. Sorry, Robin.

• In 1995, after years of Williams refusing to do Warner Bros. movies because of the Joker snub, suddenly it's looking like Robin might be the Riddler in Batman Forever. Until, that is, both Tim Burton and Michael Keaton walk. Enter THE DEVIL Joel Schumacher, who, sadly, already has a Riddler -- Jim Carrey.

• Big leap forward to 2008, and director Chris Nolan is bringing Joker to his take on the Batman mythos. You know Robin Williams wants a piece of that. In fact, he even publicly stated as much, saying, "Well, you want to do a different Joker. You know, if they do Arkham Asylum, it would be amazing. Arkham Asylum is one of the greatest, nastiest comic books ever. It’s truly, it’s like the Marquis de Sade on that level, and wonderfully damaged and quite tragic, in terms of when you realize [what happened to] create these characters." But, as we know, Nolan had a different plan in mind for The Dark Knight and, along with it, a desire to work with Heath Ledger.

• By 2012, Williams would have said yes to anything Nolan wanted in The Dark Knight Rises, even going so far as to say, "Chris, call me, I’ll do anything. I could be a great character — or some weird little man in the background in Arkham Asylum." We're gonna call Williams' exclusion from that movie a bullet dodged.