Joaquin Phoenix was top choice to play Batman in early reboot, claims Darren Aronofsky

Joker was nearly the Caped Crusader.

Two months after Joaquin Phoenix’s Academy Award triumph for his twisted portrayal of supervillain Arthur Fleck in “Joker,” film director Darren Aronofsky claims he wanted the actor to play Batman in an early 2000s reboot.

But Warner Bros. bigwigs had a more...