The Batman franchise remains a cornerstone for Warner Bros. and now DC Studios, as it moves under its control. At the moment, the Batman film series is at a bit of a crossroads with Matt Reeves set to film The Batman — Part II next spring, and with DC Studios developing a separate project titled The Brave and the Bold, which will take place in the new DCU and introduce Damian Wayne. Batman is one of the few comic book characters who has been able to endure for a long time, much like the character himself. The character found success in the ’60s with the Adam West-led series, and was later reinvented with Tim Burton’s darker take on the character in the ’90s.
There was also a brief time when Joel Schumacher found success with the Dark Knight, as Batman Forever produced stronger box office results than Batman Returns. However, the success of the Schumacher era was short-lived, as evidenced by the failure of Batman & Robin two years later. Batman & Robin is still widely regarded as the franchise’s low point, having received poor reviews while failing at the box office. In hindsight, Batman & Robin’s failure ultimately proved to be the best thing for the franchise, paving the way for a better future by teaching Warner Bros. a valuable lesson.
Christopher Nolan Was Able To Successfully Reboot Batman
After Batman & Robin crashed and burned at the box office, it took years for Warner Bros. to get another film off the ground. Filmmakers like Darren Aronofsky developed a Batman: Year One film that drastically changed Bruce Wayne’s backstory.
At the same time, a direct sequel to Batman & Robin was also developed for a brief amount of time. Warner Bros. also toyed with the idea of making a Batman Beyond film, with Boaz Yakin set to direct. Eventually, Christopher Nolan was able to bring a Batman reboot to the big screen, and it transcended the character for a new generation and recaptured older viewers who grew up with Batman.
“It was the right moment in time for the telling of the story I wanted to do. The origin story for Batman had never been addressed in film or fully in the comics. There wasn’t a particular or exact thing we had to follow. There was a gap in movie history. Superman had a very definitive telling with Christopher Reeve and Richard Donner. The version of that with Batman had never been told. We were looking at this telling of an extraordinary figure in an ordinary world. The other advantage we had was back then you could take more time between sequels. When we did ‘Batman Begins,’ we didn’t know we’d do one and it took three years to do it and then four years before the next one. We had the luxury of time. It didn’t feel like a machine, an engine of commerce for the studio. As the genre becomes so successful, those pressures become greater and greater. It was the right time.” — Christopher Nolan reflecting on The Dark Knight Trilogy’s success.
Nolan’s Batman Begins treated the comic book character seriously, like Richard Donner did with Superman, and explored his psychology, motivation and functionality in a relatable setting. While many viewed Burton’s Batman films as dark for their time, Nolan went further and finally laid out a complete origin story for the Caped Crusader on the big screen.
Batman Begins remains the blueprint for any superhero franchise reboot covering the origin story, since it was a financial and critical success. Batman Begins also led to two more films from Nolan and took the franchise to a billion. Nolan’s time with Batman marked a drastic 180-degree turn from where Batman & Robin left things by creating more than the traditional blockbuster fare.
The Batman Franchise Became More Serious
Robert Pattinson stars as Batman in The BatmanCredit: Image via Warner Bros.
Following the success of The Dark Knight Trilogy, Warner Bros. continued the dark take of Batman with the DC Extended Universe. Zack Snyder became the next filmmaker to reboot the Caped Crusader with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Snyder’s take on Batman went even darker than Nolan’s, with a heavy influence from The Dark Knight Returns, and also made some controversial creative decisions regarding the character by letting him kill. While audiences still responded to Snyder’s darker take on Batman in a positive way, and many were eager to see a solo film starring Ben Affleck, it never became a reality in the DCEU.
Instead, Warner Bros. moved forward with another reboot of Batman, with Reeves continuing the darker direction that viewers resonated more with. While the DCEU films featuring Batman led to mixed results, Reeves got the franchise back on track with The Batman in 2022. Like Nolan, Reeves drew inspiration from iconic Batman titles such as The Long Halloween and Year One to capture the gritty essence of Gotham City’s streets.
With The Batman, Reeves set the stage for another epic trilogy, with spin-offs like The Penguin also feeding into its success early on. The last three reboots of Batman have shown how well the character works with darker and more serious stories. The best Batman comic book stories reflect this, and that’s now been translated to the big screen. If it weren’t for Batman & Robin, these strong portrayals of Batman might have never become a reality.
James Gunn Will Continue the Batman Trend in the DCU
The vision for Reeves’ take on Batman is clear, but DC Studios also plans to release another reboot to fit in with the new DCU. With Gunn in charge of the shared universe, and based on his past work, many assumed the filmmaker would introduce a lighter version of the character more in line with the Schumacher films.
While there’s still a lot of mystery surrounding The Brave and the Bold, including who’s writing the film, Gunn made it known over the summer that the DCU will not pursue a campy Batman.
“Batman’s my biggest issue in all of DC right now, personally. And it’s not — I’m not writing Batman, but I am working with the writer of Batman and trying to get it right, because he’s incredibly important to DC, as is Wonder Woman. So, outside of the stuff that I’m doing in the projects that are actively going, our two priorities are finishing our Wonder Woman and our Batman scripts. Batman has to have a reason for existing, right? So Batman can’t just be ‘Oh, we’re making a Batman movie because Batman’s the biggest character in all of Warner Bros.,’ which he is.” But because there’s a need for him in the DCU and a need that he’s not exactly the same as Matt’s Batman. But yet he’s not a campy Batman. I’m not interested in that. I’m not interested in a funny, campy Batman, really. So we’re dealing with that. I think I have a way in, by the way. I think I really know what it’s — I just am dealing with the writer to make sure that we can make it a reality.” — James Gunn teasing the DCU’s approach to Batman.
However, the planned DCU Batman will still differ from what Reeves is developing with this Elseworlds project. The DCU has already established itself as an incredibly fantastical world where the possibilities are endless. Therefore, the DCU Batman will likely encounter villains more in line with Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy. In fact, Creature Commandos already revealed that Batman has already faced off against Doctor Phosphorus. DC Studios is also making a Clayface film set in the DCU, and based on the set photos that have surfaced, the shared universe will also go for a grimy Gotham City.
Batman & Robin may not have been the most well-received film of the franchise nor the most successful, but it still carries a significant legacy to this day. In some ways, Batman & Robin was a necessary experiment for the franchise, as it demonstrated the campy potential of a Batman film and revealed its limits. Batman Forever was a bit more serious than Batman & Robin, so that film could serve as a better blueprint for the DCU as it introduces the Bat-Family, but it should also pull from what’s been more successful with Nolan and Reeves’ interpretations.
Batman is a character who’s been as successful as he’s been because of his adaptability. Batman’s Silver Age leaned into more colorful villains and straightforward narratives that inspired the Schumacher films. However, like the comics, Batman’s trajectory on film has mostly gone from light to dark, with modern portrayals of Batman largely sticking with a more serious approach. The Batman film series is one of the most successful superhero franchises, yet there have been some stumbles along the way.
Although Warner Bros. learned the proper lessons from Batman & Robin, and now many are still anticipating the next theatrical experiences years after the “death” of the franchise, because filmmakers finally nailed the best tone for the character.
Runtime
125minutes
Director
Joel Schumacher
Writers
Peter Tomasi
Cast
