What's next for Batman...

[DWF]

Maybe they're rally interested in doing a JLA movie, they could spin off whomever play Batman in that movie into a new series of Batman movies. That'd be something of the reverse of how Marvel Studios built up to the Avengers movie.

[The Borgified Corpse]

Stone_Cold_Sisko wrote:

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Loved the Nolan movies but am ready for something different.

I'd like to see a Batman franchise that takes itself seriously enough in tone but has a place for heroics. A costume that isn't completely body armor, villains like Clayface, the Lazerous pit, killer Croc, basically the tone of the 90s animated series or something that's truer to the tone of the comics.

Agreed. Tone-wise, I'm thinking they should aim for something akin to the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies: The characters are taken seriously but the sci-fi concepts are broad.

Although, prior to his involvement with Man of Steel, there were rumors that Zack Snyder was going to direct a very faithful adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns. And, much as I thought he totally missed the point of Watchmen, I think he has the perfect sensibility to adapt Frank Miller's work.

I agree origin stories are overrated. The Amazing Spider-Man spent a lot of time rehashing the origin story without really adding anything new to it that we didn't already get in the 2002 movie. And if the studios need a financial incentive, I would just like to point out that both Batman (1989) and The Dark Knight made more money than Batman Begins. And The Avengers made more money than pretty much anything and didn't feature anyone's origin stories.

[Cap-Pick-Card]

The next Batman should be rooted in the Dark Knight graphic novel: an aging Batman returns from retirement to take on the greatest criminals, the corporate criminals that run society.

[Saul]

Something similar in tone to the Nolan universe would be a good way to continue so we don't spin towards the overly comic bookish type of Superhero film that I can see on any other given month of the year.

Then again I am rather fond of Batman Beyond and if they were to really shake things up I wouldn't mind seeing this done or something inbetween this and 'The Dark Knight Returns'.

[Warped9]

Well, The Dark Knight Returns is already being dome as a DCAU feature coming this fall.

[Captaindemotion]

While TDKR did leave it open for sequels to be made, going several different routes (I won't say, for fear of spoiling it for those who haven't seen it but you who have seen it will know what I mean), I'm pretty sure that the next movie won't follow on from it.

I imagine that they'll go down the Sony/ Spider-man route and reboot fairly swiftly, but I don't think that it will be another origin story like The Amazing Spider-man. I think that they'll take the James Bond route - have our hero as an established hero and assume that the audience knows how he got to be here. A sort of alternative sequel to Batman Begins, Superman Returns without the gap years or The Incredible Hulk.

Given how successful the Nolan movies were, I don't expect this to go down the Shumacher-route and mark a total contrast with the previous trilogy or even to be as different from it as TAS is from the Raimi movies. If I were a Warner exec, I'd want something in the same vein as Nolan's movies, but I'd obviously allow the new director and writer to move their own vision along. It's possible that it will be set up in a way as to meld with Snyder's Man of Steel but I don't get the impression that a common DC-verse is a big prioity for them.

But, as William Goldman said and as I like to quote - in Hollywood, no-one knows anything (least of all me). So expect the unanticipated.

[clint g]

I think the one problem with rebooting with out changing the toothed is you'll then have people wondering why you even bothered rebooting in the first place. If they are going to start all over again they should just go with something new.

[Galileo7]

Mr. Adventure wrote:

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I don't think anyone wants to retread the ground Nolan covered. I think a good filmmaker is going to want to bring his vision to life and not play in someone else's sandbox.

Agree. Clean slate and reboot.

[Set Harth]

Maybe these studios will finally stop remaking the same tired characters and franchises over and over again and give us something completely original for a change.

And maybe monkeys will fly out of my ass.

[Gotham Central]

It should be pointed out that Batman Begins is in fact the only time that Batman's origin was ever really depicted in the movies. The Burton/Schumacher series alluded to his family's murder but did not dwell to heavily on how he became Batman.

[Warped9]

Although animated Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm in 1993 addressed the death of Bruce's parents and how he became Batman long before the Nolan's Batman Begins. And Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm was released theatrically albeit briefly.

[Lapis Exilis]

MotP addressed those subjects fairly briefly - though BBegins paid homage to the Bruce's first night out in a mask in MotP in the scene where he first allies with Jim Gordon. But MotP was nowhere near the character study that Batman Begins was. The death of Bruce's parents was largely noted only to add melodrama to the romance storyline.

[Warped9]

It could be interesting if WB weren't hung up on being tied to the Justice League feature.

- A Batman more like B-TAS or more like the Dennis O'Neil Batman of the '70's comics.
- or a period piece Batman. The 1940s would be cool, but how about a Batman set in the 1920s or even 1890s? A Gotham By Gaslight approach. A time when Bruce Wayne's studies and acquired knowledge from around the world in tandem with his exceptional detective skills as well as him utilizing the earliest forms of forensics would seem very forward thinking and remarkable to everyone else around him. A time when a dark figure of the night dressed as a bat could really play with people's imagination.

[Set Harth]

Steampunk Batman.

[Gojira]

Gotham Central wrote:

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It should be pointed out that Batman Begins is in fact the only time that Batman's origin was ever really depicted in the movies. The Burton/Schumacher series alluded to his family's murder but did not dwell to heavily on how he became Batman.

I hope the next Franchise does the same thing. They can allude to his origins but we really don't need to see that rehashed again.