The problem with Schumacher was just that he went to far in that other direction. My ideal would be something between the two, something that has lightness and moments of fun, but doesn't necessarily go as far into camp as Schumacher did.
The DCEU's Batman appearances were not as dark as the Nolan version. He was serious, but he had some moments of the armor cracking in his interactions with Wonder Woman and eventually, Clark (in Justice League). The one thing no Batman movie ever needs is overt humor for the characters and/or situations, and certainly nothing like the Schumacher films, the Brave and the Bold cartoon, or the 1966-68 TV series.
To be fair, the Brave and The Bold Cartoon and 1966 show are great in my opinion, but as their own thing. They'd never be the regular/definitive Batman, but I like them for what they are. Also, the DCEU Batman committed not just mass murder, but mass murder with guns and murder by proxy with his bat brand. In comparison, even Burton's Batman probably didn't break double digits with the explicit kills (not that it makes it better that he killed anyone, but still), and Nolan's Batman death count is debatable, especially if you don't consider "i don't have to save you" to be an explicit murder. He's easily the most dark Batman we've gotten in film and probably TV (although the Crisis on Infinite Earth's Batman/Bruce Wayne briefly played by Kevin Conroy is implied to have killed a lot of people, although it seemed more like just his rogue's gallery and not driving around blasting random henchmen with machine guns strapped to the Batmobile).
He was trying to remake the sixties series--yes, it was a poor choice in my opinion and it didn't work but Batman Forever already started to move in that direction.
I seem to remember Michael Uslan describing the old movie series as such that the first two Tim Burton films stylistically adapted the late 30s/early 40s comics, Batman Forever was stylistically based on the late 40s and 50s comics, and Batman & Robin was the adaptation of the 60s' camp style.
And then the Nolan films caught up the gritty-and-grounded style of the late '80s and '90s comics. And then Snyder went backward and copied The Dark Knight Returns. Batman: The Animated Series was sort of a hybrid -- the visual style was very '40s, emulating the Burton films and the Fleischer Superman shorts, but the writing and characterization probably came closest to the Bronze Age Batman, the era of Denny O'Neil and Steve Englehart, where Batman was more serious and aloof than he'd been in the Silver Age but not as much of a grim and tortured loner as he became post-Crisis.
He did have a few moments of humor, especially in Justice League, but BvS was by far the darkest take on the character. The Nolan Bat trilogy is one of my favorite movie series of all time, but they're not my ideal version of Batman. The animated series is pretty much my ideal version of Batman, it had darker elements, but still managed to work in the fun moments.
Under the category of "Signs that the World is Ending": CBR| Justice League: Zack Snyder Confirms the Snyder Cut Will Stream on HBO Max Yes. Really.
Official Press Release: Zack Snyder’s Director’s Cut of Justice League to World Premiere Exclusively on the Streamer in 2021 LOS ANGELES – May 20, 2020 – After global passionate fan calls to action and the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement, HBO Max and Warner Bros. Pictures announced today that it will exclusively world premiere Zack Snyder’s director’s cut of the Warner Bros. Pictures/DC feature film Justice League in 2021. Snyder surprised fans with the news this morning during a live online commentary of his film Man of Steel with Henry Cavill. #ReleaseTheSnyderCut first became a passionate rallying social media cry among fans in 2017 and has not let up. From countless press articles and hundreds of thousands of social media mentions, it became a powerful global movement among cinephiles and comic book fans. “I want to thank HBO Max and Warner Brothers for this brave gesture of supporting artists and allowing their true visions to be realized. Also a special thank you to all of those involved in the SnyderCut movement for making this a reality,” said Snyder. “Since I got here 14 months ago, the chant to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut has been a daily drumbeat in our offices and inboxes. Well, the fans have asked, and we are thrilled to finally deliver. At the end of the day, it really is all about them and we are beyond excited to be able to release Zack’s ultimate vision for this film in 2021. This could never have happened if it weren’t for the hard work and combined efforts of the teams at HBO Max and Warner Bros. Pictures,” said Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, Warner Media Entertainment and Direct-To-Consumer. “When Zack and Debbie shared the extraordinary vision of where Zack wanted to take Justice League, my team and our counterparts at Warner Bros. took it as a mission to solve the many issues that stood in the way,” said Kevin Reilly, Chief Content Officer at HBO Max, President, TNT, TBS and truTV. “Thanks to the partnership at Warner Bros. and the relentless pursuit of the entire WarnerMax team we are able to deliver this incredibly exciting moment for Zack, the fans and HBO Max.” “Thanks to the efforts of a lot people, we’re excited to bring fans this highly anticipated version of Justice League,” said Toby Emmerich, Chairman, Warner Bros. Pictures Group. “This feels like the right time to share Zack’s story, and HBO Max is the perfect platform for it. We’re glad the creative planets aligned, allowing us to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut.” In Justice League, fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions. The Justice League screenplay is by Chris Terrio, story by Chris Terrio & Zack Snyder, based on characters from DC, Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The film’s producers are Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, with executive producers Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Jim Rowe, Ben Affleck, Wesley Coller, Curtis Kanemoto, and Chris Terrio.
Again, nothing to do with the quality of either version of the film. Just the arrogance and entitlement of some fans.
As one who never thought it would get released, I never thought it would get released theatrically or on blu-ray, and this story bears out why: it's not finished. They are having to spend $20-30 million to finish it, which they would likely not recoup theatrically. Streaming changes that equation, it's all about content to attract viewers, and $20-20 million is way less than what Netflix is spending on a lot of their movies (didn't Bright cost like $90 million?) for a theatrical level exclusive. Makes a lot of sense.
Wow, I was convinced it was never going to happen. To be honest, I think I'd be more interested in a JL movie that was created by Joss Whedon completely from scratch, than the Snyder Cut.