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| One character, many versions |
Yes, yes, I know that I ranted about Hollywood remaking the
same fantasy film endlessly in my last post but I think there is scope in the
Batman franchise for a new and interesting direction. Nolan’s trilogy was
(mostly) excellent but it was also limited in specific ways. And that’s the
strength of Batman as a character. He is like Tarzan or Sherlock Holmes, a
character with essential core traits that can be interpreted and portrayed in a
variety of ways, be it the campy pantomime of 60s TV, the noir-flavoured
adventures of the 90s animated series, or Nolan’s brooding realism. There are
elements of the character that simply didn’t fit in the recent films and I’d
like to see some of them on the silver screen. With that in mind, here is my
personal wish list for the next big screen Batman.
1
No
origin story
I think we can all agree that the superhero origin story has been pretty thoroughly covered. We have had reluctant heroes, idealistic heroes, accidental heroes, patriotic heroes, and repentant heroes. The Amazing Spiderman might have surprised everyone by making a retelling of Peter Parker’s origin watchable, only ten years after it was first seen in the cinema, but there are few changes to be wrung out of Batman’s origin story – dead parents, obsessive quest for justice, a bulk order of fetish gear and military hardware. Nolan did a bang up job putting that on screen. Besides, is there going to be anybody in the cinema who doesn’t know who the basics? Let’s follow Tim Burton’s example and jump straight into an established Gotham City, with Batman already an active superhero.
2
Make
it a comic book movie
This is a very subjective point but, personally, I’d rate Batman Begins as the best of the Nolan
trilogy. The other two may be more ambitious and more sophisticated pieces of
cinema, but Begins is just more fun
to watch. It has a clear story with strong characters and some great action.
And while it is brooding and thoughtful, it never gets lost in the navel gazing.
Batman is arguable the ‘darkest’ mainstream superhero; his stories explore
areas that other superhero comics won’t explore. But he’s still a guy fighting
crime dressed as a bat. As SFX magazine
once said, Batman is not just the Dark Knight: he’s also the Caped Crusader and
the World’s Greatest Detective.
So, for the reboot, I’d like to see a Batman film that
embraces more of the fantastical weirdness that you only find in comic books.
Yes, Batman battles urban terrorists and mobsters but he’s also tangled with
giant crocodile-man monsters and immortal ninja warriors. The benchmark should
be something like: ‘Could this Batman conceivably join the Justice League?’ The
only way somebody like Superman could have appeared in Nolan’s Gotham was if
Bruce Wayne took some very strong
LSD.
3
Robin
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| Robin for the 21st century - say 'Jimmy Jillickers' to him and he'll break your legs |
I love the 60s Batman series, with its campiness and knowing
humour, but it has made it difficult for people to take the Boy Wonder
seriously ever since. Think about The
Simpsons’ painfully accurate parody, Fallout Boy. It does not help that the
last time he appeared on big screen (apart from a fan-pleasing nod in The Dark Knight Rises) it was in
Schumacher’s generally reviled Batman and
Robin. But I think there is potential for the character to feature in a
reboot. He could add levity to the films by playing off against Batman, the
dead panning straight man. Robin could also serve as the audience’s way into
this new Batman franchise, as he goes on his own journey to become the Boy
Wonder. Hell, why not use Tim Drake’s origin story: he works out Batman’s
secret identity and demands the job of sidekick?
4 The Riddler
Riddler is one of Batman’s most enduring and iconic villains, right up there with Joker and Penguin, but he’s had a troubled history both on page and screen. This is mainly because his central gimmick – leaving riddles at the scene of his crimes – is difficult to write well. But I think that Rocksteady Studio’s Arkham videogames have shown that, not only can the Riddler be an effective villain, he can be terrifying. The Rocksteady games, particularly Arkham City, portrayed the Riddler as a narcissistic sociopath obsessed with proving his intellectual superiority to all and sundry, but especially Batman. He kidnaps people and places them in sadistic death traps reminiscent of the Saw films, justifying his actions by claiming that his victims would have survived if they had been smarter. Add his kung fu kicking female sidekicks, Query and Echo, for some muscle and fanservice, and you’ve got a big screen villain.
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| 'I'll get you next time, Batman!' |
I can already envisage this new, more swashbuckling Batman film – told from the perspective of precocious teenager Tim Drake, he becomes determined to find out the secret identity of his idol, the Batman, an established superhero with a history of crime fighting in Gotham City. Meanwhile Batman, in partnership with Commissioner Gordon, is investigating a spree of burglaries by a mysterious criminal who leaves riddles at the scene of his crimes. As Batman solves more of his clues, the Riddler raises the stakes by kidnapping civilians and forcing Batman to negotiate his death mazes to save them. The overarching theme would be questions of identity – who is Batman, who is the Riddler, who is Tim Drake – and the finale would have the whole of Gotham City Hall turned into one giant death trap that Batman and his new sidekick Robin have to negotiate to save the mayor, or something like that. Add in an arc plot for the franchise involving Hugo Strange as a master puppeteer and you’re done. Hell, I’ll write it for them!
