The other day I decided to write out the five best cancelled Spider-Man films that I thought had potential. I am still working on a list for cancelled Marvel movies, but I decided it would be fun to look at the caped crusader’s trivial history. Believe it or not, Batman has had a lot of cancelled projects. Some from a while back and a few that are still very recent.
*cough cough* Warner Brothers.
However this list will take a look at all of the canned Batman films and will look at which five I believe would have been the best.
5. Batman Unchained
Oh God, how did this make it on the list?
Sadly, the other cancelled Batman films were all either team up films or just not interesting. So, now we get to talk about Schumacher’s third Batman film, Batman Unchained. The fifth movie in the series would have brought back Clooney and Chris O’Donnell from Batman and Robin. And it seems that Schumacher wanted to return Batman to Burton’s style with a darker entry to the series with Scarecrow as the villain and Harley Quinn coming in as back up.
Who was set to play scarecrow?
Well, there were a lot of actors being tossed around
Nicolas Cage, Jeff Goldblum, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Lloyd. However, Nicolas Cage was the main choice for the role.
No one was ever cast or rumored for Harley Quinn, but we do know a little about the plot.
The movie would have had several nightmare or dream sequences where Batman would be confronted by his previous foes. Yes, every villain from up to that point was set to return for their respective character to torture Bruce Wayne. We also know what was planned for Harley Quinn. Since the Joker was dead, they planned to have her come in as the daughter of the original Joker come to get revenge on Batman.
Honestly, I could have seen this film being closer to Batman Forever. However, after Batman and Robin, who knows how this movie would have gone as the previous film is the exact reason why this one was never made.
4. Batman: Glorious Final
This is probably the most obscure Batman film on this list. Apparently around the year 2000, Warner executives Lee Shapiro and Stephen Wise planned for an epic return for Michael Keaton after the failure of Batman and Robin. It wasn’t confirmed who would be directing the film, but we did know a little about the plot. Apparently, they wanted a final epic conclusion to the Batman series with the return of Nicholson’s Joker!
Yup, the Joker was going to come back from the dead, much like he does in the comics, and go after Batman.
This sounds awesome. Sadly, this film never got past the idea phase, but it is fun to speculate what could have been.
3. Batman Continues
This is the one. This is the one movie that most Batman fans think about. Batman Continues was going to be the third film in Burton’s Batman series. Michael Keaton would have stayed as Batman and we would finally get to see Billy Dee Williams become Two-Face and Marlon Wayans’ Robin would finally make an appearance. Oh, and Robin Williams was going to be the Riddler.
It’s crazy how different this film was going to be compared to what Batman Forever became. However, I just wish we could have seen another of these Batman films from Burton’s mind.
2. Batman: Year One
This is a project that I feel is relatively unknown to most comic book movie fans. Batman: Year One was going to be the start of a new Batman series in the early 2000s before Nolan’s Batman Begins. After the failure of Batman and Robin, Batman needed to restart and get a new branding. In comes Darren Aronofsky, director of Requiem for a Dream, who planned to make a Batman: Year One film which would focus on a younger Batman in a dark and gritty origin in which not only would his parents be murdered, but Batman would lose all of his wealth and be forced to be a fully street level vigilante.
This sounds really dark and awesome. In a way, I feel like it could have been similar to Joker. I wonder who they were planning to portray Batman?
Oh my gosh. Yes, it was rumored that Joaquin Phoenix was their planned Batman. Isn’t that funny? I guess you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
1. Ben Affleck’s The Batman
This one is probably the one that I am the most upset about. Losing Ben Affleck’s solo film will always be an issue with fans of the Snyderverse. For those that do not know, Ben Affleck was going to write and direct his own Batman film which was going to be a detective thriller with Batman going up against Deathstroke and an appearance from the Joker (Jared Leto), which would have been the first interaction between the two characters in the Snyderverse before Zack Snyder shot an additional scene for his director’s cut of Justice League. It was also planned to have Batman fight his way through Arkham in an intense fight scene.
However, because of Warner Brothers interference and Joss-tice League’s failure, Ben lost interest in the project and decided to focus on working on himself.
Overall, Ben’s Batman film has the most potential for a future. With Jared Leto and Joe Manganiello desiring to work on a Batman project lead by Zack Snyder, we deserve a Batman series on HBO Max. We deserve more Batfleck!
#RestoretheSnyderverse
What do you think? Did we miss out on some gems?
~Seppin
SeppinRek 
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