As if we needed reminding, it hasn’t all been plain sailing for the Batman since Tim Burton launched the first modern Bat-flick in 1989 (Adam West’s spin-off doesn’t count here), and in truth the franchise has been openly abused from the inside thanks to some seriously baffling decisions made by their directors. Since that first film, fans have traded opinions on just what the worst parts of the Batman film canon has been, and somewhat predictably the answers to the three main qestions – worst film, worst director and worst Batman – are all inspired by the overly-camp attrocity that was Batman & Robin.
But that doesn’t mean Joel Schumacher is the only director to have done wrong by Batman, with some head-scratching moments coming from both Tim Burton and Chris Nolan (the latter including making Bane’s voice apparently impenetrable to a good portion of the English-speaking world). They might not be quite as baffling as almost every creative decision behind Batman & Robin (though actually, there are
So Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher and even Chris Nolan hang your heads in shame… Well, maybe not Nolan so much, as these things are all relative, but the other two, definitely.
1. The Joker’s Death (Batman)
Fans of comic books will know that the practice of killing super-villains or superheroes isn’t ever as final as it might seem, especially when it’s one of the biggest properties, because the concept of linear continuity isn’t particularly important to the medium. Story-arcs are better considered as comic book vignettes, that roughly fit together in a tapestry, but that is obviously a more difficult concept to translate across to film-making, unless the film-makers are particularly confident of establishing an ongoing franchise.
But then, why would that have not occurred to Tim Burton and the script-writers of Batman ’89 when it came to deciding the ultimate fate of Batman’s chief antagonist the Joker? It all boils down to the preference of continuity over closure, and rather unfortunately, the latter issue won, with Burton’s Joker meeting a grizzly end well before he should have, and robbing fans of the opportunity to see him again before Nolan’s reboot.
Why didn’t he just capture him and send him for a stretch in Arkham?
Of course, we did almost get to see Joker return, thanks to Scarecrow’s fear gas, which would have resurrected the villain as a hallucination in the ultimately scrapped Batman Triumpant, but to be honest, after Batman & Robin, I’m glad it never came to that.
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12 Comments
Joker died in his original comic book run as well if I remember rightly. Came back though. Comics and their meaningless deaths. ;)
I like how the scarecrow is like a side order to the main events in Nolan’s flicks. It gives a sense Batman has ongoing stuff amongst the big stories the movies show us.
I’m not quite sure what you mean aboutthe five deaths pinned to Batman? He took the blame for Harvey Dent’s death and the deaths of everyone Harvey killed. The bartender, the cop at the bar (can’t remember his name), Sal Falcone, his driver and I think the cop who the Joker killed in Harvey’s hospital room (they didn’t know the Joker visited Harvey so they might have assumed Harvey killed him) but then again, I’m not sure about that last one.
I believe it was actually the two police officers in charge of watching Harvey (Gordon says to Batman, “…two of them cops.” when referring to Harvey’s crimes at the end of the film), Maroni, his driver, and Wuertz.
Alot of these things are not the director’s decision. Especially when the director is not established, the studio usually has some say in casting and story.
Basically think of Batman as a mixture of what WB wanted and Tim Burton’s eccentric design. Batman Returns is basically all Burton after the success of the first film. Now do that for all of the other Batman films. Except for TDK. Batman Begins wasn’t a wild success so WB probably rein in on Nolan’s flair for non-linear story-telling. TDKR is probably when WB let’s Nolan loose.
why is it so hard for people to wrap there heads around the idea that batman is accused of the 5 (yes, 5) people that gordon and batman believe dent killed? let’s count, shall we? remember, gordon says when speaking about the murders that 5 people are dead, 3 of them cops.
1 & 2- the cops who were tasked at guarding dent in the hospital. yes, the joker killed them, but the police are unaware of that. all that’s known is they are dead and dent is gone.
3- wuertz. gotta love that scene when two face confronts this laughing stock of a police officer. all of gotham is going to hell in a hand basket and this clown is chilling in a bar getting loaded. good riddance i say! that takes care of the three cops.
4 & 5- maroni and his driver. personally, i was hoping maroni did indeed have good luck and survived the wreck after two face put a bullet in the head of the driver, but i guess not. should have put on your safety belt boss.
so there you have it. the 5 people batman is being accused of killing so the people of gotham can have their good faith rewarded. let’s hope he’s redeemed by the end of TDKR.
You are close, but off by 1. They said only 2 cops so 1 of them was Wuertz and the other was the one in Dent’s room that Joker killed.
The other 3 were Maroni and his TWO goons. Yes two, if you look carefully a thug opens the door and gets in after Maroni is already in the car. There were a total of 3 people Dent killed there.
Cruelly underrated? Jim Carrey’s performance was awful and so over the top it gave the term over the top a new meaning and dimension.
If Batman didn’t have nipples he couldn’t feed Robin.
The Bat Nipples are actually introduced in Batman Forever. I believe it’s his second suit he wears toward the finale but they’re definitely there. But for whatever reason, B&R is given that responsibility…
If I remember correctly, Warner Bros. pushed Holmes on Christopher Nolan.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who hated Holmes. A lot of people seem to prefer her simply based on the fact that she’s more attractive than Maggie Gyllenhaal. But Gyllenhaal was clearly the more superior actor. I really BELIEVED she was a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne’s. I really BELIEVED she was the DA’s assistant. She was confident, mature, and professional. While Holmes’ just looked like a high-school dropout who didn’t know what she was doing.