When the Schumacher Batman films went a bit off the deep end and Warner Bros found themselves needing to take a completely different direction with the character, one of the touted projects was a live-action adaptation of the brilliant animated Batman Beyond series (known as Batman Of The Future for literal-minded British audiences). The cartoon featured an elderly Bruce Wayne mentoring the younger Terry McGinnis taking up the cowl - albeit a high-tech cowl that involved rocket boots, sophisticated lenses and no cape. The series ended a decade ago and was recently picked up in comic book form, but it could have lived on before that on the big screen. It's unclear how far the live action Batman Beyond film got in development, but it could've been pretty cool. Imagine a Dark Knight film set in a Blade Runner-style future city - that cool. Plus apparently early scripts involved Ace The Bat-Hound to some extent, which is doubly cool. Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, who co-created the TV show, pitched the idea of a live-action version, and Remember The Titans' Boaz Yakin was in line to direct. Then Batman Begins got made instead, and the whole thing's future was set.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
