10 Movie Sub-Plots That Were More Interesting Than The Main Story
7. Max Shreck's Power Plant - Batman Returns (1992)
The second instalment in Tim Burton's Batman reboot nearly went ahead without him after the director expressed reservations about the first movie and his level of influence over the sequel, though Warner Brothers eventually relented and allowed him more creative control over the project.
Burton had Harvey Dent and Robin removed from the script and decided to make the main source of terror Danny DeVito's Penguin, with supporting villainy from corrupt businessman Max Schreck (Christopher Walken). The problem in the end was that it felt as though it should have been the other way around.
Penguin was clearly favoured as the lead antagonist because he was stylistically suited to Burton's vision for Gotham with his macabre lair in the sewers and his army of penguin soldiers, though Max's plans to illegally monopolise Gotham's supply of electricity were not only more interesting, but also much closer to that of a typical comic-book villain.
Walken's character is set up as a crazed tycoon willing to do anything to see his power-stealing plot come to fruition and it really felt as though his plot would have been better suited to the main villain. It stands to reason that a sewer-dwelling social outcast would fall in line behind a rich and reputable professional criminal, not the other way around.