10 Movies That Subverted Expectations (And Fans Hated It)

9. Batman: The Killing Joke

Prometheus EW Cover
Warner Bros.

You can easily make an argument that no comic book character has had as many high quality, legendary stories as Batman. And one of the most famed Bat-tales out there is Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke.

For comic book characters, their movies – be they live-action or animated – always come with certain expectations due to having such strong and notable source material to pull from. After all, if a particular comic book story is being adapted, people have full and total knowledge of how this tale is going to play out.

Where the animated adaptation of The Killing Joke caused outrage amongst Bat-fans is with a subplot that it used in order to pad out the main narrative. 1988’s The Killing Joke is one of the greatest stories in comic book history, yet it isn’t a particular long book.

With that in mind, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation decided to flesh out The Killing Joke by adding a subplot of Bruce Wayne and Barbara Gordon being romantically involved. Yes, as in the one and the same Barbara who Bruce has been a father figure and mentor to since she was a teenager.

It was creepy, it was distasteful, it was totally unexpected, and it had fans hating a movie that so many had been wanting to see for years.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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