10 Shocking Batman Plans You Won’t Believe Almost Happened

There's a lot about Batman that's iconic, the costume, the gadgets, the Batcave and of course, the brooding. With so many points that are integral to his character, it's hard to imagine that any of them could be changed.

However, comics are a collaborative process and hundreds of costumes and concepts can get bounced around the office and a character can end up completely different from what was originally intended. Some of these ideas can be pretty out there and have led to some crazy things that have almost happened to the Dark Knight, from weird early designs to huge changes to existing characters.

Of course, that's just comics. The Dark Knight's transition to the big screen has also left behind a mountain of unused ideas. Creating a film is a long and complex process involving dozens or even hundreds of people. It's no surprise then that the end result can often end up completely different to what was originally planned.

It's a fascinating experience to look at the versions of Batman we could have got. These plans might have been good or bad, but either way it's like glimpsing into an alternate universe where one of the most recognisable heroes in the world is completely different.

For a character that has such an iconic look, it's crazy to think that Batman's costume was almost completely different.

The explanation for the early Batman's use of guns and willingness to kill is that he was heavily inspired by the violent pulp fiction heroes of the decade, like the Shadow and the Phantom.

That inspiration also played a pretty huge role when it came to designing Batman's costume. Bob Kane's original concept art for the character was a blond man in a bright red bodysuit (designed to resemble Superman at the time) and black domino mask who glided around on a giant pair of bat wings.

Fellow writer Bill Finger (who was actually responsible for most of Batman's iconic elements) came up with a cowled costume based on the Phantom and that eventually turned into a more recognisable version of the Batsuit.

The concept for Robin was even more bizarre. Originally, Batman's sidekick was going to be a character called Mercury. Mercury would be a young boy who wore a special suit that gave him magical abilities. Artist Jerry Robinson convinced Kane to tone down the character and call him Robin (after Robin Hood).