10 Unmade Comic Book Movies That Could Have Been Awesome
3. Batman: Year One
Before Christopher Nolan even had a chance to let Batman begin, he was almost beaten to the punch by another serious and realistic version of the Caped Crusader. Cinematic wunderkind Darren Aronofsky was hired to adapt Frank Miller's iconic Batman: Year One in late 2000 before Requiem for a Dream had even hit theaters, in what was seen to be a clear signal from Warner Bros. that the Schumacher era was well and truly over.
Aronofsky's proposed reinvention of the character was so drastic that the filmmaker said people should 'toss out everything you can imagine about Batman! Everything! We're starting completely anew.' Which was putting it lightly, to say the least.
Completely overhauling the Dark Knight's origin, Bruce Wayne loses his fortune after his parents' murder and ends up homeless before being taken in by an African-American auto-repair shop owner named 'Al' before becoming a costumed vigilante, the Batcave is located in an abandoned subway station and the Batmobile is a souped-up Lincoln Continental. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Pitched as 'Death Wish and The French Connection meets Batman', Warner Bros. understandably got cold feet as such a radical departure, coupled with the script's ultra-violent tone, would have severely impacted both the movie's box office and merchandising potential. Changing so much about an iconic character would have marked a jarring tonal shift for sure, but the prospect of a stripped-down, adult take on Batman could have produced a spectacular hard-boiled genre flick.