10 Ways Batman & Robin Changed Batman Movie History

4. It Changed The Perception Of What Batman Was (And Could Be)

It's best to consider Batman & Robin as a rich, sugary dessert - it was too decadent and too sickly sweet to really satisfy, but it was so over-the-top that you'd never consider having it again. In other words, it necessitated a palate-cleansing reboot, and it opened up the possibility of wildly different interpretations of what Batman could be.

In the wake of George Clooney's one-dimensional cartoon character, the idea of continuing down the same track looked perverse, which is precisely why Darren Aronosky's pitch was even considered despite the fact that he proclaimed that he would "Toss out everything you can imagine about Batman! Everything! We're starting completely anew."

Aronofsky's extreme vision would have removed everything we recognised about Batman - probably to a reductive degree - but it was reflective of the studio's increased willingness to consider Batman in a different way. And ultimately, it was that creative flexibility that opened the door for Christopher Nolan to make a Batman film that was almost entirely unrecognisable from traditional comic book movies up to that point.