12 Biggest Missed Opportunities In Comic Book Movie History
5. Batman Beyond
During the barren cinematic Bat years between 1998s Batman and Robin and 2005s Batman Begins, many different creators filed through the Warner production offices attempting to get their take on Batman greenlit. As well as the aforementioned Aronofsky project, other notable versions included Joel Schumachers attempts at atoning for his neon drenched crimes with the darker, Scarecrow featuring, Batman Triumphant, and more intriguingly Paul Dini and Bruce Timms live action version of their animated series Batman Beyond. For those unfamiliar with Batman Beyond it was a bold and innovative re-imagining of the Batman universe, as projected into a cyberpunk future Gotham, replete with references to speculative fiction classics like Blade Runner and Akira. The hook of the story is having the mantle of the Bat taken by a young down-on-his-luck kid: Terry McGuinness, who shares more DNA with Spidey than Bats. Terry is mentored by an elderly Bruce Wayne, who finds himself in the Alfred role. For the aborted film version there was talk of Bruce being played by Paul Newman or Clint Eastwood. It remains to be seen whether Batman Beyonds time will come round again, but as a way of differentiating from the failure of Batman and Robin it may have been a franchise kick-start that had the same rejuvenating power as Batman Begins later achieved.
As well as the odd article, I apply my "special mind" to scriptwriting for Comics, Films and Games... Oh and I cut down trees, I skip and jump, I like to press wild flow'rs, I put on women's clothing, and hang around in bars.
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