12 Movie Franchises That Ruined Their Iconic Character

1. Burton-Schumacher Batman (Batman)

It's important to remember that, as far as Warner Bros. is concerned, the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher Batman movies do indeed take place within the same universe, even if they're incredibly different both tonally and aesthetically.

While Schumacher's first Batman movie, Batman Forever, just about skated on the line of inspired absurdity, there's little defending his follow-up Batman and Robin, which unequivocally transformed the Dark Knight into a complete joke.

Far from the psychologically complex, gothic stylings of Burton's movies, Batman and Robin cast an ill-fitting George Clooney in an unbearably campy film filled with toe-curlingly cringe-worthy one-liners and, yes, the return of the Bat-nipples.

While you can argue that without Schumacher ruining the Batman brand so enthusiastically we would've never had Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, the fact he killed the Caped Crusader's cinematic cred for the better part of a decade is still a total shambles.

Can any of these ruined franchise icons be saved, or has too much damage been done? Shout it out in the comments!