21 Batman Movies That Almost Happened

4. The Wachowskis' Year One

When it became clear that Frank Miller wasn't exactly on the same page as Warner Bros. the studio started to entertain other ideas, including replacing Aronofsky with the Wachowski brothers, who had just scored a monumental hit with The Matrix, while retaining the central Year One idea. The creative brothers then actually handed in a treatment, which stayed a lot closer to the comic book source, but ultimately they were given the go-ahead to do their two 2003 Matrix sequels. All in all, a bad idea.

The proposal would indeed have mirrored Year One, though the Wachowskis included a deviation - having Bruce Wayne's bat-based epiphany happen when he was hiding frightened in Gotham after being wounded while trying out some vigilante justice for the first time. Most other elements - including some that Frank Miller rejected - remained the same, in a sanitised version of the story that would undoubtedly have sold better to younger audiences.

The Wachowskis would have been a good fit - their Matrix work drew heavily on comic book lore, and they were self-confessed comic book fans, creating the comic-book publishing company Burlyman Entertainment on the back of the Matrix success. They also produced the adaptation of V For Vendetta as a mark of their suitability. Ultimately, Warner Bros. stuck with Aronofsky getting his project to the story-boarding stage in 2003.