21 Batman Movies That Almost Happened

20. Adam West€™'s Superbat

If that moment of lunacy wasn't enough, West also admitted in the same Rolling Stone interview that when he was thwarted in his attempts to snap up the film rights to Batman he tried to get round them by simply ripping Batman off, as well as another famous DC hero.

"I also wrote a thing called Superbat when it was clear I'd never get film rights to the Batman character. It was a hybrid of Batman and Superman who came from another galaxy, but he now lives in this vast cave."

It's understandable that West would attempt to basically stick two fingers up at DC and make his own frustrated Batman rip-off. After the show ended, both he and Burt Ward roles hard to come by, and were badly type-cast, despite the fact that nobody had any interest in making that sort of project again. West eventually decided to embrace the character and heavily worked the convention circuit, though he also admitted to Rolling Stone he hated it:

"At personal appearances, I'll only stay in costume for about fifteen minutes, then get out and mingle. It's no fun to do it really. I mean I make it fun, but it's work. It takes a great deal of energy to play Batman. But then of course I have my secret life that I tell no one about - you know when I wear the costume to orgies."

Incidentally, West would probably have grounds to try and sue DC, as in 2008 someone came up with basically the same idea - of amalgamating Batman and Superman at least - for Grant Morrison's Final Crisis. That's pretty much where the similarities ended, as Most Excellent Superbat's only powers were "being so rich he can do anything" and West seems not to have thought of any powers beyond living in a cave.