21 Batman Movies That Almost Happened
19. Batman In Outer Space
In a wonderfully insightful interview with Batman-On-Film, the godfather of Batman films, producer Michael Uslan spoke about his quest to make Batman, despite a tide of apathy and indifference. He had come to the conclusion that he wanted to make the definitive, dark version of the character, just as Bob Kane and Bill Finger had intended, and approached Sol Harrison, the then president of DC to sound him out. The response was less than welcome:
"He said Michael, Batman is as dead as a dodo - and thats a quote - since it went off on TV. He says to me, No one is interested in Batman.""
And then comes the revelation. The only interested party who wanted anything to do with a Batman film was CBS, who had clearly been sharing whatever it was that made Adam West so colourful, and had attempted to pitch a Batman In Outer Space movie.
The timeline suggests that this was some time in the late 1970s when interest in Batman was indeed at its lowest ebb. The character has of course been an inter-galactic traveller at various times during his comic history - and indeed will again for LEGO Batman 3 - but on the back of the campy 1960s TV show you have to think this would have been catastrophic to Uslan's attempts to make his Batman film. Thankfully, DC didn't agree with CBS.