8 Movies Where The Worst Version Got Made

2. Batman Forever

Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever offered a fun, neon-drenched take on Gotham City, but as much as I myself may have a soft spot for it, Val Kilmer's Bruce Wayne and Jim Carrey's endlessly quotable take on the Riddler ("does anyone else feel like a fried egg?"), I'd take a third movie from Tim Burton over it every time.

Burton had begun work on a third Batman film following the release of Batman Returns in 1992, with Michael Keaton once again set to reprise the role of the Caped Crusader. However, the controversy surrounding Returns' dark content mixed with its diminishing box office returns compelled Warner Bros. to take the series in a lighter direction, which saw Burton and Keaton depart the project and Schumacher and Kilmer step in.

It's unclear what direction Burton would have taken the series, given his departure happened so early into Batman Forever's production, but it wouldn't have been a surprise to see the return of Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman. Batman and Batman Returns screenwriter Sam Hamm explored the possibility of a third Burton movie with the Batman '89 comic series, which was published by DC Comics in 2021 and featured art from Joe Quinones. The comic explored Burton-esque takes on Robin and Two-Face, with Billy Dee Williams' Harvey Dent getting his villainous turn, and paints a compelling picture for what a third Burton Batman movie could have looked like.

As things stand, Schumacher's Batman Forever is a fine but flawed comic book movie. However, given the cuts made to the film, the brilliance of Burton's previous two movies and the fact that Warner Bros. considered Sam Raimi and John McTiernan for the director's chair as well, it's easy to see how much stronger it could've been.