9 Insane Movie Team-Ups That Nearly Happened

A concept that somehow manages to be simultaneously the greatest and dumbest thing ever, the idea of a crossover between the Dark Knight and the King Of Monsters was briefly bandied about the offices of Japanese production company Toho.

After they’d experienced huge success with their King Kong/Godzilla matchup in 1962, a writer at the studio decided pairing the monster with another American icon was the way to go. He submitted a proposal for it in 1965, with characters like Robin, Batgirl and Commissioner Gordon also appearing. Obviously, Batman wasn’t going to be punching Godzilla in the face, so the idea was he’d use vehicles like the Batmobile and Batcopter to spar with the beast.

The idea also mentions the idea of Godzilla being under the control of a secret villain, so maybe the two would work together after this is discovered, or maybe Batman would learn Godzilla’s mother was also called Martha.

Further details on the movie are sketchy but it didn’t get far, and there’s no mention of DC comics being approached. Since the Batman TV show was just about to air at the time, the heart mourns for the loss of seeing Adam West take on Godzilla; it was an idea too beautiful to exist.