9 Rejected Ideas That Were Recycled In Other Movies

8. Batman Forever's Robin Origin Was Almost In Batman '89

Originally In... Batman 1989

Back in 1989, Tim Burton's Batman was going to have an appearance by Robin (played by Ricky Addison Reed) - albeit a brief one - before a script change removed the "non-essential character" (harsh). In the canned sequence, which made it to the concept stage, Batman chases the Joker through Gotham and the Clown Prince of Crime kills the Graysons as a means to throw Batman off his tail.

Here's the storyboarded sequence...

Despite the change of tone and approach to the material when Joel Schumacher came on board, he didn't entirely abandon all Burton ideas, repurposing the death of the Flying Graysons sequence for Batman Forever. The sequence in that film might not feature Mr J, but the narrative similarities are impossible to ignore.