True Story Of The Best Batman Movies Never Made

3. 2003 - The Wachowskis' & Joss Whedon's Year One

The studio next turned to the Wachowskis, hot off their success with The Matrix, and asked them to tackle Year One. Their vision, which they put together in a treatment that actually was submitted stayed closer to the comic book source, albeit with a change to how Batman gets into vigilante work.

Most other elements from the comic - including some that Frank Miller had rejected, in fact - stayed the same. It would largely have been a sanitised version of the story that would undoubtedly have sold better to younger audiences.

Sadly, the directing duo were quickly tied up when the Matrix sequels were greenlit and Warner Bros turned to Joss Whedon, as the future MCU and DCEU director revealed in 2008.

He said his Year One was similar in tone to Nolan's Batmna Begins, but that his was "a bit less epic" and would have been set more in Gotham City. He also wanted to bring in a new villain, who would have been tied to Wayne's training but would have been more like a Hannibal Lector sort of fiture with Batman learning from him in Arkham. Ultimately it didn't come off and Warner Bros. hired Nolan for Batman Begins in 2003.