What Happened Next? - 9 Planned Movie Sequels That Were Cancelled
1. Batman: DarKnight
1997's Batman & Robin is famous for being the movie that buried the Dark Knight for the next eight years. And yet, amazingly, there was a time when Warner Bros were courting not one, but two possible sequel avenues.
One of these was Batman Unchained (sometimes referred to as Batman Triumphant), which sounded... interesting. The other was Batman: DarKnight, a movie that was written as a direct response to the silliness of Batman & Robin. It was a darker, more grounded take on the character that tried to continue the story of Clooney's Batman while distancing itself from that wacky tone.
Written in the months after Batman & Robin hit theatres, DarKnight would've found Bruce Wayne (Clooney) in a self-imposed isolation, while Dick Grayson (Chris O'Donnell) attends university, choosing not to return to his crime-fighting days without his friend and mentor.
The movie's villains would've been Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane, and Man-Bat, as divulged by writer Lee Shapiro in an interview with Batman-on-Film:
"Meanwhile, Dr. Jonathan Crane uses his position as professor of psychology at Gotham University and as resident psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum to conduct his experiments in fear. During a vengeful confrontation with a colleague, Dr. Kirk Langstrom, Crane unknowingly initiates Kirk's transformation into the creature known as Man-Bat."
This leads Gotham's citizens to believe that Man-Bat's after-hours hunting sessions are actually Batman's return to fighting crime. So, Batman does return, desperate to prove his innocence and solve the Man-Bat mystery. As for Dick, Shapiro revealed that he would eventually end up in Arkham, while Man-Bat would seek revenge on the man who turned him into a monster.
The script was passed from exec to exec but the studio eventually decided that a full reboot was the best course of action. Turns out they were right.
Which of these movies would you like to have seen the most? Did we miss any others? Let us know in the comments below!