10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Batman Beyond
7. Before Batman Begins, WB Nearly Made A Live-Action Batman Beyond Film
This may come as a shock to some, but the Batman & Robin film wasn't very good. However, the producers were insane enough to think the movie would be so successful, they prepared a sequel called Batman Unchained where the title character would battle the Scarecrow and Harley Quinn.
When Batman & Robin was released and the producers realised it was, in a nutshell, the worst film ever made, they scrambled to find another way to adapt the Caped Crusader. It's common knowledge by DC fans that before Warner Bros. greenlit the prequel, Batman Begins, they wanted to hire Darren Aronofsky to adapt Frank Miller's classic story, Batman: Year One.
However, the studio originally hired Boaz Yakin in 2000 to direct a live-action adaption of Batman Beyond. Because the show just came out the year before and was fresh in everyone's mind, a live-action version seemed like the next logical step.
When Aronofsky agreed to adapt Batman: Year One, Yakin's film was scrapped. Sadly, the producers didn't like Aronofsky's script and canned the project. If the Batman Beyond film was given the go-ahead, it was rumoured Michael Keaton would return as an elderly Bruce Wayne, which would have been awesome.