After recording the latest podcast I thought it would be a good idea to elaborate on my idea for a new Batman movie. In the upcoming episode, we talk about the new Joker movie and got sidetracked in conversation which brought us to the upcoming movie ‘The Batman’. With how many times DC/WB are making superhero movies and rehashing origin stories for the millionth time, here is The Batman Idea that I have for the upcoming film.
The first thing that DC and WB need to do is retire the origin story. Everyone at this point knows who Batman is and how Bruce Wayne became the man behind the cowl (and if you don’t, go watch any other Batman movie). Not even in a flashback, memory, or in two lines of dialogue. Instead, we need a Batman who has been on the job for a while and damn good at what he does.
A great idea for a Batman story I have (which is touched upon the podcast episode) would focus on Mr. Freeze. Surround the film around the perceived villain. It could start with Mr. Freeze in his lab talking to his encased and dying wife, Nora. He would be telling her how much he loves her and everything he is doing is to cure her disease. If the writing and acting is on point the viewers could easily feel bad for Mr. Freeze from the start. The scene would focus on how nothing is going to stop him from saving the love of his life. He is trying to cure her in ways that are not approved by the government and can be considered unethical, but he is doing it to save a life.
Batman has to stop Freeze as the materials he is stealing are highly unstable and toxic. In the wrong hands and/or in the wrong mixture could cause a pandemic in Gotham. This would be a great way to hint at Joker toxin or Bane venom as one of the ingredients Freeze steals from the Gotham PD evidence locker. Maybe he acquires it by showing how corrupt some officers are in Gotham PD and how Jim Gordon is trying to fight the fight in the city as well as in his own department.
In the final act, Batman and Freeze come face-to-face and Viktor delivers a monologue about how he is doing this for his wife, the only woman he ever loved. Have Freeze shed a tear in sadness that quickly turns to anger as he won’t allow ‘The Batman’ to stop him from finding the cure. Batman could try to plead with Freeze about bringing her to a hospital where she could get all the care she needs and a team of people to help come up with the cure rather than just Freeze himself. Ultimately the two would entangle in battle with Freeze being taken to Blackgate Penitentiary, while his wife is taken to Arkham. The final scene could show Bruce Wayne talking to Alfred wondering if what he did was the right thing. He could even mention that it may have been a job for Bruce Wayne instead of Batman, as Bruce has money to fund a cure for Nora and ultimately anyone else with her type of ailment.
The storyline provides a bunch of subtle hints to other characters that could be used to contribute to an overarching single story. The key is to use one of these subtle hints to string together a set of movies with an underlying plot from some mastermind. It could lead to a Batman Inc team-up movie or dare I say, a more well done Justice League movie as the penultimate final film in this bigger storyline.
For instance, showing Arkham Asylum we could get another Batman movie with Hugo Strange as the main villain. We could see the camera pan to him attending to Nora Freeze as the credits start to roll. Another great spin-off would be the corrupt Gotham PD who is actually working for Oswald Cobblepot, the Penguin.
If I was to make a follow-up movie though, it wouldn’t be a Batman movie. I would probably use a lesser-known/used hero like Nightwing or Batgirl. Neither of these two have as good detective skills as Batman but are very good in their own right.
Nightwing could be working in Bludhaven when he finds a Gotham Police officer has been killed in his city. This could lead him back to Gotham and investigating the corrupt police department. Some hints could even put the Nightwing movie taking place side by side of ‘The Batman’. Batman is too busy working on the Freeze case and the Gotham PD is not his top priority at the moment. To show they are taking place at the same time a quick 5-minute scene in ‘The Batman’ could show Bruce Wayne is going to talk to Jim Gordon about a fundraiser coming up for the department. As he approaches the Commissioners door, out walks none other than Dick Grayson/Nightwing. The two could exchange quick pleasantries and be on their way. This same scene could be in the Nightwing movie where we see what Dick and Gordon were talking about and see the interaction of Bruce and Dick from Dick’s point of view this time.
Anyway, I could go on. I have ideas that surround Superman, Batgirl, and a lot of the other DC Universe characters that could easily fill up about 10 films with a huge modified Justice League movie pay off. If you would like to hear about them let me know over on facebook or twitter.
