Batman Needs to be More Caped Crusader and Less Dark Knight

With the recent success of Creature Commandos on Max and the upcoming release of James Gunn’s Superman, on July 11, the fledgling DC Universe appears to be on the right track. And while the initial Superman trailer drew mixed reactions from viewers, the majority of fans seem cautiously optimistic about James Gunn and Peter Safran’s new and improved DC cinematic universe. If Gunn and Safran play their cards right, the DCU could even replace the MCU one day as Hollywood’s premiere superhero franchise … If they get the right Batman, that is. How hard could selling another iteration of the most popular superhero in the world be? Harder than one would think. Just ask Zack Snyder and the DC Extended Universe — Warner Bros.’ first attempt at a DC cinematic universe.

Snyder created a grizzled, murder-prone Batman for the DCEU — Warner Bros.’ first attempt at a DC cinematic universe — and the results were disastrous. He got the costume right but completely missed the point of Batman as a character. If Gunn and Safran want to succeed where Snyder failed, they’ll need to give the World’s Greatest Detective a sunnier disposition. In other words, the DCU needs a Caped Crusader, not a Dark Knight.

For decades the only Batman that Hollywood has been willing to embrace is the dark, brooding loner. A black armor-clad anti-hero hell-bent on dishing out violent punishment at the drop of a hat. But that’s only one aspect of an 86-year-old character. There’s a rich history of Batman stories dating all the way back to 1939, and yet directors and screenwriters only seem to pull from The Dark Knight Returns. It doesn’t take a hardcore comic nerd to realize that basing a franchise’s flagship character on a single dystopian “What if?” scenario isn’t a great idea.

Don’t get us wrong, Frank Miller’s 1986 take on a much older, more nihilistic Batman is a classic for a reason, but as the ultimate Bat-tome, it falls a little flat. While it inspired some absolute bangers like Tim Burton’s Batman, it was also the main inspiration for Batman V. Superman, a film many fans consider to be the Dark Knight’s worst. In a world where Batman and Robin exists that’s saying a lot. Even if the DCU manages to avoid pulling from The Dark Knight Returns it will still have to avoid the other trap Batman movies keep falling into, “realism.”

Here’s a hot take: Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy is a great crime drama but a terrible Batman story. The films strip Batman of any whimsy while gutting all of the fantastical elements of the character until we’re left with a character who shares a name with a famous comic book vigilante but not much else. More recently, Matt Reeves managed to deliver a slightly less “realistic” take on Gotham City with The Batman, but the film still took an overly serious approach to the Caped Crusader.

In neither movie universe will you hear anyone utter a word as ridiculous as “Batmobile,” or “Batarang.” Nolan and Reeves are fine with a man dressing up as a bat and fighting crime, but their willingness to put up with comic book tomfoolery only goes so far. For instance, both directors chose to give their version of Selina Kyle only the barest hint of cat ears, and god forbid she go by an absurd moniker like Catwoman.

The problem with making Batman gritty and realistic is that it makes the more fantastical elements of the character look silly and out of place. The Dark Knight, in particular, takes such a realistic approach to the Batman mythos that even having the character call himself “Batman” feels out of place. Remember, in his base incarnation — as a comic book character — Batman exists in a world where extraterrestrials, ghosts, and literal magic aren’t just real but known phenomena. In that context, yes, Batman is one of the more grounded heroes in the DC pantheon, but only in that context. Put modern comic book Batman in the real world with a utility belt full of smoke pellets, random pieces of kryptonite, and a pair of “batcuffs,” — not to mention his ability to swing between buildings without breaking his arms — and suddenly, he looks more like Spider-Man than everyman.

Batmen like the ones in The Dark Knight Rises and The Batman only work in a vacuum. Introduce Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne to Superman, and he’s going to turn in his cowl right then and there. On the flip side, if you go all in on the absurdity of a man in tights fighting alongside gods but keep him dark and edgy, you get Snyderverse Batman. A violent curmudgeon who drops F-bombs and promises to murder the Joker someday. So what’s the alternative? Model the DCU Batman after the ’60s Adam West Batman? Good lord, no. That’s how we ended up with Batman and Robin. No, what James Gunn and Peter Safran have to do is simple. Base the DCU Batman on what many fans consider the definitive version of the character: the one from Batman the Animated Series.

Batman as portrayed by the late, great Kevin Conroy is the perfect version of the Caped Crusader to bring into James Gunn’s new cinematic superhero universe. Batman The Animated Series gave fans a Batman who was serious but never joyless, a Batman who was comfortable switching from swashbuckler to detective at the drop of a hat. This Batman still used violence, but he wasn’t over-reliant on it. His main goal was still to help criminals, to heal them rather than eliminate them altogether. Prehaps most important of all for a character who needs to exist within a larger superhero narrative, Conroy’s Batman played well with others when he had to — first, with his own “batfamily” in Batman the Animated Series and later with a larger roster of DC heroes in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

James Gunn and Peter Safran have a clean slate with the DCU. This is their chance to make superhero history. The duo has a chance to bring a well-rounded version of Batman to the big screen for the first time since Batman Mask of the Phantasm — the sole theatrical outing for Conroy’s Batman. With all signs pointing to Gunn’s Superman abandoning the darker approach Zack Snyder took with the character, there’s a good chance the director will go in a similar direction with Batman. The fact that the DCU’s first Batman project, The Brave and the Bold, is set to feature Robin is already a good sign that Gunn might be going with a more comic-book approach to the character.

Then again, he is using Damian Wayne, the most violent, bloodthirsty, decapitation-happy version of the Boy Wonder ever, so who knows? Do you think the DCU should introduce a more light-hearted Caped Crusader, or do you prefer the Dark Knight to be the ultimate edge lord like Shadow the Hedgehog wearing a fedora? Let us know in the comments!