Summary
TheBatmanfranchise has seen a lot of interpretations across myriad mediums over the character’s near century-long existence, but one of the most interesting takes fans have seen on the big screen is getting new life in a different medium.
Batmanhas long been the real star of DC, being to executives at the company what Superman appears to be to readers. As the franchise’s most important player whenever there isn’t aCrisisevent happening, the Bat has seen more than his fair share of adaptations, especially on the big screen. While fans swear by the Christopher Nolan trilogy as the standard for the character on the big screen, older fans know that there was something special about Tim Burton’sBatmanand its sequel, which is undoubtedlysome of Burton’s best work.
The sequel filmBatman Returnsremains one of the best Batman filmsto this day, and the fascination with Burton’s macabre version of the Bat and his rogues’ gallery has endured as a result. Thanks to this perpetual fascination with that work, fans are getting yet another sequel to Burton’s firstBatmanfilm. Writer John Jackson Miller is working on a new project titledBatman: Revolution,a book that will serve as a sequel both to Burton’s 1989 film and a previous book written by Miller,Batman: Resurrection. Set in the Burton timeline between the first and second films, the story will see an all-new origin for the iconic Batman villain The Riddler, eschewing Edward Nigma for Norman Pincus, a reputable genius and trusted Gotham police consultant who finds himself turning to crime when he’s overshadowed by The Bat. ViaCollider, the book is set to release on July 22, 2025.
This book is a great new way for fans to enjoy the world that Burton created in a fairly earnest way, with a reinvented Riddler being on the money for the sort of experimental approach that Burton took in his own work at the time. This version of the Riddler, thanks to the book being set beforeBatman Returns, won’t directly overlap with the version that fans saw on screens shortly after Burton’s turn in the director’s chair as played by Jim Carrey. The market for a sequel project in another medium is a testament to how unique Burton’s work was, and how much people want more projects like that in the modern day. Some fans have even compared the currently ongoing Batman epic crime saga from Matt Reeves favorably to Burton’s work, more so in the way they explore ideas and not as a spiritual successor. Like Burton, Reeves has crafted a version of Gotham and its denizens that will appeal to fans across time, and that’s a great achievement for the filmmaker. Unfortunately, that project is in the Elseworlds line, andJames Gunn has confirmed that Robert Pattinson won’t be the DCU’s Batman.
There’s a case to be made thatGunn’s decision on Batman won’t be of benefit to the rebooted DCU franchise, as even in the campiest of times, fans have only had to account for one live-actionBatmanfor better or worse. This is another one in a small collection of decisions at DC Studios reflective of the company’s comic book origins, choices that are admirable from a fan perspective in theory, but might not work out in practice. While the ship might have sailed on the DCU’s new Batman, Gunn and the rest of the players at DC Studios can still take some other lessons from Burton’s work to create something as long-lasting and perpetually relevant.
