Similarities between Burton, Schumacher and Nolan's Batmen

[OutRiddled]

I disagree with that.  Keaton was never tempted to retire, he flat out states "This is how it is".

He says that in Batman 89, but in Batman Returns he wanted to retire and settle down with Selina. He unmasks himself right in front of Max Shreck, having previously announced his intent to send Shreck to prison. There was no going back after that. Batman's secret identity was compromised, and Shreck would have told everyone in prison it was Bruce Wayne beneath the cowl. But by that point Bruce didn't care. He just wanted to be with Selina. Forsaking his duel identity was his way of demonstrating his commitment to her and setting an example he hoped she'd follow.

That's a good point, but I saw it as a romantic gesture not that he was giving up Batman.  Yes, he did reveal himself to Shreck, but who would believe Shreck anyway?

Similarly Kilmer's Batman also wanted to quit and settle down with Chase. He tells Dick as much during the scene where he says "So from this day on, Batman is no more [...] Chase is coming to dinner. I'm going to tell her everything." Until then, Bruce had been driven by guilt stemming from repressed memories of his father's journal. But he'd failed to achieve catharsis through his crusade as Batman and had instead become locked in a cycle of violence; each night replacing the face of his parents' killer with a never-ending gallery of substitutes. He believed he could free himself from that cycle, from his repressed memories and the guilt attached to them, through Chase's help. It was only after he confronted those memories that he became liberated from his guilt and the compulsion to fight crime. And from then on out he chose to continue being batman as a matter of his own volition. But at one point, he definitely intended to discard the cowl and settle down with Chase.

Chase wasn't the cause of him wanting to give up Batman, like you said, he wanted to be free of the guilt "The innocent aren't faceless anymore".  Chase just helped bring him out of it.

[The Laughing Fish]

I thought of another couple of new similarities to compare Batfleck with Burton, Schumacher and Nolan.

• Like Burton and Schumacher, Batfleck is still very much haunted by that night where his parents were brutally shot to death.
• Schumacher's Bat and Batfleck both had visions where they encountered a Man-Bat looking creature. However, the difference is the BF moment was a deleted scene and one where it helped Bruce to recover from his temporary amnesia, whereas Batfleck was suffering from a nightmare that showed the audience his deep-rooted psychological horrors.
• Both Batfleck and Nolan's version had been tricked by the villains at some stage: Lex manipulating Batman's prejudice and fear of Superman to force a fight to the death between the two, TDK Joker fooling Batman into saving Harvey Dent instead of Rachel, as well as tricking everyone by getting caught on purpose to escape with Lau, and Batman being foolishly set up by Catwoman in a trap where he is beaten by Bane.

[OutRiddled]

I thought of another couple of new similarities to compare Batfleck with Burton, Schumacher and Nolan.

• Schumacher's Bat and Batfleck both had visions where they encountered a Man-Bat looking creature. However, the difference is the BF moment was a deleted scene and one where it helped Bruce to recover from his temporary amnesia, whereas Batfleck was suffering from a nightmare that showed the audience his deep-rooted psychological horrors.

It's not just in a deleted scene, Man-Bat is in Batman Forever.  Funny how we got two versions of Man-Bat but the character will probably never appear in a film.

[The Dark Knight]

Funny how we got two versions of Man-Bat but the character will probably never appear in a film.

I'm totally up for characters like Man-Bat and Clayface appearing in a new Batman movie at some point. There's so much untapped potential there. They've already put their toes in the water by using Killer Croc in Suicide Squad. B:TAS regularly used these characters and with great success.

[thecolorsblend]

Bruce Wayne as we saw him at the beginning of B89 was permanently alienated from society. The idea of maintaining normal friendships or any kind of public persona was just beyond him. When his parents died, that was it. Lights out for Bruce. He was stunted from that day forward. He was even mystified by sex with Vicki. He understood what he was supposed to do, obviously, but he derived no real fulfillment from it. He could be a hero to Vicki in a simplistic way but he could not be a true partner to her. She got him out of his shell but she could not mend his wounds. Not in any lasting kind of way.

Bruce Wayne as we saw him at the beginning of TDKRises was permanently alienated from society. The idea of maintaining normal friendships or any kind of public persona was just beyond him. When Racel died, that was it. Lights out for Bruce AND Batman. He was stunted from that day forward. He was even mystified by sex with Miranda/Talia. He understood what he was supposed to do, obviously, but he derived no real fulfillment from it. His hero days are far behind him, unless there's an opportunity to get himself killed, that is. He wants to be a "hero" again in a simplistic sense so that he can go out in a blaze of glory. But, in the end, nobody can mend his wounds. Not in any lasting kind of way.

In both cases, Bruce was just going through the motions but he wasn't truly invested in his love interests. He couldn't be.

[Azrael]

B89/TDK

Near the beginning there's a few scenes with people talking about "who/what is the Batman".

A scene where the Joker meets the ruling mob, sitting in a long table, and establishes his superiority by killing one of them in a theatrical manner.

The Joker doesn't care about money.

A face off between hero and villain in a long central Gotham street, the Joker on foot and Batman in a vehicle. Both end with Batman crashing.

The final confrontation takes place on a high building, the Joker ends up hanging from somewhere, searchlights illuminating his face.

[Azrael]

Batman Returns/ Batman & Robin

Both male villains have a wintery theme and icy lairs.

Both female villains started as nerdy assistants to an abusive boss, haircut and glasses obscuring the attractiveness of the actress. They both discovered something they weren't supposed to see so their boss tried to kill them. They were "resurrected" by what would become their gimmick. They have dominatrix tendencies and talk like femme fatales from Old Hollywood.