Continuing the Burtonverse

[Slash Man]

The abandoned plans for Burton's Batman 3 have rightfully taken precedent in continuing the Burtonverse, but there remains other entries loosely related to Burton's two films.

First is the Nintendo game. While I think there's too many conflicts for it to fit nicely with the events of the film, I think the excellent assortment of villains should be adapted eventually down the line. We have Killer Moth, KGBeast, Deadshot, Maxie Zeus, Shakedown, Nightslayer, Firebug, Enforcer, and Electrocutioner, Heatwave, and the Enforcer. There was something satisfying about Keaton's Batman facing off against these classic comic foes in the setting of the '89 film. While the finer details were hard to see on Nintendo, they did all receive redesigns to make them more in line with the Burtonverse; a couple bosses even received illustrations depicting this.

Now, the game's story was simply that these villains were hired hands of the Joker. While that wouldn't exactly translate to a cinematic Batman, I think a team up would be cool after everything is formally introduced. KGBeast has always been a favorite of mine, and the films taking place around the fall of the Soviet Union gives a good opening for his backstory. Firebug actually had a personal connection with this Batman because it's mentioned that Batman put his brother away. You could write that as one of the Grissom gangsters or Joker goons (or even the bell tower goon that Batman dropped to his doom).

Bringing back the Joker is another issue that we've hear rumors of for Batman 5; either as a hallucination or in the flesh. Ocean's loose sequel to the Batman 89 game, is all about the Return of the Joker. It's funny that the original game killed the Joker much like the film, but the beta version simply had Batman deliver a brutal Bat-punch before arresting him (the Joker's return seems to suggest this version transpired). The newspaper comic strip had a lot of similarities with the film; they cheated a bit and had Joker fall into a bay rather than splatter on the pavement.

Speaking of the newspaper comic, the only villain that was unaccounted for by the films was the Mad Hatter; another fine candidate for Keaton's opponent. It helps that his first appearance coincided with Vicki Vale's in the main comic. The Riddler also had a featured storyline, however he is already very much associated with the "Batman 3" project as portrayed by Robin Williams.

Something fans have also been clamoring for is a Superman crossover. Most everyone has Reeve as their top choice, which I agree would also be phenomenal for these two titans that defined a genre to finally meet. But there's actually other continuity that already teased this. Most prominent is Lois and Clark The New Adventures of Superman, which features the Keaton Batmobile. We also know that Nic Cage's unseen Superman would have explicitly existed in the same continuity as Burton's Batman. Now could these references be easily consolidated or ignored by future writers? Most likely, since that's pretty much what had to be done with the Schumacher films.

I've seen the Flash (John Wesley Shipp) and Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter) brought up as well, but that leads us into the newly established live action multiverse in the Arrowverse shows. Because of the rigid distinctions for different film universes, the live action Wonder Woman, Superman, Flash and Batman are all now confirmed to be in different universes. This may have also just been a throwaway gag, but the 89 universe was seemingly mentioned as being a fictional universe within the 1990 Flash show.

It's worth mentioning that the Catwomqn movie also references Batman Returns. Though since these continuities have branched, this can be attributed to either the Burtonverse or the Schumacher universe.

[The Laughing Fish]

This may have also just been a throwaway gag, but the 89 universe was seemingly mentioned as being a fictional universe within the 1990 Flash show.

Yeah. To be specific, the 1990 Flash TV show had Burton Batman and Donner Superman Easter eggs in the episode Child's Play, when Barry Allen is walking past the 1989 and 1978 movie posters at a local theater.   

Something fans have also been clamoring for is a Superman crossover. Most everyone has Reeve as their top choice, which I agree would also be phenomenal for these two titans that defined a genre to finally meet. But there's actually other continuity that already teased this. Most prominent is Lois and Clark The New Adventures of Superman, which features the Keaton Batmobile. We also know that Nic Cage's unseen Superman would have explicitly existed in the same continuity as Burton's Batman. Now could these references be easily consolidated or ignored by future writers? Most likely, since that's pretty much what had to be done with the Schumacher films.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I don't think Reeve would fit in Keaton's world. The two eras those characters were filmed are vastly different to each other, despite their first movies being only a decade apart. Maybe you could have Reeve's Clark get on with the times as he drops the clumsy disguise act and becomes slightly world weary, but keeping him stuck in his 1978 self wouldn't really mesh that well with the cynical culture of Burton's Gotham City***. Because of this, I'd be more open to having Cage's Superman interact with Batman, even in comic book form. We've only seen the costume test reveals and concept art, but introducing what Cage might've been in comic book form would probably come with less baggage compared to trying to satisfy the stubborn Donner fans.

***: Now, you could see that The Quest for Peace was going towards that direction by making Clark grapple a serious political problem that was the focus of the 1980s. If the film was better made and fulfilled that potential, maybe Reeve's Superman integrating with the Burton world would feel more natural.

[The Laughing Fish]

Well, now that Keaton's Batman comeback has been marred by canceled projects and a Flash film that's destined to become the biggest failure in DC's film history, I'm just shaking my head at what a horrendously missed opportunity everything turned out to be.

As much as I believe Batman Beyond would've been a sure bet, I would've loved to have seen Keaton comeback for one more Burtonverse film, in the vein of Dark Knight Returns. Maybe have Batgirl fill in the Carrie Kelley Robin, have her and Batman unite to stop new threats of Killer Moth and Firefly, and uncover the real villain pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Yeah, such an idea could risk being derivative, if you compare it to the comics and previous movies that came before. But I think a potential finale to the Burtonverse would've been a hit compared to this Batgirl and Flash fiasco. It definitely would've avoided being tied to the tragic drama surrounding the DC shared universe brand, and trying to retroactively change what came before.

Such a shame.

[Slash Man]

Yeah, associating something with the DCEU at this point almost feels like adding on unnecessary baggage. The series was more defined by its misses than its hits in the eyes of the audience.

Something like Joker or The Batman seemed to benefit from a hands off approach from the studio.