I know I’m not the only guy in the world who really wants to have a live action TV-show about Batman. I mean, common, it will be just perfect. We saw Batman in movies, and we saw Batman in animated shows and even video games, but what about a live action show?
Watching “Arrow” really makes me want to see a cool show about Batman, and Arrow does try to look like Batman. And I don’t blame them.
I know that the WB is gearing up their cinematic universe, and there is a zero chance that we will get a live action TV-show about Batman, but hey, why not to imagine it in our heads.
The Tone:
All the Batman movies were PG-13. I want a rated R Batman show. Now you can’t do this on the CW, and I don’t want to see Batman on CW. I want to watch this show on AMC or FX. No need to have it on HBO, I can live without full nude sex scenes. But common, think about it, a Batman show on AMC (Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead) or FX (Sons of Anarchy, The Shield). What’s better than that?
I want it to be realistic like the Nolan movies, but be much more edgy. Have Batman really beat the crap of criminals, have Batman battle his personal demons. Make the bad guys be real, and not cartoony.
I don’t need 22 or 23 episodes in a season, 13 episodes per season is just fine by me. I don’t want “the bad guy of the week” formula, I want full season story arcs. Every episode leads to the next.
The Setting:
The first season should be like Batman: Year One. Have Batman just show up, and have him fight the mob and corrupt cops. I can live 2 seasons without seeing the Joker. Have the legendary villains appear slowly through the time. No need to put all Batman’s villains in the first season.
So in the first season, Bruce Wayne has just returned to Gotham after 8 years, and he is a man on a mission. He wants to become a vigilante, but he soon learns that he might have the skills, but he needs some help if he wants to no get shot or stabbed. Fighting crime isn’t that easy, criminals aren’t that stupid.
At first, Bruce is just “The Ninja”, because he wears a ninja outfit that he got from the League of Assassins. Bruce has modified the ninja suit a little, and he got some help from Lucius Fox, who gave Bruce some Wayne Tec. But no Bat Suit yet, no cape and no cowl. A very basic black ninja suit.
Bruce Wayne is rich, and he has the money to buy anything. They need to establish Wayne Enterprises has been working with the military and the CIA on different project and prototype Tec, but they are all abounded now, and that is how Bruce gets his gear and gadgets.
The gadgets won’t be out of this world, so they need to be High-Tec but not alien stuff. So the gadgets are something that the military and the CIA could actually use, and it will make sense and won’t be seen as a silly thing. Also, not connected to the suit, but I would Lucius Fox much younger, kind like they did with Q in the newest Skyfall.
I will show the struggles of Bruce in his first few weeks as Batman/The Ninja. I will show few flashbacks to when he was a kid, and few flashbacks to his odyssey after leaving Gotham. But I wouldn’t do a flashback every episode like in Arrow, the flashbacks will only serve as ways understand Bruce better.
In these Flashbacks, we will get out first look at Ra's al Ghul, who serves as a mentor, but also as a father figure to Bruce. And also as a reminder for Bruce to what he might become if he kills.
We will also see Talia al Ghul in the Flashbacks, and see how Bruce and Talia fall in love.
In some point in the show Ra's al Ghul and Talia will appear in present time.
The relationship between Bruce and Alfred must be one of the centers of the show, because Alfred is the only person who sees and knows the real Bruce Wayne.
In my version we will find out that Alfred has some kind of military past, and he has his own demons, and will find out that he ran away from his dark past, and find sanctuary with the Waynes. He will also have lots of trauma (just like Bruce) from the death of the Waynes.
There will also be lots of disagree from Alfred about the all Batman thing. He feels like he needs to protect Bruce, and he is failing.
I will also show the 3 faces of Batman/Bruce. The actor, who will be playing Bruce, will need to play 3 different roles. The Playboy Bruce Wayne (the persona that he shows to the world), The Batman (the persona for the criminals) and the real Bruce (the persona that only Alfred knows).
In the first season Batman will mainly fight the mob and corrupt cops. James Gordon, who will also be younger, will be playing a big part in the show. Gordon will have his own struggles, and at first he and Batman won’t be friends. Gordon at first see Batman as just a vigilante, who takes the law to his own hands, but as time passes, Gordon will realize that in a city like Gothem, you need a Batman.
I want to see some office politics in GCPD, and how the corruption and the mob work in the city.
Bruce also needs someone good looking to date, so why not use Vicki Vale. A fearless reporter that tries to finds out the truth, and isn’t afraid to expose corrupt cops and criminals. Her love story with Bruce will develop over time, and as long as she isn’t annoying as Laurel Lance in Arrow, I’m fine.
Maybe in some point in the show, The Joker will kill her.
So in the first season Batman will battle criminals like Carmine Falcone, Sal Maroni and Gillian B. Loeb, also few corrupt cops. Also I would like to see Roman Sionis, before he becomes Black Mask in season 2. The Falcone crime family will feud with the Maroni’s, and Loeb will work for Falcone.
In some point in season 1, we will get our first “crazy villain”, and it’s Victor Zsasz. An insane serial killer. But he will be the only “crazy villain” in the first season.
I also want to see Joe Chill, he will appear in a flashback, where Bruce gets his hand on him, in his first ever act against crime (before he even left Gothem), and Bruce beats the crap out of Chill and he tries to kill him. In that scene, Bruce will realize that he can’t kill this man, the man who killed his parents, and will let the police handle it (only to find out later on that he was killed by a hitman killed Chill on Falcone’s orders).
So, it will take time until Bruce will become Batman, and in season 1 people will see him as a myth. He will always be in the shadows, like a ninja. We will finally see the real Batman on screen, using his mind, and being the greatest detective alive.
But I also want to show why Batman can’t take down the mob in one night. We will see that the mobsters are protected, by henchmen and by corrupt cops. And also, Batman will be seen by the city as a menace, and slowly will become from a criminal vigilante to a crime fighter.
I will take scenes from Year One, and I will go really dark.
Just few moments that come to my mind, Gordon will have Arnold Flass as his partner, and there will be a moment that Flass raped a teenager girl, and Gordon is going to kill Flass to that, and we get an intense scene where Batman shows up, and he tries to stop Gordon from shooting Flass.
And here, like in many other moments in the show, we will see the conflict that Batman has. His only rule is No Killing, but how can he let some criminals to keep living, like the Joker. He can kill someone like Joker, and make shore that no one will ever get hurt again from the Joker. But in the same time, Batman knows that if he kills, there won’t be a way back for him, he will become the very thing he fights against.
After season 1, more and more of Batman’s Rogues Gallery will show up, but I will balance it. I will also let the writers of the show to introduce lesser known villains and also create some new and fresh bad guys for the show.
As the show moves forward, we will see how Batman slowly transforming from a vigilante to a hero, and we will see how characters develop over time.
In season 2 we will start seeing more classic Batman characters, like Harvey Dent. He will be the city’s new District attorney.
He will become Batman’s ally. He will be a good guy for 2 seasons, and in season 4 he will become Two-Face.
But he won’t become a criminal, he will become insane and start coin tossing all around the place, and he will kill people accordingly. He will actually be almost like a Punisher, and he will kill criminals also.
Unlike the comics he won’t become a crime boss.
In season 2 we will also see Oswald Cobblepot AKA The Penguin, a British arms dealer, who has a grudge with the Wayne family, and he will try to destroy Bruce’s company.
In season 3 we will get a full season with The Joker.
I don’t know if I want to see Robin and Batgirl. Maybe we will get an updated version of Robin/Nightwing. But Dick Grayson won’t be a little boy, he will be a grown up man. If I will use him, he will show up in season 4.
Maybe I will mix between Dick and Jason Todd, and have the Joker kill him in season 5, and have the all A Death in the Family storyline. But since it’s a realistic show, don’t know how he will later become Red Hood. But what is important here, is how it will affect Batman.
Selina Kyle AKA Catwoman will show up in the show in season 3. At first she will be a Dominatrix, who kills her pimp after he abuses Holly Robinson. After this, Selina becomes Catwoman. At first she is a thief who doesn’t take crap from anybody.
Batman’s relationship with The Joker will also get a spotlight, and after Joker will show up in season 3, we will see him in other seasons too, making Batman always question his one rule.
I will have other Batman villains in the show, and they all will be realistic, and they will change so they can work in the show. Most of Batman’s villains don’t really need to change that much, only make them work in the show, but characters like Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, Clayface and others will need to be reimagined.
The show will take inspirations from all kinds of Batman stories. Like I said, season 1 will be based on Year One. When Bane will show up, and we will get “Batman: Knightfall”, and in the same season we will see Robin for the first time.
Also in some point it will be really great to get “The Long Halloween” and “The Killing Joke”.
“A Death in the Family” will play major part in season 5 and 6. It will be cool to use “Prey” in season 6, with Hugo Strange playing some mind games with Batman, and much more.