Future of the Franchise - Batman 4? How about a new trilogy?

The third Nolan Batman film may not even be out yet but people are already talking about a fourth. “People” should be thinking about Superman 4 (how bad it was!) and X-Men and Spider-man 4 (how they never happened!) I would say that the chances of a 4th Batman film are very low. Instead there is a much higher possibility of a new trilogy. I think that they can go for either; 1, copy Nolan's style for another trilogy; 2, go for a new, camper trilogy or; 3, go for a "Batman Beyond" film:

1. Copy Nolan’s darker style and carry on with a new cast but a slightly new feel and possibly Robin. We know how much the public like a darker Batman thanks to the billion $$$’s that “The Dark Knight” made! This problem with this is that The Dark Knight Rises” would have to be a huge hit or at least a half-decent film. Then there’s other problems like the new director not being able to pull of Nolan’s style, the public not accepting new actors and/or new characters and plots not being very good. And of course the Joker couldn’t be brought back without huge upset.

2. Go for a more campy style to Batman. Many would argue that this wouldn’t work but the cartoon “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” is doing very well and so is Grant Morrison’s “Batman and Robin”. This style would make it easier to bring in Robin and be a refreshing change from Nolan. The Joker could also be reinvented to be scary in a camper-kind-of-way and Robin could easily be brought into the films which could possibly lead to exploration into the theory that Batman is still a kid inside and can’t mature into an adult (this is a real theory check it out online!). This would of course be very, very hard to pull of well without becoming silly-camp.



3. Another Batman cartoon, “Batman Beyond” is basically Batman’s son, who doesn’t know he’s Batman’s son, taking up the mantel of Batman in the future. The old Batman is an old man who works as his trainer. I could see this taking some hints from the best selling graphic novel “The Dark Knight Returns” and becoming a great film, taking Batman and placing him somewhere new. Again Cheesiness would be harder to pull off and the future would need to be gritty like “Blade Runner”.

Which one do I see happening? Well I would like to see a camper trilogy followed by a “Batman Beyond” trilogy which would tie up with the other three in a loose nine-film series. But what I see happening is a poor attempt at another Nolan like trilogy which will play around with Robin but not live up to expectations. Hopefully when that flops it will be followed by “Batman Beyond” , but we will have to wait and see!