Matt Reeves has a tough task ahead of him with The Batman, especially as a lot of fans out there still wish that Ben Affleck was directing and starring in the DC Comics adaptation. Instead, we're getting a "Year Two" story which will revolve around Robert Pattinson's version of the Caped Crusader.
During a recent interview with Nerdist to promote sci-fi series Tales from the Loop, Reeves made it known that he wants his take on the character to stand out from previous big screen interpretations.
"I thought, 'Well, there’s been some terrific Batman movies,' and I don’t want to be part of a long line of Batman movies where this is just another one," the filmmaker explained. "I feel like they’ve been really distinctive. The best ones have been incredible. What Nolan did was incredible. What Tim Burton did was really singular."
Elaborating on that, Reeves went on share his love of both Batman Returns and The Dark Knight.
"I love Batman Returns. Michelle Pfeiffer was incredible. I love it, I love it so much. It’s so incredible and she’s so incredible in it. I just think it’s such a beautiful movie. I love the Penguin stuff when he’s going down the sewers as the baby. It’s just like, wow. This is the beautiful thing about Tim Burton at his best in that way that he’s got that connection into the fantastical that feels very, very personal.
"The Dark Knight is so incredible and I think that Heath Ledger’s performance and their conception of the Joker in that movie is indelible. And the battle that he engaged with, you know, with Batman/Bruce is incredible. But the thing you take away from it more than anything is that conception, specifically, I think of the Joker. That movie is so much about how it’s a horrifying thing to stare into the abyss, that idea of that level of nihilism. The whole idea that there was nothing you could do because even in the destruction of him, you were fulfilling his aims. It was just a terrifying notion that speaks to an aspect of human nature and that was really profound."
It turns out that those films helped Reeves find his own vision for The Batman, something which probably explains why he's using The Penguin and Catwoman in his upcoming movie!
"I just felt like well, what I’d love to do is to get a version of this Batman character where he’s not yet fully formed," he added. "Where there’s something to do in this context with who that guy would be in this world today, and to ground him in all of these broken ways. Because at the end of the day, this guy is doing all of this to deal with trauma in his past."
Seeing as Reeves is such a big fan of The Dark Knight, it's now hard not to wonder whether he could have plans to reinvent The Joker during his planned trilogy of movies starring Batman...
Click on the "Next" button below to check out some unused DCEU
concept art which could have changed that shared world in a huge way!
10. Scarecrow Joins Task Force X
A piece of concept art from extremely early on in the development of Suicide Squad, this reveals that Scarecrow was set to assemble alongside the rest of Task Force X. Considering the fact that David Ayer's 2016 movie mostly focused on Batman's villains, that's not overly surprising!
This take on the villain from Ed Natividad is a grounded and appropriately sinister interpretation of the fear-inducing bad guy, and seeing what he brought to the table would have been a lot of fun.
However, as Task Force X ended up battling mindless monsters, there's really not much someone with the power to instil fear in his foes with a toxic gas could do here to make much of a difference!
9. The Mean Streets Of Krypton
Man of Steel explored Kypton in a way no other Superman movie had up until that point, but this concept art reveals that we could have seen even more of Kal-El's home planet back in 2013.
While we got to see the upper echelons of Krypton as we followed characters like Jor-El and General Zod, it seems like Zack Snyder considered taking us down to the streets as well. These formidable looking soldiers were the planet's police force, and likely meant to show us that things for the regular people on the planet really weren't that great as things started falling apart around them.
The visuals here are really something else, and a version of Man of Steel where we learned just how dire things had become on Krypton would be no bad thing...clearly, there wasn't time!
8. Steppenwolf's Original Arrival On Earth
Suicide Squad director David Ayer has confirmed that Parademons were originally going to be part of Enchantress' army, and we now know that her plan was set to involve bringing Steppenwolf to Earth via Boom Tube. She must have crossed paths with him and Darkseid thousands of years prior, and bringing them back would have no doubt been advantageous to the ancient villain somehow.
This movie bringing Steppenwolf to Earth would have been the perfect way of setting up the events of Justice League and helped make the DC Extended Universe feel even more connected.
Why Warner Bros. decided not to head down this route is unclear, but Suicide Squad could have ended up feeling vastly more important, while also delivering a jaw-dropping twist reveal!
7. Metallo
Director Zack Snyder had a lot of ambitious plans for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and the introduction of Metallo was among them. Believe it or not, this was the original plan for Wallace Keefe, the Wayne Industries employee who lost his legs during the events of Man of Steel.
As exciting as that might have been to see, this would have been one villain too many for the already very busy movie, and this design really doesn't work particularly well.
Instead of getting his legs back, he's wearing a Kryptonite-powered flight suit with two ridiculously massive guns for arms. Seeing Superman go toe to toe with the formidable baddie wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world, but it might have run the risk of being a tad too goofy.
6. The Joker Lends Enhantress A Helping Hand
In an earlier version of Suicide Squad, the plan was for The Joker to turn on Harley Quinn and throw her from that helicopter to her death (rather than her safety). Behind the scenes photos and even the trailer confirmed that the Clown Prince of Crime would have appeared during the final battle, but this artwork shows the villain aligned with Enchantress.
Considering the fact she was essentially offering to grant wishes, it makes sense he would battle Task Force X alongside her, especially if that meant getting Harley back under his control.
Scared that moviegoers would reject such a dark take on their relationship, though, Warner Bros. ordered reshoots, but it is cool to see what might have been thanks to this piece of concept art.
5. A Fiery Final Battle
If you were disappointed with the CGI Ares in Wonder Woman, chances are this won't be something you're overly excited about. However, the ancient Greek God being a being made entirely of fire makes for one hell of a visual, and could have led to an even better final battle here.
Whether visual effects were capable of pulling something like this off in an effective manner is hard to say, this final fight being a little less generic certainly wouldn't have been a bad thing.
As it stands, it was still pretty exciting, but this is way better. The God of War being a fiery being feels appropriate, and it's hard not to wonder how Diana Prince might ended up overcoming him.
4. A Brand New Batcycle
Say what you will about Ben Affleck's take on Batman (his use of guns in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was definitely controversial), but he had a cool suit and some great weapons.
His vehicles were also pretty impressive, and after seeing the Batmobile, Flying Fox, and Batwing all in action, Justice League very nearly introduced the Caped Crusader's brand new Batcycle.
Instead of wheels, this is more akin to a hovercraft. Needless to say, seeing Batman racing through the battlefield on this might have led to some seriously cool action sequences in the ensemble.
3. The Doomsday We All Wanted
As divisive as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice might have been, there's one thing every fan can agree on: Doomsday looked nothing short of terrible! Considering the fact Zack Snyder is a huge comic book fan, we have no idea what he was thinking with this redesign, but concept art Jerad S.Marantz has shared some far superior earlier designs.
Like the one above, they're all comic accurate and definitely want fans expect from Doomsday.
As it stands, he ended up looking like one of the cave trolls from The Lord of the Rings, and that's a huge blunder on Snyder's part. A completely comic accurate Doomsday wouldn't have necessarily made the movie any better, but the final battle certainly would have benefited from a visual standpoint.
2. Darkseid's Larger Role In Justice League
In the version of Justice League released by Warner Bros. (which was subject to extensive reshoots courtesy of Joss Whedon), Darkseid was nowhere to be seen. He was referenced, but that was it, and plans for him to make a physical appearance ended up being scrapped.
Zack Snyder has confirmed that the villain was going to appear both in those flashbacks and at the end of the Boom Tube which Steppenwolf opened during the final battle.
In this concept art, we get to see Darkside in the distant past, and Snyder has since said that Uxas was, "Searching for something that would make him unbeatable." In other words, he wanted to get his hands on the Mother Boxes which would help make him damn near unstoppable.
1. The Joker And The Batman
Batman's cameo appearance in Suicide Squad was a lot of fun, but not having the Caped Crusader cross paths with The Joker was a huge blunder (we're also not sure when that meeting was being saved for). However, this concept art reveals that the two very nearly did cross paths.
As you can see above, the original plan was for the Clown Prince of Crime to wait for the Dark Knight in his Batmobile, and while this was likely from an early stage in development, it's hard not to get excited thinking about how an exchange like this between the characters would play out.
This is a really cool visual, and one that could have created a truly memorable meeting in the DCEU.