There have been many greatBatmanmovies, but they have also contained certain mistakes and issues that remain impossible to forgive. ThroughoutBatman’s long movie timeline, the Caped Crusader has been adapted in many different ways by many different creative minds. There have been many approaches to the Dark Knight’s story, though they have not all been entirely successful. In fact, DC has made significant mistakes with many of its Batman movies.
From all the differentversions of Batman’s origin storyto the various other stories adapted to the screen, certain elements of his movie history have proven to be serious mistakes. In fact, some of the missteps made by DC regarding the character have been incredibly frustrating, and are difficult to look past. With that in mind, here are 10 Batman movie mistakes that I will never forgive DC for.
10The Dark Knight Rises Misunderstanding Nuclear Explosions Makes The Trilogy’s Ending An Odd Point Of Its Story
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Christopher Nolan’sDark Knighttrilogymay contain some of the best-loved superhero movies ever made, but the three-film arc isn’t without its mistakes. Its final chapter,The Dark Knight Rises, is particularly filled with nagging plot holes, with many of them proving particularly frustrating for the way they affect the trilogy’s ending. One of the most significant comes at the movie’s end, when Batman flies the overloading nuclear reactor out of Gotham City.
The movie inaccurately represents the destructive power of nuclear explosions, though. Batman is shown flying for mere seconds before the explosion, andthe shockwaves and fallout alone should have devastated Gotham for years afterThe Dark Knight Rises’ endingbased on its proximity. However, the movie simply brushes over these scientific facts to herald Batman as a martyr, making it a glaring mistake that’s difficult to look past.
9The Batman’s Biggest Riddler Clue Is Painfully At Odds With Its Detective Story
The Batman (2022)
Even for all theRiddler’s riddles inThe Batman, the hero was unable to catch the villain before his plan came to fruition. However, Batman’s inability to locate the Riddler beforehand unfortunately boiled down to investigative incompetence. This seems an especially unforgivable mistake consideringThe Batman’s depiction of the hero as the World’s Greatest Detective, as he missed a glaring piece of evidence that would have allowed him to save many lives.
After accessing the Riddler’s thumb drive, Batman and Gordon uncover the photos taken by the villain of various people outside the Iceberg Lounge. Though Batman was able to surmise the location of the pictures, the angle from which they were all taken should have led him directly to Riddler’s hideout.The pictures being taken from the same place should have led to the Riddler’s much earlier capture, but Batman’s mistake allowed him to remain at large.
8The Pit Made No Sense At All
Another significant plot point inThe Dark Knight Risesthat stands out as a major narrative mistake is the Pit – the prison in which Bane is said to have escaped from where he later imprisons Bruce Wayne. Though on the surface it makes for a good narrative obstacle for the hero to overcome, from a logical perspective its inclusion was nothing more than a mistake. Simply put,the Pit makes no real sense, and would actually be incredibly ineffective as a prison.
Having no guards and a safety rope means that prisoners can attempt to escape as many times as they want. Theoretically, a prisoner could be making the climb at all times, and they could create handholds to make their escape easier. However, this isn’t addressed or even considered in the movie, making it a frustrating and almost insulting plot hole that isn’t easy to forgive.
7Introducing Batman As An Irredeemable Vigilante
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Batman’s first appearance in theDCEU’s movie timelineintroduces him as a violent vigilante who has abandoned what has always been considered his most important rule. Written to keep the character in line with the gritty tone of the franchise, Batman is established as the opposite of Superman – where one attempts to stand as a symbol of hope, the other makes himself a symbol of fear through brutal violence and stealth tactics,
The simple truth of Batman’s DCEU introduction is that it makes him essentially irredeemable. Not only has he killed countless people, buthis stance on Superman is prejudiced to the point of xenophobia.Although he later changed his mind to team up with the Kryptonian, the damage was already done: Batman was introduced to the DCEU as a bloodthirsty and close-minded vigilante, and his supposed hero turn was too hard a sell.
6Gordon Knowing Bane’s Name Is A Major Mistake
One of the smaller mistakes inThe Dark Knight Risesalso serves as one of its most frustrating. After being captured by Bane’s forces, Commissioner Gordon briefly comes face to face with the villain in his underground lair. In an especially daring moment, Gordon’s bid for freedom sees him escape their sewer hideout, after which he begins alerting everyone to the mercenary known as Bane and his army hiding under Gotham’s streets.
The mistake is simple:Gordon shouldn’t know Bane’s name, as it was never spoken in front of him.In fact, Gordon is seemingly unconscious for the majority of their encounter, making it seem incredibly unlikely that he would be able to so accurately relay information about the villain’s forces. Despite being a minor plot hole, it’s a frustrating oversight, making it even more difficult to overlook.
5Casting George Clooney As Batman
Batman & Robin (1997)
Of the manyactors to play Batman in live-action, none have been quite so robustly ridiculed as George Clooney. Starring as the Caped Crusader in the much-maligned 1997 filmBatman & Robin, Clooney’s tenure in the role was short, but still considered far longer than it should have been. Many consider George Clooney being cast in the role at all to be a huge mistake on the part of DC.
Clooney is entirely too smooth for Batman. He lacks much of the emotional complexity of the character, and is too put-together and well-adjusted to adequately portray the brooding and somewhat tortured figure of the Dark Knight.Batman & Robinwas a mess for many reasons, and Clooney’s casting may not have been chief among them, butbringing him in as the star was never the right choice, and was a major mistake by DC.
4Not Letting Tim Burton Finish His Trilogy
Burton Never Got To Make Batman Continues
1989 saw Tim Burton adapt Batman to the big screen, with the simply-titledBatmanproving hugely successful. Burton’s gothic vision for the hero perfectly utilized Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson’s talents, prompting a sequel, 1992’sBatman Returns. Again, the movie was able to expand on the character’s mythos, further proving the potential of Burton’s unique spin on the hero. However, Burton’s third movie, reportedly titledBatman Continues, was scrapped when Burton was dropped.
Not allowing Burton to finish hisBatmantrilogy was an unforgivable mistake. The movie would reportedly have starred Robin Williams as the Riddler and seen Billy Dee Williams return as Two-Face, paying off an earlier tease from the first movie. The years since have shown that audiences still hunger for more of Michael Keaton’s Batman, andthough the moment seems to have passed, Burton’s unmade third movie still sounds like it would have been an excellent prospect.
3The DCEU’s Robin Being Dead
Robin did not appear in the movies of the DCEU, but the franchise did establish his existence. Briefly shown inBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Robin’s vandalized suit appeared in a display case in the Batcave, with the words “HAHAH joke’s on you Batman” spray-painted across the torso. It clearly indicates that Robin was murdered by the Joker at some stage before the beginning of the DCEU, but it was also a huge mistake.
Failing to establish Robin as a character within the DCEU was a big missed opportunity. Even having another iteration of the hero could have afforded him a greater role, or otherwise could have established Nightwing as a separate entity elsewhere in the franchise. Sadly, this isn’t a narrative avenue that was ever explored, andthe tantalizing but unfulfilled tease of the DCEU’s Robin remains an irritating waste of potential.
2Making Batman & Robin
When it comes to glaring mistakes in Batman’s movie history, there are none as obvious as 1997’sBatman & Robin. The movie featured George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell in the title roles, with Alicia Silverstone’s Batgirl helping them overcome the forces of Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mister Freeze.Batman & Robinis widely considered one of the worst comic book movies ever made.
The relatively underwhelming reception to its predecessor,Batman Forever, should have served as a cautionary tale, but instead,Batman & Robinembodied all of the previous movie’s most-criticized aspects.It was needlessly wacky, packed with cringe-worthy clichés, and failed to inject any semblance of deeper theme into its story.Batman & Robinremains something of an insult to the source material, making the fact that it was written, shot, and released one of DC’s biggest Batman mistakes of all time.
1Scrapping Ben Affleck’s Batman Movie
Affleck’s Solo Batman Movie Was A Fascinating Prospect
It’s not just the bad movies that were inexplicably made that serve as DC’s biggest Batman mistakes, but the great ones that were not. At one stage, a soloBatmanmovie following Ben Affleck’s version of the hero was announced for the DCEU, with Deathstroke being tipped as the movie’s villain. The prospect was initially met with mixed reactions, but excitement over its potential mounted even as it started to seem less likely to come to fruition.
Eventually, DC scrapped Ben Affleck’s soloBatmanmovie, and its production slowly morphed into that ofThe Batman. Even so, the potential of Affleck’s first solo outing as the hero remains obvious, as it could have properly explored his world in a way that the franchise did not otherwise do. Scrapping Affleck’s chance to fully bring the Dark Knight to life in a solo movie remains one of DC’s worst everBatmanmovie mistakes.
