Batman Continues: The Troubled Story of Tim Burton’s Third Batman Film

Before Batman Forever, there was Batman Continues: the third Tim Burton film in his own Dark Knight trilogy. The story would have seen Michael Keaton and the filmmaker return to Gotham City for the third time, but Warner Bros. pumped the brakes on this movie ever happening. It’s become a case of “what if” for many fans, as comics such as Batman ’89 have attempted to continue the story of the Burtonverse and to see what could have been.

While it’s unclear if Batman Continues would have been a better film than Batman Forever, it’s never a bad time to dig through the archives to find out more about it. Perhaps in another alternate earth in the DC Universe this film exists and completed the Burton trilogy on its own terms. Regardless, let’s head to the Batcave, type in the secret password on the Batcomputer (hint: Martha), and find out more about this unrealised project.

Why Tim Burton Didn’t Direct Batman Continues

The ’90s was a different time for comic book movies. Studios hadn’t figured out that both adults and children can enjoy superheroes, so they chose to focus on more kid-friendly movies in an effort to push more merch and toy sales. Batman Returns felt like a stake to the heart of Warner Bros. in this regard.

Distinctively darker and crowing with more mature themes than its predecessor, the 1992 sequel to Batman scared the pants off parent groups. From Penguin biting people’s noses to Catwoman’s dominatrix-inspired outfit, the prudes got their pubes in knots over such “disgusting” content. Then, there was backlash against McDonald’s, of all things, for seemingly promoting this adult content to younger audiences by including Batman Returns toys with its Happy Meals.

As a result of the controversy and Batman Returns‘ lower-than-expected box office returns ($266,824,291, as per The Numbers), Warner Bros. asked Burton to step down in favour of someone who would deliver a more kid-friendly product. Burton did stay on as an executive producer for Batman Forever.

The Plot For Batman Continues

For the most part, Batman Continues would have featured the same plot elements as Batman Forever. The Dark Knight would partner with Robin as they battled against The Riddler and Two-Face. However, the movie would have been far darker and more in line with the tone of Batman Returns than the neon-camp of Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever.

Additionally, there were some cast members discussed for Batman Continues. In an interview with The A.V. Club, Marlon Wayans revealed he had been cast as Robin. “I got the role, and I was supposed to do the second one,” he said. “I got my wardrobe fitted and everything, and what happened was that there were too many characters, and they felt Robin wouldn’t be of service. So they put me in the third one, and when the third one came around, they got a new director on it, and their vision of the project changed.”

On the villain front, Billy Dee Williams was set to reprise his role as Harvey Dent from Batman. This time, though, he would have transformed into Dent’s evil alter-ego, Two-Face. Speaking at the 2013 Wizard World Nashville Comic Con (via ComicBook.com), Williams said, “I had hoped that I would have done Two-Face. But it changed hands before then, and I think Schumacher got involved, so they took a different direction with that.”

There were also rumours that Michelle Pfeiffer’s Selina Kyle would appear, since Burton was working on a Catwoman spinoff film at the time. However, the one certainty was that Keaton would be Burton’s Batman again.

Why Michael Keaton Left Batman Forever

Michael Keaton believed in Batman Continues‘ script when Tim Burton was on board to film. Despite contrary beliefs, he didn’t depart the project as soon as the director left. Keaton revealed on the Backstage podcast (via The Playlist) that he spent some time with Schumacher discussing the vision for Batman Forever. The actor explained how he tried to nudge the director to go in a similar sort of direction as Burton would have, but he eventually realised it was a lost cause.

“But I remember one of the things that I walked away going, ‘Oh boy, I can’t do this,'” Keaton said. “He asked me, ‘I don’t understand why everything has to be so dark and everything so sad,’ and I went, ‘Wait a minute, do you know how this guy got to be Batman? Have you read… I mean, it’s pretty simple.’”

How Tim Burton Feels About Seeing Batman Continues Become Batman Forever

In a later interview with Empire (via CBR), Burton revealed that Warner Bros. criticised his style as too eccentric and strange for what the studio wanted Batman to be. However, the director was left gobsmacked by Batman Forever, believing it was a hypocrisy on screen. “‘Wait a minute,” Burton said. “‘Okay. Hold on a second here, you complain about me, I’m too weird, I’m too dark, and then you put nipples on the costume? Go f*** yourself.’ Seriously. So yeah, I think that’s why I didn’t end up [doing Batman Continues].”

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Tell us, do you think Tim Burton’s Batman Continues would have been a better film than Batman Forever?