The Batman is set to release soon. This movie is supposed to be a whole separate universe. It is not the same universe as the DCEU. It seems that WB wants to wash their hands off of the old stories and characters and they want to establish new lore from the very basic level. To do this they would have to make use of everything that has come before including the source material and older movies. They can also follow Jeffrey Wright’s suggestion. He thinks The Batman should create original villains. Now original villains are not something that is alien to the movie and entertainment industry.
They have made sure to adapt the source material in such a way that it pays homage to the original while being utterly unique in its own regard. But sometimes this is not enough to attain success in the movie industry. For the entire narrative to be effective, the characters involved should be relatable. Their struggles should make sense to the viewer but in a comic book movie, things must also be exaggerated. Batman’s rogue gallery is full of a lot of very human villains. This is the reason the world’s greatest detective is one of the most celebrated comic book characters. But the problem is that the caped crusader has been made the subject of feature-length films far too often. So his rogue’s gallery doesn’t hold any mystery and intrigue for the average viewer.
The Batman Should Create Original Villains
Hence it becomes very hard for any filmmaker to justify using the characters that have been used in other franchises. It becomes a competition of which version was better, even if all of them standalone perfectly well. Look at how many Jokers we have. Jeffery Wright, who plays Gordon, in The Batman shared an idea that can combat this problem. When asked who he wants to see enter the franchise the character made a very astute observation.
He said this in his exclusive interview with ScreenRant:
“Who would I love to see? You know, in the TV series they had the rogues gallery that we know, but they also created some of their own villains. I think King Tut was newly created and I don’t see any reason why we should stop now. It’s great to revisit the familiar, but I think it’s also an exciting opportunity, because the franchise continues to grow, continues to evolve, to actually come up with some new.”
Interestingly, the actor refers to the Gotham TV series. He suggests that WB should learn something from their TV counterpart and make use of their writing team. It is hard to create original characters for a comic book universe but The Batman might be the easiest character to do this with. With his human powers, you can elevate just about any thug to the level of a supervillain, given the right script. Then there is the fact that the original characters would make the franchise unique and attract viewers because of the novelty of the experience. The moviemakers don’t even have to go that far if they don’t want to. They can just choose to integrate unused villains from Batman comics. Hush is a good candidate for this.
The Future
Any character who has not been used widely in Batman movies before today would do well in this franchise, maybe even the court of owls. It would distinguish this young Batman’s story from all others. WB can even choose to introduce Jason Todd in the franchise at a later date and have the new original villain kill his Robin. This will make an astonishing impact on the story and still pay homage to the classic origin of The Red Hood. But it is still unclear what WB wants to do with The Batman franchise.
The first movie will be bringing us 3 villains. Falcone, Penguin, and The Riddler will be coming after Batman in their own ways. He has some assistance in the form of Alfred and Catwoman but he will need all of his might to get through this. The moment of reckoning will be upon us soon. Let us know what you think about it all down in the comments and keep watching this space for everything Marvel, DC, and Hollywood. Excelsior!!!
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