I mean, we’ve already had the (dearly missed) Batman ’66. Why not homage another classic Batman adaptation with its own comic book series? Alas, somehow DC Comics said no to this fantastic pitch from Joe Quinones and Kate Leth based on the beloved 1989 Batman movie.
Quinones revealed the failed pitch on his blog yesterday, although he didn’t offer a reason as to why DC rejected the pitch. Inspired directly by Batman ’66‘s continuation of the Adam West TV show, Batman ’89 (which presumably also would have been a digital-first series) would have been set after the events of Batman Returns.
As well as planning a return for Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, Quinones and Leth would have used the series to introduce “Burton-verse” takes on classic Batman characters like Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn and Barbara Gordon/Batgirl. You can check out a few concept sketches for those characters above, and mourn that they sadly won’t get to see the light of day. They look a bit crazy — especially Batgirl and her bat-poncho — and yet perfectly in tune with the aesthetic of Burton’s Batman films.
The craziest bit, though? They also wanted to imagine an alternate version of Two-Face — one where Tommy Lee Jones never replaced Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent for Batman Forever:
Yes. Lando Two-Face. No, I can’t believe they rejected this either.
But alas, a chance to wonder what might have been. DC’s digital-first roster has been the perfect place for the company to experiment with things like this, between the likes of Batman ’66 and Wonder Woman ’77. Let’s hope that it’s an idea DC would consider returning to one day.
Comments
10 responses to “Behold The Batman ’89 Comic That DC Rejected Because It Hates Joy”
I’d be down for this, but it would be a shame that devito’s penguin would be out of commission.
Pfeiffers catwoman was easily the best live action catwoman, and there was a lot of potential in exploring that character.
Fools.
Maybe they didnt like the fact Batkeaton indiscriminately killed badguys left right and center…
But LandoTwoface needs to happen in Batman AND Starwars!
It sounds cool but I’m not sure if 89 was really different enough to justify it’s own series. It’s not like 66′ where the good parts of it can only exist in this one universe. 89 is more like The Animated Series in that it’s already sort of in everything.
Maybe they didn’t like the idea of Batman comic where The Joker, Penguin and Christopher Walken were already dead? That aside, I would have loved to see this at least as a limited series
The bat poncho is certainly an interesting costume design choice.
You can’t be unhappy in a poncho
Wait what, Lando was Harvey dent in those films, it’s been so long since I watched them?!
Wait what, Lando was Harvey dent in those films, it’s been so long since I watched them?!