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So, following on my earlier speculation about a Batman reboot, it occurs to me the perfect villain. Alright, so we're on Batman Movie 1. No need to retell the origin; Batman's shown up, he's taken as an urban legend (something else the Nolan films didn't do), Harvey Dent and Commissioner Gordon are checking him out--we might take this opportunity to play up the "Gordon hunting Batman" stuff, but whatever. What really draws Batman out into the open is the first of the supervillains, Mr. Freeze... exactly the kind of villain who wouldn't work in Nolan's world, but would do gangbusters with a more pulpy/surrealistic/sci-fi/what-have-you canon. Obviously, we're going with the TAS version here, since Nora Fries is great foreshadowing for Harvey's own loss (and, uh, past-shadowing for Bruce's). Second act ends, Nora is dead, Freeze goes into "ruin everyone's dreams" mode... including taking some liquid nitrogen to Harv's handsome face.
Next movie (after the inevitable Two-Face sequel tease). Harvey's in therapy, but bad luck, he gets Hugo Strange as his doctor. What happens next is basically a Prey adaptation, just with Harvey in the Cort role. After the inevitable downer ending there, we have a third movie to deal with the partner character and Batman's redemption.
Now, said partner character might work best with Batwoman--her inclinations would keep it from being some cliche UST thing with Batman. Yeah, that's right, shippers, stop ruining the pure, familial relationships of Batman with your prurient heterosexuality![/snark] But Huntress or even Dick Grayson might work better, since they're both religious and that completes the triangle Bruce and Two-Face form.
Yeah, religious subtext: Batman works as an existentialist--he believes there is no plan, so he'll impose one on the world. If nothing he does matters, then everything he does matters. While Two-Face is clearly nihilist--there's no plan, so nothing matters, so nothing he does matters. Might as well rely on a coin. At least it's fair. And our partner character is a theist--there is a plan, so things will work out for the best. Which both fits into the Batman/Robin dynamic of Robin being the light to Batman's darkness (albeit in a way that could be mishandled into Bruce being a Hollywood Atheist, admittedly) and positively portrays both an atheist and theist. Both Batman and Robin/Huntress are doing the right thing, just with different worldviews.
Although I guess there'd need to be a negative theist character to balance the scales; maybe a religious extremist? And that could give the third movie its villain. Maybe Ra's Al Ghul--oh. Oh, wait...
Scratching that, maybe a version of the Azrael storyline?
Of course, as long as we're setting this reboot an unspecified amount of time into Batman's career, maybe it could be just after Jason Todd's death, leaving Dick Grayson for the Teen Titans and paralleling Bruce's loss of Jason with Harvey and Freeze's lost families. And in the third movie--Red Hood.
Next movie (after the inevitable Two-Face sequel tease). Harvey's in therapy, but bad luck, he gets Hugo Strange as his doctor. What happens next is basically a Prey adaptation, just with Harvey in the Cort role. After the inevitable downer ending there, we have a third movie to deal with the partner character and Batman's redemption.
Now, said partner character might work best with Batwoman--her inclinations would keep it from being some cliche UST thing with Batman. Yeah, that's right, shippers, stop ruining the pure, familial relationships of Batman with your prurient heterosexuality![/snark] But Huntress or even Dick Grayson might work better, since they're both religious and that completes the triangle Bruce and Two-Face form.
Yeah, religious subtext: Batman works as an existentialist--he believes there is no plan, so he'll impose one on the world. If nothing he does matters, then everything he does matters. While Two-Face is clearly nihilist--there's no plan, so nothing matters, so nothing he does matters. Might as well rely on a coin. At least it's fair. And our partner character is a theist--there is a plan, so things will work out for the best. Which both fits into the Batman/Robin dynamic of Robin being the light to Batman's darkness (albeit in a way that could be mishandled into Bruce being a Hollywood Atheist, admittedly) and positively portrays both an atheist and theist. Both Batman and Robin/Huntress are doing the right thing, just with different worldviews.
Although I guess there'd need to be a negative theist character to balance the scales; maybe a religious extremist? And that could give the third movie its villain. Maybe Ra's Al Ghul--oh. Oh, wait...
Scratching that, maybe a version of the Azrael storyline?
Of course, as long as we're setting this reboot an unspecified amount of time into Batman's career, maybe it could be just after Jason Todd's death, leaving Dick Grayson for the Teen Titans and paralleling Bruce's loss of Jason with Harvey and Freeze's lost families. And in the third movie--Red Hood.
