It took 30 years for a sequel to Tim Burton’s “Batman Challenge” to see the light of day, dismissing Joel Schumacher’s decried 3rd film, which had taken a completely different direction. Alas, this sequel only exists in comics, but that’s it!
In a Podcast hosted by The Hollywood Reporter on the occasion of the release of the film The Founder, released with us in December 2016, Michael Keaton spoke about his refusal to again endorse the Batman costume for Batman Forever, directed by Joel Schumacher. The latter had however requested it, as well as Warner Bros., who had already taken out his checkbook to have the actor re-enlisted.
“It sucked” called Keaton; “The script I got and read was never good. I couldn’t understand why Joel Schumacher wanted to do that”. And to add, quite concisely: “I knew there was a problem when he said, ‘Why does it have to be so dark’?”
For the record, Michael Keaton was set to reprise the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in the film which was dedicated to Batgirl, before Warner decided never to release the film, although it was completed. And if the actor did end up putting on the costume in the recent film The Flash, we can’t really say that the fans did against bad luck with a good heart.
A comic to erase everything, or almost
It turns out that there is a Batman comics which is a real sequel to Batman, the challenge, and above all which completely excludes Joel Schumacher’s film. baptized Batman’89this comic is scripted by Sam Hamm, who was precisely one of the feathers of Burton’s Batman and its sequel.
In fact, this comic continues to dig into the filmmaker’s gothic universe, notably incorporating elements that would have been included in the possible 3rd opus Batman signed by him if it had been realized. This 6-issue limited series, published between 2021 and 2022, was intended “to draw out a certain number of threads left unresolved by the prolific director”.
DC Comics The Harvey Dent from the comic “Batman ’89” with the features of Billy Dee Williams.
We thus discover that the Harvey Dent embodied by Billy Dee Williams in the 1989 film is back, completing his transformation from prosecutor and ally of Batman to Two-Face. The character of Catwoman, embodied by Michelle Pfeiffer, which we saw at the end of batman challenge perched on the roofs of Gotham, she also returns to play the allies of circumstance while thwarting the designs of Bruce Wayne.
The character of Barbara Gordon also makes an appearance: in this universe, she is a sergeant in the ranks of the Gotham police and engaged to Harvey Dent. It is also an opportunity to introduce the character of Robin, in the guise of an African-American character named Drake Winston.
Here’s what he looks like in the Batman ’89 comic…
DC Comics
Most certainly an echo where, at the beginning of the 90s, Marlan Wayans was supposed to embody Robin. He would even have been paid $100,000 at the time to wear the costume in scenes of batman challengewhich will ultimately be cut during editing.