We have discussed the four superheroes I would restart the DC Entertainment Universe with. Now, we talk about one of the most popular characters in superhero history; the Batman.
DC has filmed Batman many times throughout the years. Some movies were good, like Batman and Batman Returns, and others were terrible, like Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. Perhaps those two movies almost killed DC Comics movies until Christopher Nolan brought it back with a vengeance.
For my version of the Batman to take place in the year 2015, I would still cast Robert Pattinson for the role. Some would argue that in 2015, he might be too young to play Bruce Wayne. I would say that is nonsense, as he would be the perfect age to play the character if we are establishing the fact that he is coming home to Gotham for the first time. Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham at 24, which would make Pattinson around the ideal age to play the character since he was 28 in 2015.
I would then cast Michael C. Hall to play Sergeant James Gordon. In this scenario, Gordon would be in his mid-40s, which is the perfect age for the character to be when Bruce returns to Gotham. He also is a phenomenal actor who could play any role.
Jeremy Irons is still Alfred Pennyworth. He nailed the role and I would definitely have him be the Alfred of this universe.
I would then cast Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle. Catwoman in the comics is still a mystery to this day. Her past creates more illusion than most characters, and no one really knows who her parents are. Kravitz would play the role really well and serve ideally as one of the three protagonists of this movie. While it seems lazy to cast Batman and Catwoman with the same two actors that the real timeline Batman did, I do so because the casting makes sense for the movie I am proposing.
Now, you probably have not seen a villain yet. To make this movie more effective, focus more on Batman’s war on the mob, similar to how Batman Begins did. However, I would feature Oswald Cobblepot before he officially uses the Penguin moniker. I would cast Colin Ferrell, as the upcoming Batman movie did. He has the look and stage prescience and could do multiple movies. I would use Carmine Falcone and Salvatore Maroni, mobsters that run the city, and would use Gillian Loeb as the corrupt police commissioner, and also use Harvey Dent as the aspiring district attorney. For Dent, I would cast Jackson Rathbone in what would be a Twilight reunion with Pattinson. Since Pattinson and Rathbone have not only acted together but played family members, their chemistry as best friends Wayne and Dent would be off the charts.
The storyline would be simple. Gotham City has a lot of crime, like always, and Gordon has to continually fight off corruption from within the force. Wayne returns to Gotham and becomes Batman.
Working with Gordon and Dent, Batman helps take down the mobsters, starting with Falcone before moving onto Maroni. He gains a new ally and sometimes enemy in Catwoman. She meets Batman and they exchange differences in their views, while hesitantly attempting to form some kind of relationship. Once the mobsters go down, Cobblepot takes the Penguin name and threatens to overtake Gotham, but the Batman can stop him, while Catwoman gets away with many diamonds, setting up a story for another day. Batman, Gordon, and Dent meet on top of police headquarters and celebrate their success and reports come in of a new criminal named the Joker, and the Batman takes off while Gordon and Dent talk to each other, ending the movie for another day.
My version of Batman is almost like a mashup of Batman Begins and Batman Returns. I took the best parts of those movies and made them into an incredible film while setting up a Batman story for many more movies to come.
In my next article, I will discuss the next DC movie of 2015. This movie is The Martian Manhunter.