3 Ways The Batman Can Return to Movies

While Marvel is churning out movies left and right, Warner Bros. has had a rough time getting its franchises off the ground. Superman is being rebooted again with next summer's Man of Steel. Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the Flash are stuck in development hell. And Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern probably isn't going to be back anytime soon. With the end of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy, Warner Bros.' most lucrative franchise has done what no superhero franchises ever willing do — call it quits and go out on a high note.

It should come as no surprise that Warner Bros. began talking about rebooting Batman before The Dark Knight Rises even premiered. The franchise is worth too much box office cash to permanently retire. Unlike The Amazing Spider-Man and Batman Begins, though, the studio is in an awkward position of rebooting a franchise that didn't crash and burn. How would you like to be the director that has to follow Nolan's masterpieces?

So what's next for the Caped Crusader's cinematic career? Well, there are three ways The Batman can return to movies.

1. Completely reboot the franchise

If Nolan and Christian Bale are done with Batman, why even bother trying to keep the series going? Start over from scratch with a new actor playing Bruce Wayne. Change when the movie is set, change the mythology, change Batman's backstory. The director in charge of rebooting Batman should blow the franchise up and put his own mark on it.

The downfall: Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises Trilogy is the most successful superhero franchise ever. The director did what no one has ever done with a superhero franchise — he ended it. Nolan told the complete story of Bruce Wayne, from the death of his parents to when he passed the cowl on to a successor. Superhero movies don't do that. They're built to keep going, to keep pumping out movies and cashing in at the box office. If it wasn't for Spider-Man 3, Sony planned on keeping Sam Raimi's ATM version of the franchise going.

Would it be insulting for another director to come in a reboot Batman? Would another director even want to be in that position? That's a job with very little chance of success. Yeah, people will keep paying to seeing Batman, but would you want to constantly be compared to The Dark Knight Trilogy?

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2. Finally get that Justice League movie going
Back in 2007, Warner Bros. had a Justice League completely ready to go. George Miller was on board to direct and actors had been casted to played the League's primary members. Armie Hammer, who would go out to star as the Winklevii twins in The Social Network, was all set to play Batman. According to Hammer, the actor had even suited up as the Dark Knight. So what happened? Well, the Writers' Strike and budget issues had other ideas, and Justice League was scrapped.

With the success of Marvel's The Avengers, Warner Bros. is itching to get its DC Comics superhero squad onto the big screen. It's just been having some trouble doing so. Nolan's Batman films were never part of a shared universe. It's unclear just how open Zack Snyder's Man of Steel is to the idea. And the Green Lantern, which could've been a Justice League gateway, was a flop. The interesting thing about Miller's Justice League film was that it would've existed in a parallel DC Comics universe. Nolan's Batman and Justice League's Batman would've been in movies at the same time. Audiences would have been asked to accept that multiple versions of the same character could entertain them simultaneously. This is how Batman could return with a Justice League movie. Let the audience know that its not replacing what Nolan did. In fact, Warner Bros. wouldn't even be trying to do such a thing. This would another version of Batman, a "What If?" even, telling the story of Batman in a world where Superman and Wonder Woman exist and he teams up with them.

The downfall: Would audiences buy this? It's a pretty accepted rule that you only get one version of a superhero at a time. If there's going to be another film, it's either a reboot or a sequel. And when it comes down to it, wouldn't this just be a reboot anyways? For it to a parallel universe, it would have to exist while Nolan was still making Batman films, just as Warner Bros.' originally planned.

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3. Let Joseph Gordon-Levitt assume the mantle of The Batman
It's not every day when a director not only neatly wraps up a highly ambitious franchise while still leaving room for the story to continue, but that's exactly what Nolan did at the end of The Dark Knight Rises. Bruce Wayne has saved Gotham, faked his death and moved to Italy to live a new life with Selena Kyle, leaving the Batcave to John Blake, who's real first name just so happens to be Robin. Alfred is still alive. Lucius Fox is still tinkering away at Wayne Enterprises. And Commissioner Gordon just happens to notice that someone repaired the Batsignal.

You wanna keep Batman movies alive all while honoring what Nolan did? Make a trilogy of Batman films that tell the story of John Blake's journey as Batman. You already have Joseph Gordon-Levitt, an amazing young actor in the role. Don't waste that. Gordon-Levitt's performance was one of the strongest parts of The Dark Knight Rises. We know he can handle it. Warner Bros. should set up this new franchise just like it did with Man of Steel. Make Nolan an executive producer and let him handpick his director. Keep a few other key members of The Dark Knight Trilogy cast, Michael Caine to allow Alfred to look over Blake, Morgan Freeman to keep Fox around to supply Batman with gadgets, and Gary Oldman to let Gordon partner with the new Batman. Warner Bros. doesn't even have to bring back all of these characters, they just need enough to know that this franchise means something and is a part of what Nolan started.

The downfall: Something takes a wrong turn somewhere, and the film that was supposed to honor The Dark Knight Trilogy and continue its story winds up being subpar, sullying Nolan's legacy in the process. Nolan's films are special. Do we want to take the risk of ruining the whole thing with another installment? Beyond that, audiences have never seen a Batman movie that didn't have Bruce Wayne as the man behind the cowl. Yeah, the comics have done it all the time — Jean-Paul Valley and Dick Grayson have been Batman at times — but the average moviegoer might not buy that.

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The verdict?
Each of these three possible moves definitely have their downfalls. The Dark Knight Trilogy is an extremely hard act to follow, but Warner Bros. will attempt it at some point. Batman is worth too much money to leave dormant. The question isn't, "Will we see another Batman movie?" but "When will we see another Batman movie?"

The complete reboot is a dangerous idea. Nothing can follow what Nolan did. Justice League is a complicated move, and Warner Bros. hasn't shown anything to make us believe they can pull it off. Which leaves us with a Batman franchise starring Gordon-Levitt's John Blake as Batman. It would be a bold move and an ambitious movie. Get Nolan's blessing, lock in key parts of the franchise's cast and show us what Gordon-Levitt can do with the character. That shot of Blake rising among a swarm of bats at the end of The Dark Knight Rises has so much promise. Let's see where this story can go.