Batman Returns Was Almost A Biting Superhero Satire - But Michael Keaton Killed It
"Batman Returns" is often hailed as one of the best superhero movies of its time. With director Tim Burton fresh off the success of "Edward Scissorhands" and the first "Batman" film before it, the Michael Keaton-starring sequel had plenty of buzz following the original film's cultural impact, earning $400 million-plus at the box office. However, the 1992 Caped Crusader feature was almost very different, as the film was initially intended to be much more meta and satirical until Keaton intervened.
In IndieWire's conversation with "Batman Returns" screenwriter Daniel Waters, he shared the film's original draft, which took multiple shots at the first "Batman" film. According to Waters, the film's initial plan was to open on the Batman logo, which would have panned out to a merchandise store of the hero — a direct reference and commentary to the commercialization of "Batman." Waters, who wasn't involved in the first movie and was brought on specifically by Burton, revealed that the unexpected digs were part of the script before Keaton intervened, supposedly telling the screenwriter, "This is very clever. Cut it." It wasn't unusual for Keaton to cut lines during the making of the film, and the satire was apparently too snappy for his liking.
Aside from imbuing the script with those meta-references, Burton and Waters had other plans for the 1992 sequel, including diverting from the comic book canon and introducing more new, original characters to the films.
Batman Returns also didn't strive to be comic-accurate
While "Batman Returns" features several villains from the comics, Daniel Waters admitted that he and Tim Burton never strived to make the film faithful to the source material. He said they weren't entrenched in the lore and didn't fully grasp the concept of comic books. "It was a weird assignment in that I didn't need to please anyone but Tim Burton," Waters told IndieWire. "Before the internet, you didn't have to go before a tribunal and say what you were doing — it was just two guys in a room riffing. We didn't know s*** about Batman villains. We didn't really understand the whole comic book thing. I just found out DC Comics stands for Detective Comics."
The comments might seem surprising at first glance. Still, considering Burton's story choices in the first two "Batman" films, it's pretty clear the talented director didn't believe following the comics was needed in most cases. In the first film, The Joker was given the real name Jack Napier, and in the second, Burton and Waters introduced an original villain in Max Shreck (Christopher Walken) who doesn't appear in the comics. However, it's clear that Burton tried to maintain the comic book aesthetic, even if his plot deviated from the source material, especially when embracing its sillier origins.
Despite the lack of meta-commentary on "Batman" and all those deviations from the comics, it's hard to argue with the results of "Batman Returns" on the big screen. Indeed, Keaton made the right call in asking for the satire to be cut, as the film's opening turned out just fine.