The Internet Is Going Bonkers Over Bot-Written Batman Script
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Batman has been the star of comic books, cartoons, TV shows, and films. He's been an action figure, a water pistol, and a toothbrush. But for every time that Batman turned into a vampire, became addicted to drugs, or was menaced by bees, there was always a human mind behind the story.
What if, instead of a human being, though, it was a computer responsible for Batman's latest adventure? That is the question we are asking ourselves of late in these quaran-times.
A tweet by @KeatonPatti from August 13, 2019 popped back up on the old Twitter timeline recently. The tweet reads, "I forced a bot to watch over 1,000 hours of Batman movies and then asked it to write a Batman movie of its own." Included is the first page of the script. The script includes: Batman, the Bat Cave, Alfred Pennyworth, the Joker, and Two-Face — so it's a pretty crowded story.
Also appearing in this Batman script: "a tray of goth ham." And if there's one thing that we haven't seen in any Batman adventure (as far as we can recall) it's the cooked remains of a pig who, prior to their untimely demise, wore a lot of black eyeliner while zoning out to The Cure's 1989 classic, Disintegration.
Nothing about this is real, but that's not really the point. Let's talk about why Batman and his dinner, Johnny the Hamicidal Maniac, are such an internet sensation.
Why is this phony Batman script so beloved?
The phrase "I forced a bot to watch over 1,000 hours of" is an ongoing meme first popularized by comedian Keaton Patti on Februry 21, 2018. That first tweet that launched a thousand memes referenced popular daytime talk show Jerry Springer. As of this writing, that original tweet has 112 retweets and 368 likes. By comparison, the Batman tweet currently sits at 164k retweets and 142k likes.
There is no "bot" and robots don't actually learn to write this way. However, that has not stopped Patti from not only tweeting out multiple humorous scripts on everything from Transformers to the Olive Garden. They've even turned the concept into a book due out November 17, 2020 called I Forced a Bot to Write this Book.
Why is this Batman script getting shared so much, and why has it resurfaced now? It's likely due to the surfeit of Batman information circulating in the media. Between Robert Pattinson donning the cape and cowl for the first Batman stand-alone film since The Dark Knight Rises in 2012 to the daily frothing-at-the-mouth of Zack Snyder's Justice League fans, Batman is in the news a lot. Is Michael Keaton reprising his role for a Batgirl movie? Is Val Kilmer about to announce a Joel Schumacher cut of Batman Forever? In short: with a lot of big stuff about to drop, we are all caught up in the eye of a Batman storm.
So naturally we want to read something right now that pokes a little fun at ourselves and at the Dark Knight himself. This tweet about Batman "written by a bot" just happens to do the trick. You can read this script in comic book form. You can even listen to it be performed. Whichever medium you prefer, it just might be the best Batman story involving Pennyworth giving birth to Robin you'll ever read. Enjoy!