Batman

We’ve lost one of comic and TV culture’s most enduring favorites, as original Batman star Adam West has passed away. The smooth-voiced star became iconic for his portrayal of the ‘60s Caped Crusader, earning a place in the pop culture pantheon over the decades.

A new Batman vehicle demands, in a more literal sense, a new Batman vehicle. As Ben Affleck prepares to don the cape and cowl once more to reprise the role of Bruce Wayne in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Justice League movie, modifications have also been made to his singular whip, the teched-out Batmobile. Snyder applied his bigger-is-better filmmaking ethic to the Batmobile in last year‘s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, diverging from Christopher Nolan’s utilitarian, industrial look towards something a little more tanklike. And today, Snyder’s taken to his favored social media channel of Vero to offer fans an advance look at what the latest edition of the Batmobile has to offer.

We ranked 75 years of Batman movies in one list.

Remember that part in The Dark Knight when the Batman knock-offs all pop up in the multi-level parking garage to help the Caped Crusader dispose of some European gangsters, but they just end up getting in the way? They tell the Batman that they were just trying to help, and Wayne chides them for facing men with guns while wearing hockey pants. This may ring some bells for you, but Stephen Lawrence, the subject of the curious new documentary short Being Batman, has evidently forgotten that brief bit. (I’d guess he’s also glossed over the part in The Killing Joke wherein writer Alan Moore suggests that a man would have to be insane to dress up as a bat and fight crime at night.)

A story, told in headlines: Here’s us on December 18, reporting on Ben Affleck’s voicing of slight misgivings about his tentative gig as the director of the new Batman solo film:

Gotham has not been particularly coy with Cameron Monaghan’s return as our sort-of-Joker Jerome, though we’ve yet to see the villain up and about. That chances with a new midseason return promo, in which Jerome’s resurrection veers closer to a very famous comic tale.

Good news: fans are finally getting their shot to lay claim to two highly sought-after pieces of comic book memorabilia, with George Reeves’ original Superman costume and the Batsuit worn by Michael Keaton during his stint as the Batman both up at auction until January 26. The bad news: you’re going to have to part with at least tens of thousands of dollars if you want to get your mitts on that spandex.

Ben Affleck is frustrated. And who could blame him? Anyone who dons Batman’s iconic cape and mask is immediately the center of superhero fans’ attention, both positive and negative. But Affleck doesn’t just want to live in a Batman bubble and only be asked about Batman. (Valid, but what did you expect dude?)

Over the weekend, USA Today dropped their 2017 movie preview featuring new photos of some of the year’s most anticipated movies. One of those was, of course, DC’s Justice League. We’ve seen some behind-the-scenes footage and some new looks at Wonder Woman, Batman, and The Flash, but now the whole gang has arrived.

Not long ago, we published a list of suggestions for how Warner Bros. could fix some of the issues with the DC Extended Universe. To date, the studio has delivered three superhero blockbusters — all of which were massively budgeted and hugely successful at the box office, sure, but they could have performed even better had they been genuinely good films. Although recent comments from WB execs and Ben Affleck imply that the studio has learned a few lessons from its mistakes, new comments from a top DC movies producer prove otherwise.

There seems to be a bit of conflicting information regarding Ben Affleck’s standalone Batman movie: Last week, Zack Snyder set his next directing project as WB pushed back the release of Justice League 2, reportedly to make room for the Batman movie. Earlier this week, Affleck said he’s taking his time with the project and making sure the script, which he’s co-writing with Geoff Johns, is right before heading into production. But now, Affleck has confirmed that his Batman film will shoot next spring, while WB president Greg Silverman says it’s on track for a 2018 release.

With all the heroes joining Batman and Wonder Woman (and Superman) in Justice League, plus almost all of them getting their own solo movies, it’s almost impossible to find room for them all. Warner Bros. recently did a bit of reshuffling with their slate of films, and pushed back the release of Justice League: Part 2, which until now had had a mid-2019 spot, to make room for Ben Affleck’s Batman movie. And now that Snyder has some free time on his hands, he’s turning his attention to Afghanistan war thriller The Last Photograph.

Earlier this week, Bret Easton Ellis made headlines when he claimed that the script for The Batman was terrible and that Warner Bros. didn’t really care. In an interview with The Ringer (via io9), Ellis mentioned having dinner with a few studio executives who had heard through the rumor mill that several people involved in Ben Affleck’s movie had approached Warner Bros. with a list of changes needed to iron out the script. According to Ellis’ sources, the executives were told that the studio just didn’t care.

Currently, our onscreen Batman is beefed-up, steely-gazed Ben Affleck, but other men have played the caped crusader before, and other men will play him in the future. With the world of DC comics as wild and crazy as it is, there is plenty of opportunity for other characters to take up the black cowl: even Bruce Wayne’s own father, which is something Zack Snyder has had in the back of his mind ever

This could be the perfect ending to this damn clown epidemic! The Batman has come to the aid of children (and adults) who fear the clown.

We finally know what Ben Affleck‘s solo Batman movie will be called, and thank the superhero gods, it won’t have a colon or a subtitle.

There have been several intriguing Batman movie concepts that never made it to the big screen over the years, including Darren Aronofsky’s Year One and a third Joel Schumacher Bat-film (dodged a bullet there, to be honest), but one of the lesser-discussed projects belonged to Joe Dante — yes, the director of classics like Gremlins and The ’Burbs almost made a Batman movie, and if he hadn’t ultimately walked away from it, we might have ended up with a memorable performance from John Lithgow as The Joker.

Hard to believe, but production on Justice League, which doesn’t hit theaters until next fall, is already nearing an end — at least according to Zack Snyder, who shared a new photo revealing Batman’s latest costume upgrade. What, you didn’t really think Batman would make another on-screen appearance without getting a fancy new super-suit, did you?

Following Batman v Superman’s underwhelming box office, DC’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns was promoted to the position of creative head for WB’s DC Film franchise, overseeing the studio’s upcoming slate of comic-book movies. In addition to co-writing the new solo Batman film with Ben Affleck, Johns (who recently confirmed Joe Manganiello’s casting as DC villain Deathstroke) is heavily involved with Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and in a new interview, the exec reveals how they’re making some adjustments to address complaints about Snyder’s Dawn of Justice.

This guy's Batman cosplay got him into the Guinness World Records!