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A speculative film series pitch adapting the characters of the Batman franchise in the wake of the Dark Knight’s death.
As mentioned in the summary, I got this idea while listening to a podcast where people were pitching their own ideas for a (mostly) speculative movie series based off a failed real world attempt, and decided to do something like that myself, but with the added challenge of no real life equivalent of a film meant to start something that came out only to have the project go nowhere. As is also implied in the summary, this whole thing came out a very spur of the moment decision, and thus will not be as refined as my more “proper” stories. Regardless, I felt like sharing the results of my brainstorming over the past couple of days, so I hope whoever decides to read this has a good time with it and feels free to give their input should they wish.
Sincerely, Hotshot95
Overall Series Rules
Batman/Bruce Wayne is dead with a capital “D”. He will not be brought back through any shenanigans running the range from Lazarus Pits to Time Travel. He can however appear in the form of flashbacks and archival footage such as videos, pictures, and articles.
The Joker has gone missing for at least the entire first phase and half of the second. After all, without Batman, crime has no punchline. That being said, his presence, or rather the lack thereof can be an element when it suits the story of the film. As the series stands, he does not appear at all, with the potential for supplementary material like a one-shot comic, video game, or TV show to explain his absence in more detail.
These movies are not explicitly for all audiences. Most are pitched with the intention of being a high PG-13 at the least, with a tentative R by default. In practice, we are not exactly going for shock value, but rather aiming for the ability to tell the sort of story that each character needs to their full extent without too much fear of the inevitable meddling the studios would get up to. Which now that I think about it, is part of the appeal of the podcasts that have done this sort of thing before despite me being mildly annoyed by it.
Overall tone is flexible on a movie-to-movie basis, but is mostly in line with a more adult-oriented but still noticeably “fun-loving” tilt, bordering on what could be described as a more “mature” take on something like the 1966 Batman TV show.
Post and Mid Credits Scenes meant to tease an upcoming crossover movie are used sparingly outside of the first phase of films, if any such scenes since are specified, they will usually be more of a post-script to the film itself, a teaser for the connected movie if part of an explicit double feature, or for a quick bonus gag or moment. Any teasing for the big crossover movies after the first one will be done more subtly using small “throwaway” lines and background details alluding to ongoing events in Gotham.
Movies and any possible other media will have their tiles rendered in all caps, followed by an optional tagline where I could think of one and subsequent synopsis of the plot, style, themes, and inspirations given to form a basic image of what each film would be in its best potential outcome should they have ever been brought to reality. As a part of this unorthodox concept, each pitch is open to a degree of suggestion/discussion should the reader desire.
Series Lineup
Phase I: The Knights Rise
The Batman is dead. After a final battle attempting to stop Ra’s al Ghul from leveling Gotham with a superweapon designed to literally suck and shrivel the life out of any organism classified as an animal, the Dark Knight is found bloodied, beaten, and confirmed dead on the scene. His body whisked away by his allies, Bruce’s emergency contingency in the event of his death is put in place, yet none of the Batfamily can bring themselves to set foot in the Batcave. The following movies show how Batman’s death has effected the remaining Heroes and Villains of Gotham over the year and a half since.
NIGHTWING
After a prologue catching the audience up on the backstory via a voiceover from Commissioner Gordon, we follow Dick Grayson as he has returned to Haley’s Circus in the months since Batman’s death, trying to recenter himself by catching up with old friends and resuming his acrobat act. It’s been all well and good as a lighthearted drama about reconnecting with old friends until midway through act 2, wherein the Penguin decides it would be a good idea to strongarm the circus into doing his bidding. This prompts Nightwing to rise once more. With some help from his old friends, Nightwing gives Penguin a proper thrashing, and after a week catching up in full, is ready to return to Gotham.
The post credits shows reporter and radio personality, Jack Ryder entering an extremely rundown area of Old Gotham before getting kidnapped by a shadowy figure, all that is left behind is a single brown feather.
CATWOMAN: BIG TIME
Having moved to Metropolis in the wake of Batman’s death, Selina Kyle finds herself in a bout of suffering a loss of direction in her life. Mingling with the upper crust of Metropolis has quickly began to bore her to death, primarily because she can’t really connect with them for various reasons both obvious and more subdued. Until she learns of a mysterious new project that LexCorp is putting way too much research into to not arouse some level of suspicion. The film turns into a one-woman heist movie as Selina is inspired to steal from someone who unambiguously deserves it this time, perhaps jokingly remarking that she’ll be doing Superman a favor. Her primary opponent thoroughly intel gathering and the heist itself is one Mercy Graves, as Luthor himself is dealing with some other business offscreen. The prize turns out to be a specialized mutanagenic performance enhancer designed to bring out a subject’s true potential. After thoroughly destroying all traces of the formula she can find and stealing the only sample, Selina is forced to use it in order to defeat the cybernetically enhanced Graves. This will tie into one of the movie’s themes of Selina not having been fully decisive on wether she wants to be a Hero or a Villain, and the circumstances of taking the untested and very much potentially dangerous formula in order to save others will be the crux of this. The serum ends up making the “Cat” part of Catwoman a bit more literal as she physically takes on enhanced feline traits such as actual razor sharp claws on her hands and feet, catlike eyes and fangs, and enhanced athletic ability on a level just below a more full blown animal metahuman like Vixen or Cheetah.
The mid credits scene shows Selina moving back to Gotham, catching and taking interest in a street rat by the name of Carrie Kelly as she attempts to pickpocket the former.
The post credits scene shows that Mercy Graves has survived the finishing blow dealt to her in the final battle.
UNDER THE RED HOOD
We go full crime thriller as we introduce Jason Todd, currently conflicted about his feelings on the late Batman and haunted by nightmares of his death and resurrection. Throughout the first and second acts, Jason is shown contemplating yet not deciding to call his adoptive brothers and other Batfamily members, refusing to reach out to them. As Red Hood, Jason soon stumbles upon a series of gruesome killings bearing a striking resemblance to the crimes of Professor Pyg, however there is a problem with this as shown via flashbacks to Jason’s time as the second Robin: Professor Pyg was killed when one of his creations turned against him just as Jason and Bruce were in the process of stopping him. Someone is copycating the departed killer. Red Hood must cut a swath through the seediest parts of Gotham’s underbelly to find out who and why, allowing for a few cameos from various Gotham Rogues in the process. At the end, he comes face to face with a horrific revelation as the copycat is his own mother, revealed to have survived the Joker’s last ditch effort and driven mad with grief at the apparent loss of her newfound son. Red Hood must decide what is more important to him: the vengeance for the family he lost, or the moving forward with the one he gained? The final scene shows Jason taking a deep breath and biting the figurative bullet, calling Barbara Gordon.
ROBIN: BOY WONDER
In this detective story inspired in equal parts by the tv show Elementary and the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes movies, we catch up with Tim Drake as he takes Bruce’s place on the Wayne Enterprises board while simultaneously looking into the recent disappearance of Jack Ryder with the help of Lucius Fox. Here it is first mentioned that Alfred has moved to England for a while in order to grieve. Ideally, the final breakthrough in the case is in some way a lot like whatever Tim and Lucius are dealing with regarding running WE. The movie ends with Robin finding Jack and learning that the fabled Court of Owls may very well be more than just a bedtime story, and they have found an opportunity in the vacuum left by the Dark Knight. After taking down a mysterious warrior (a Talon) sent after him, Tim decides to rebrand himself as Red Robin, as shown by the final title card (thankfully, his suit does not include that god-awful cowl, but is updated with a hooded cloak and Daredevil inspired version of his logo instead, taking the form of an “RR” within the left breast circle).
The post credits scene shows Tim finally taking notice of a transmission that’s been pinging for the better part of year coming from the Batcave, he looks at it intently.
BATGIRLS
Sixty-Two Floors, Thirty-Score Assassins, Two Vigilanties, One Night. No Problem
On the anniversary of Batman’s death, Cassandra Cain has almost fully retreated into herself with grief for the man she considered to be her real father, the only people she’s been in contact with have been Oracle and Stephanie Brown, with Steph having hung up her Batgirl cowl and assumed the identity of Spoiler again. Her only companions being the latter and Ace the Bat Hound. In one of our biggest and earliest swings for the fences outside of giving Catwoman powers, we will be fully shipping Cassandra and Stephanie as an already established romantic couple. This comes into play with Stephanie grappling with her desire to continue on as Spoiler and Cass’ wishes to try to be a normal civilian couple, with Barbara trying her best to be there for them both as an older sister. Things come to a head as Lady Shiva resurfaces with remnants of the League of Assassins under her command, having taken over the Gotham branch of Queen Industries and holding those working there hostage, prompting Cassandra to become a vigilante once more, explicitly honoring her adoptive father by reassuming the mantle of Batgirl. What follows is essentially the plot of Die Hard with the action of The Raid as Batgirl, Spoiler, and Ace retake the building while sorting through their personal issues. Oracle acts as Mission Control in the vein of Sargent Al Powell from Die Hard. Upon confronting her mother, Casandra regains her spirit and conviction to fight on and continue Batman’s mission in his memory and officially takes on the Wayne family name publicly in line with Bruce’s adoption of her many years ago.
A mid credits scene shows Batgirl and Spoiler sitting on the edge of a rooftop overlooking the city, leaning on each other’s shoulders. The Bat Signal lights, and the two stand to glide/grapple off.
The post credits scene shows a couple of high society Gothamites featured in previous movies all congregating for a secret meeting and ceremony as a mysterious figure in a cloak presents them with fine wooden boxes that open to reveal stark white ivory masks in the vague shape of an owl’s face.
HARLEY AND IVY
And You Though Your Family Vacation was Crazy
We’re in for a road trip as Dr. Harleen Quinzel has spent the last year sans any sign of the Joker (mostly) successfully reforming herself for once… As a trashy Dr. Phil style talk show host. While the ratings are big and her various licensing deals are even bigger, Harley’s incredibly unfulfilled by all this and decides to spend her vacation time with her bestest gal-pal and kinda-sorta-crush Poison Ivy (under the excuse of Pamela needing to get out more). After running afoul of and significantly pissing off Intergang in Metropolis, it’s the vibes of Thelma and Louise with the antics of National Lampoon’s Vacation and the action of Bullet Train as Harley and Ivy tour around iconic DC Comics cities and towns, from Metropolis to Keystone to Smallville in one of the most chaotic romantic comedies you’ve ever seen! Of note is the reoccurring appearance of a vacationing family who seem to have unfortunately chosen the same route as the protagonists, and who inevitably end up paying for it in a hilarious slapstick manner at various stops. Also, it’s a musical. So there’s that too.
The post credits on this one are a reference to Airplane, showing a cabbie that Harley and Ivy employed in Metropolis and told to wait before an action sequence STILL waiting for them with the meter running.
GOTHAM KNIGHTS
It all comes together as the Batfamily reunites to combat the emerging threat of the Court of Owls, with the main non-antagonist related conflict being them having to re-learn to work together after so much time mostly apart and without Batman leading them. It’s Catwoman of all people who manages to pull the team together, having learned from her near death experience and Hail Mary pass in her own movie and recognizing that the Talon super assassins can’t be easily beat by just one mostly baseline human, even someone as highly trained as they are or possessing the skills of someone like Batgirl. This is the most “traditionally” Superhero like of the movies so far, mixed with Mission Impossible and Ocean’s Eleven vibes as Selina and Dick come together as co-leaders and find ways to play into everyone’s strengths as the Knights infiltrate the Court. Along the way, the whole team at last travels to the Batcave to find Alfred waiting for them, where a message from Batman reveals his contingency plan for them to have the resources necessary to protect Gotham in the event of his death, this is just before the team heart-to-heart. The final battle takes the form of a brawl against the many Talons who have been hunting individual members of the Heroes throughout the film, it is through sweet tag-team action and advanced training that allows the Knights to overcome their opponents and find a way to dismantle a large portion of the Court’s inner workings and freeze their assets.
No mid or post credits scenes for the full crossover events.
Coming in Phase II:
Nightwing: Blüdhaven
Oracle
Red Hood: Crime Alley
Batgirl: Shadow of the Dragon
Spoiler Alert
Gotham City Sirens
The League of Assassins
and
Gotham Knights: Shadow War