I sort of wish they would use Bale... but make it a different continuity than the Nolan films. Would that be too weird?

Micheal Keaton as bats!!

Nice article. I was thinking about doing one myself, but you pretty much covered everything.
While I wouldn't call Batman's more human limits a flaw of Nolan's trilogy, they're among the main issues that really make me believe that we need to see Batman re-imagined pre-Justice League so we're comfortable with seeing him in this sort of larger than life conflict situation. It's hard for me to imagine Bale's Batman in the midst of the chaotic battle against the Chitauri in the Avengers. That's the kind of stuff the Justice League would have to face. Arkham City's style of Batman would feel much more at home there.

bringing bale back kind of undoes tdkr ending he faked his own death and had a damn statue built of him in memorial of him for god sakes

lol Bruce Wayne is retired!

This, is, not, going to happen.

Good write-up. I particularly agree on the point of a more experienced Batman - the seniority of Bale's Batman can build a very interesting relationship with Cavill's "twenty-something" Superman, among many other things. Plus, the future setting The Dark Knight Rises established can provide this movie universe with a vast amount of possibilities, and it especially can simply put an end to the problem that is the realism of this existing universe: In the next eight years, the standard of "realism" may not be as realistic as our realism any more, opening the way for superpowers, et cetera. I really like the tone Nolan has set his Batman universe in, and I surely won't mind seeing more of it, so there's the reason to justify the existence of a group of larger-than-world figures in it.

However, I think the con kind of outweighs the pro: Nolan's trilogy has been closed perfectly. It's not just my view, but they've established it as such. Bruce Wayne has moved on, John Blake has embraced his legacy, and so on. I particularly am not a big fan of the idea of a Batman other than Bruce Wayne participating in the "true" DC movie universe, and I so far haven't seen any sensible way to make it work. Sure, they can kill off Blake, or whatever, but that seems to deconstruct the point of the character in the first place. Wouldn't it be ridiculous for Bruce to appoint such an inexperienced replacement, who gets killed off very soon? Of course, that can bring an impact to Bruce's character, but that's not exactly what I want to see. If anything, they can expand the concept of numerous Batmen (Batman, Inc.?) being active in this universe, but that's not what I'd really like to see, either. All in all, it's not an idea I'd like to see to happen. There are numerous ways it can go with, and they're all definitely interesting, but they're highly risky at the same time. And to me, these folks over at Warner Bros. aren't a party I'd like to see taking risks. So yeah, they can again leave this idea behind, and move on with a new Batman.

Bale's Bat-voice may get cringe-worthy at times, but he's disguising it while taking an active duty fighting crime. When you're busy beating up/being beaten up by bad guys, I bet you can't think of pulling off a smooth, disguised voice, either. The joke's getting a bit old.

About the conclusion (Con #1), remember that he came back on a threat for Gotham that no one else could handle, while JL would be a threat that he could never face on his own, nor with the help of mere mortals or technology.
Bale's Batman could work in JL if he step aside from being Gotham's Dark Knight, and he is watching news of Superman in Metropolis, rumors of Amazons, a super fast red blur that is stoping criminals. He could be away building Brother Eye. Great article though.

@LEVITIKUZ...the question should be: WHY was he disguising his voice in that manner around complete strangers? Among his friends and colleges, the gruff voice wouldn't have worked, because we, as the audience, could easily distinguish Bale's slight speech impediment or hiss, so it stands to reason they would've been able to, as well. It's possible Bruce Wayne did limited media interviews, so an argument could be made for his voice being slightly more high profile than say your's or mine (considering we both haven't experience many news interviews), but he wasn't as high profile as Donald Trump, since he didn't host a TV show. The most logical reason wasn't a need to disguise his voice, but rather intimidate with it. But that still wouldn't justify a reason why he used the gruff voice among friends. It was ineffective as a cover, but effective for changing the tone between the characters for the audience ONLY. It was fairly silly when used in situations where he wasn't angry.

Batman used the bat voice around people who knew he was Wayne because he was dedicated to the persona. It's boss shit that many will not understand.

And his belt isn't full? You mean his belt isn't a convenient PIS mechanism that the writers uses to have Batman have everything he needs everytime and everywhere? Because Batman had his fair share of gadgets...


Also, Bale voices, while I wish he would've toned it down a little more like he did in TDKR, was called for. Nolan told him to make his voice sound like a demon, and Bale went with a dark, gravely voice because Batman is supposed to bring fear into the hearts of criminals.

He's a banged up human. So, he would be involved in a resource and intel capacity. Wayne would have handy resources and skills in a cosmic event. He would be useless alongside Superman and Green Lantern in the field. I imagine him manning the bridge of a large space craft, wandering around with a walking stick and a limp cracking codes, traitors and unveiling outrageous twists in a detective and PR position. The most action he'd get is if the bridge was compromised. Another reason why Batman would be unnecessary compared to Wayne, is because Batman's concealing suit and symbol is to fight crime anonymously as a beacon of hope for Gotham. His gadgets and tech would be handy and cool, but his suit wouldn't fit a cosmic threat situation. To have the actual Batman involved, I would have JGL in a Batman/Nightwing suit helping panicked citizens in Gotham, as he does, reinstalling hope at street level. Batman is useless to a JL team, but Bruce Wayne isn't. That way you could have Batman fight Gotham criminals and aliens and not have unreasonable contrast in abilities. You could have Bale in JL and a fit JGL as a continued Batman without a reboot. POW!

The problem of having a Bale again as part of this Justice League is that Batman is a character that makes money for sure! So if you use Bale again then it means you have to continue the Nolan story for years to come, after JL movie what going to happen to the Batman character? we wont see more movies until a sequel of the JL? That wrong and that why they wont bring Batman-Bale to the JL

Also...



How Batman vs. superpowered opponents should always end.

yeah sweet pros and cons @PaulRom. i loved bale as batman 100%. i would love to see him back, but i just can't see how that could plausibly be done. if nolan can figure a way to make it real then i'm on board. at the same time i suppose it's as good a time as ever to reboot cinematic batman as i assume bale won't want to stick around much longer, if at all...

Although I'd love to see Bale's Batman become a corner stone of the new DC Cinematic Universe, and believe he'd have the ideal entrance via his prior cinematic outings, in my opinion the melding of both the Nolanverse and the new DC Cineverse would raise more issues than solve them. For instance:

1. With a perfectly resolved ending, why and how would WB and DC tear down the foundations of Batman's noble 'death' and passing of the torch to John 'Robin' Blake in TDKR without destroying that same legacy?

2. His vulnerability in the Nolanverse, although heavily realistic, is no match to his strength and resourceful skills from the comics. In my opinion, DC would need to stick to their own comic books to give Batman a chance of carrying the same gravitas and the heavy hitters in the League like Supes and Wonder Woman, especially when it comes to taking on supposed intergalactic threats that might arise in the Cinematic Universe (hopefully) such as the White Martians and Darkseid.

3. With the two universes melding together, the influence of superpowers on the Nolanverse and the grounded realism from the Nolanverse onto the DC Cineverse would completely tear down the walls of both respectively, primarily by the fact that Nolan Batman struggles with dogs, thugs and knives in general, so how would he even hope to take on threats with superhuman powers and abilities? Also, Nolanverse villains Bane and Ras Al Ghul would cause complications in the structure of the DC Cineverse with their realistic takes. I would much rather see the Lazarus Pit, eternal Ras Al Ghul and the Venom pumped Bane as opposed to Liam Neeson as a mercenary-turned-ninja crime lord and an averagely hench Bane who turns out to be Talia's dogs body for the entire film.

AND FINALLY..

4. As sound as it proves to be in concealing his dual identity, I physically will not endure watching another film with hearing aids trying to decipher Bale's odd grunts and snorts as Batman's 'voice'.

Bale can come back but he has to get that eye wart removed its really starting to piss me off lol