7 Years Ago Was A Difficult Time To Be A Batman Fan

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2019 was a great year for pop culture overall, but as a huge Batman fan, it was a bit of a mixed bag. It was a milestone year, though! We celebrated the 80th anniversary of Batman’s debut in Detective Comics #27, and honestly, you couldn’t escape Batman coverage – he was everywhere!

Despite several attempts, Batman’s portrayal in movies and television hadn’t quite lived up to expectations. Ben Affleck, after playing Batman in films like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, and Justice League, initially stepped away from the role. However, he later returned for a cameo in 2023’s The Flash.

However, in 2019, plans changed and The Batman was reimagined as a separate film, independent of the existing DC Extended Universe. Robert Pattinson was then chosen to replace Ben Affleck as Batman, but the movie wasn’t released until three years later. During that time, the only live-action Batman content available came from television shows.

Sadly, recent portrayals of Batman haven’t been very satisfying. Unlike the classic 1960s TV show with Adam West and many popular animated series, like the highly-rated Batman: The Animated Series, the 2019 live-action versions didn’t delve deeply into the character’s complexities.

2019 Was The Era Of DC Trying To Avoid Batman On TV

Batman’s story has been explored on television in the series Gotham and Titans, but both shows focused on Bruce Wayne before he became Batman. While actors David Mazouz and Iain Glen both played important versions of the character, the shows deliberately avoided showing him in the full Batman costume and persona.

This was particularly noticeable in the show Gotham, which focused on the beginnings of Batman. Gotham ended after five seasons in 2019. The main story wrapped up in the second-to-last episode, and the final episode then jumped forward a decade to show Batman officially becoming the hero we know.

Mazouz’s portrayal of Bruce Wayne was mostly hidden throughout the series, as he fought villains like The Penguin, The Riddler, and Jeremiah Valeska. He was only fully seen in the final scene of Gotham, and even then, his face was digitally added to a stunt performer. Plus, the Batsuit received a lot of criticism. Interestingly, Bruce Wayne wasn’t even referred to as Batman in the show’s finale.

In season 2 of Titans, Iain Glen first appeared as the older Bruce Wayne. He had previously trained Dick Grayson (played by Brenton Thwaites) and was the one who brought Jason Todd (Curran Walters) on as the new Robin. The season also explored the complicated dynamic between Dick and Bruce.

I’ve always found it interesting how different Bruce Waynes can be! Unlike the Bruce from the Mazouz films, the one played by Glen never actually became Batman on screen, and we didn’t even see him fight much. He was mostly just a wealthy guy pulling strings from behind the scenes. That continued in season 3 of Titans too – they actually showed Bruce killing the Joker and then retiring, so he really stepped away from the superhero life.

Adding to the complications, Bruce Wayne was largely missing from the Arrowverse in 2019, except for a brief appearance by Kevin Conroy as an alternate version during the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event. While Warren Christie was cast as Bruce Wayne in 2020, he only appeared as the character once, in a hallucination. For the remainder of his appearances, Christie played Tommy Elliot, also known as Hush, who was pretending to be Bruce.

DC’s Modern TV Output Has, Thankfully, Figured Out Its Batman Issue

2019 wasn’t a great year for Batman-related projects, but things have improved on television. Fans can now enjoy the animated adventures of Bruce Wayne with Batman: Caped Crusader on Prime Video. Plus, DC’s live-action shows have found a solution to problems faced by Gotham and Titans – simply not including Batman in those stories.

In 2023, the CW series Gotham Knights started with the death of Bruce Wayne, played by David Miller in an uncredited role. A year later, HBO’s The Penguin, a spin-off from The Batman movie, completely avoided mentioning Batman. The only hint of the character’s existence came in the very last moments of the show’s finale, when the Bat-Signal briefly appeared.

Eventually, we’ll probably see Bruce Wayne appear in another live-action DC television series. When that happens, the show should avoid creating a weak or simplified version of the character. This means giving him a meaningful part in the plot and fully embracing his identity as Batman. If the story can’t accommodate that, it would be better to find a way to tell it without including him at all.

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2026-05-17 01:11