It took until 2016 before the two most famous cartoon characters of all time met in “Batman v Superman”. A film like this had been planned for decades – and the original project would have been very different in any case.
Even Marvel fans have to admit: The most famous superheroes in the world come from DC – partly because they are two of the oldest superheroes ever: Superman and Batman. The two couldn’t be more opposite: Superman is America’s boy scout, a radiant and always optimistic figure of light. Batman is the Dark Knight of Gotham, a sinister and terrifying figure of darkness.
John Travolta v George Clooney: A slightly different duel
IMAGO, Montage: TVSPIELFILM.de
John Travolta (right) as Superman in the fight against Batman? It almost happened.
It’s common in comics for superheroes like Batman and Superman to meet each other. That was unthinkable in the cinema for a long time – until 1997 “Batman and Robin” came to the cinemas. There falls at the very beginning a sentence that had great consequences. Robin makes a cool line to Batman, who annoyedly replies, “That’s why Superman works alone.” Batman mentions Superman in a movie and clarifies that both heroes live in the same universe. That broke the dam.
Despite the failure of “Batman and Robin” and the catastrophic reviews of the last Superman film “Superman IV: The World Below”, Warner Bros. strived to bring a crossover of both heroes into the cinemas. In 2001, Andrew Kevin Walker pitched the project, he is known as the screenwriter of the thriller masterpiece “Seven” or the horror film “Sleepy Hollow”. Akiva Goldsman (screenwriter of “A Beautiful Mind”) should work out the script, and Wolfgang Petersen (director of “Das Boot”) to direct.
Goldsman’s screenplay envisaged the following idea for the plot: Batman aka Bruce Wayne is now engaged, but his fiancee falls into the hands of the Joker and is brutally murdered by him. Badly traumatized, Batman embarks on a revenge trip that ends in Superman being sent to the Dark Knight. And also casting ideas one already had: Batman should – as in “Batman and Robin” – take over George Clooney again, while the role of Superman would have gone to John Travolta.
That may sound absurd, but at the time this prestige project would have been unique. It ultimately failed because the studio had lost faith in Batman and Superman’s financial traction. That was only to change in 2005, when director Christopher Nolan won back the audience with his blockbuster “Batman Begins” and convinced critics worldwide – the today’s superhero boom was born.
