How long should Batman films go on without the Batfimily?

[James Cameron]

I for one really enjoyed the most recent Batman film mainly because, in my opinion, it treated the source material with more reverance than any other Batman movie and I appreciated how faithful it was despite some deviances. If they are on track to making more films, perhaps a whole series of films, how long can they continue without establishing the Batfamily?

I feel that Batman in media will suffer the less and less we see the Batfamily and Bruce interacting with the rest of the family. There is the Gotham Knights game coming out, but Batman isn't even in it. Titans has a lot of Batman supporting characters, but Bruce Wayne himself barely appears. I think with live action media in particular these producers seem like they're wary of showing a character like Batman interacting with young people, or being a father/guardian figure, but without that, they are cutting themselves off from so much of what makes up the character of Bruce Wayne. I feel that Batman on his own, the brooding loner, will start to get stale.

That's not to say there aren't still plenty of great stories they can do that don't involve the Batfamily, but it's been almost 60 years of Batman films and the best representation they've had in that entire time is in the 66 film. The more I see any movie or show without Batman working with the rest of the family just has me losing interest.

I don't think there would need to be any huge tonal shifts from the Batman in order to introduce characters like Dick, Jason, Barbara, Cassandra, etc, nor do I think adjustments in tone would be inappropriate. I just think it's been too long that we haven't seen this crucial aspect of Batman explored much in live action films.

What are everyone's thoughts?

[Frontier]

I mean, probably depends on what the creator's intentions are and how long the actor is willing to commit to playing Batman.

[Jackalope89]

I expect to see a Robin soon. Who? Don't know. Dick's circus background is kind of hard to implement nowadays. Jason's would be the easiest. Tim, would need some work considering his own background. Steph is tied to Tim, so, yeah. Damian, well, you could skip the others for him, but it would feel empty if its just him and no brothers to play off of. Carrie Kelly is an Elseworld Robin, and not well known outside of comic book readers.

[Digifiend]

I expect to see a Robin soon. Who? Don't know. Dick's circus background is kind of hard to implement nowadays.

Is it? Just make Haley's Circus similar to Cirque de Soleil.

[Felipe Silveira]

Is it? Just make Haley's Circus similar to Cirque de Soleil.

no, it has to be the same as the comics, something a little out of time helps in the fantastic tone

[Triniking1234]

If they can shoehorn Catwoman all the time, they can squeeze in either Dick, Jason or Barbara.

[godisawesome]

I definitely think that brining in the Batfamily, or even just one or two members, is probably something the franchise needs, especially given the new WB regime’s seeming hatred of smaller scale uses of them.

Is it? Just make Haley's Circus similar to Cirque de Soleil.

no, it has to be the same as the comics, something a little out of time helps in the fantastic tone

I think a Cirque de Soleil-esque show is functionally and iconographically the same as the old school circus tent, and the Grayson’s being a touring family under contract with some larger franchise would still give them the nomadic background for Dick.

But here’s how I’d repackage him, and *maybe* some of the others, for The Batman’s fantasy-noir style:

- Much like how Batman’s already encountered Joker, he’s already solved the Grayson’s trapeze murder, brought in Tony Zucco, and seen to it that Dick was safe… and then Riddler’s flood rocked the city. Dick, who was already acting out and who Batman had to keep from taking risks when he had tried taking down Zucco himself at 12/13, is now a 14/15 year old street kid in Gotham’s flooded ruins, trying to look out for and help others.

Because Penguin’s trying to control the city’s underworld, Dick often sabotages and compromises Penguin’s plans, stealing what he can from Penguin’s henchmen, and giving it to the poor… and thus, is a “Robin Hood” to the city’s refugees. Because of this, he’s taken to tagging his exploits with a yellow “R”. He’s nowhere near the training he’d need to be Robin, but he’s already excelling at evasion, escape, scouting, and occasionally desperate ambushes of those Penguin send after him.

Penguin’s growing need to take out this pain in the ass is what gets Batman back in contact with Dick, who refuses to stop his own mission in a way that eerily resembles Bruce’s own drive; Bruce subdues him once or twice, but Dick manages to escape, until eventually Bruce takes him to the Batcave to try figuring something out… only for Dick to again escape and discover the Bruce Wayne secret. They work out a deal where Bruce will make sure Dick can protect himself and even take him on a single mission to try and “scare him straight…” but of course, Dick actually rescues Batman, and gets to down the Robin costume permanently (it’s black-and-dark-green body armor that he insists on spraying with red and yellow paint for his own iconography.)

- And if they wanted to go ahead and lay the groundwork for more Batfamily members… Dick had “copycat Robins” emulating him, and a local meme in Gotham is “We Are Robin,” where the other future Batfamily members could be involved, whether it’s Jason, Tim, Duke, or Babs, all in their own way - Jason as another, more “avaricious” saboteur with a habit of stealing tires, Tim and Babs as digital allies, and Duke as someone actually gathering the copycats and organizing them to shine the Batsignal whenever Batman’s needed.

[millernumber1]

Zero films. We've seen far too many films without the Batfamily.

[Vishop]

DC doesn't allow Batman to appear except from appearing on films. The Batfamily havent had too much of their own in shows let alone making them appear in films. They are having their own video game. I think thats more enough for them in the long run.

[HsssH]

I don't want Batfamily in movies at all.

[Avi]

Zero films. We've seen far too many films without the Batfamily.

I have zero interest in further solo Batman movies.
That said, I'd hope they introduce them appropriately slowly and don't rush the Batfamily the way they rushed the League.

[Nite-Wing]

I'd prefer they stay out of the movies
Batman is doing amazing without them no need to return to the terrible days of Batman and Robin

[Felipe Silveira]

It was hard to watch The Batman until the end, the last Batman movies are so boring and limited. Having a Robin would help.

[ZuLuLu]

I think they should start a movie with the Bat Family.

This premise could be similar to the Gotham Knights game, or Batman Bad Blood where it seems that Batman may be dead and the family has to step up. His history with them and what inspired them to put on the mask can be told through brief flashbacks.

I think it would be a mistake to introduce each member one by one, telling each of their origin story save that for their solo movies.

[Vakanai]

Doesn't matter. It's not about how long or whatever, it's about what the director and actors want to tell their story. Otherwise we get bad films and terrible takes on characters. I think most of us would rather not have a film with our favorite characters than one that does them terribly.