So what WOULD you like to see in a Batman live action TV show

[Riv86672]

We all know for years now DC can’t seem to stop making live action Batman movies but won’t commit to a live action Batman TV show.

They’ll find a bunch of ways to write AROUND Batman, but won’t give us the man himself.

Got me wondering what everyone would actually want a Batman show to look like.

How old would you want him to be/how far along in his career?

Who would you want as main cast members?

Full on costumed villains (w. sci fi and magic and tech elements), regular criminals (corrupt cops, politicians, mobsters), both?

Type of costume?

Station?

Casting?

Pretty much anything I named or have forgotten; I mean we’ve been waiting since 1966, we surely have wishlists.

[Multiverse]

I have a 10 season spanning Batman series planned out in my head. Inspired by Young Justice/ Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Babylon 5, it would be a massive story driven series, featured a vast variety of the Batman supporting cast and villains (both popular and underrated), covering 10 years of Batman’s crusade against the scum of Gotham (from his beginning year to his final battle for the soul of Gotham City

INITIAL MAIN CAST
1) Bruce Wayne/ Batman: A wealthy American playboy, philanthropist, and owner of Wayne Enterprises. After witnessing the murder of his parents Dr. Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne as a child, he swore vengeance against criminals, an oath tempered by a sense of justice. Bruce Wayne trains himself both physically and intellectually and crafts a bat-inspired persona to fight crime.
2) Alfred Pennyworth: Bruce Wayne's loyal and tireless butler, housekeeper, legal guardian, best friend, aide-de-camp, and surrogate father figure following the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne. As a classically trained British actor and an ex-Special Operations Executive operative of honor and ethics with connections within the intelligence community, he has been called Batman's batman.
3) James Gordon: One of the few uncorrupted Gotham City police officers, who’s on duty the night of the murder of Bruce's parents and, in this way, shares a special bond with the adult Bruce and thus with Batman. He is somewhat skeptical of Batman's vigilante methods, but nevertheless believes that Gotham needs him.
4) Julie Madison: An oft-imperilled socialite/ actress who’s in love with Bruce Wayne; Bruce cares deeply for Julie, but is reluctant to tell her the secret of his night-time activities. However, Julie herself suspects that Bruce is hiding something from her. She acts alongside Gotham celebrity actor Basil Karlo (Clayface).
5) Harvey Dent: An upstanding Gotham City District Attorney, personal friend of Bruce and Julie; and ally of James Gordon and Batman. Harvey Dent is hideously scarred on the left side of his face after mob boss Sal Maroni throws acidic chemicals at him during a court trial. He subsequently goes insane and adopts the "Two-Face" persona, becoming a criminal obsessed with the number two, the concept of duality and the conflict between good and evil.
6) Jonathan Crane/ Scarecrow: The self-proclaimed Master of Fear, who uses his position as professor of psychology at Gotham University and hopefully as future head psychologist at Arkham Asylum to secretly conduct experiments concerning fear. Pupil of Hugo Strange, mentor of Thomas Elliot, and the in-adverted perpetrator of Poison Ivy’s origin.
7) Oswald Cobblepot/ The Penguin: A Gotham City mob accountant who fancies himself a gentleman of crime. Using high-tech umbrellas as weapons. Penguin takes over Moxon’s operation following his death. Mainly Specialises in weapons-smuggling (but like to adapt).
8) Roman Sionis/ Black Mask: A successful CEO of his own business “Sionis Industries”; and secretly a brutal and ruthless crime lord in Gotham City who has a fixation with masks and derives sadistic pleasure from the act of torture.

S1 RECURRING CHARACTERS: Selina Kyle, Lucius Fox, Harvey Bullock, Vicki Vale, Leslie Thompkins, Hugo Strange

The initial threat is the Five Familes (Carmine Falcone, Sal Maroni, Tony Zucco, Lew Moxon and the mysterious Black Mask), who’s line-up rotates with each season as mob bosses are incarcerated or killed (including favourites like Penguin, Maxie Zeus, Ventriloquist, etc), and the organised crime in Gotham (including rivals like Alfred Stryker’s Red Hood Gang); but within the first year, Golden Age Villains like Catwoman, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter and Cavalier make appearances culminating in the Season 1 finale debut of the Joker.

BIG BADS of each Season:
1) Red Hood Gang VS Five Families/ Scarecrow
2) Sal Maroni VS Harvey Two-Face
3) Hugo Strange, Hamilton Hill and Rupert Thorne
4) Ra’s Al Ghul and the League of Assassins
5) Penguin VS Black Mask and The False-Face Society
6) The Joker
7) Bane/ Azrael and the Order of St Dumas
8) Hush, Riddler, Scarecrow and Jason Todd
9) Talia Al Ghul and Leviathan
10) Court of Owls

[BatmanJones]

Bookend the series with a very late in life Batman, giving them an opportunity to visit any period in his career. Nobody but me would like this but I wouldn't just visit any time in one version of Batman's career, I would visit all the characters Batman has been including the 1940s, 50s, and 60s ones. I guess what I'm longing for is more of an open-ended anthology written and directed by various top talents who each want to take on a different story, unrestricted by an actual show bible.

I would however use the same cast members in each incarnation.

[BatmanJones]

One of my favorite Batman stories ever was Gaiman's Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader and I hadn't realized until I posted that that was influencing the idea I just posted.

So that two-issue series would form the basis of the series. The first episode would revolve around the weird setup of the guests arriving and Bruce's confusion about what's going on there and whether or not he's dead as in the first issue of the two. Subsequent episodes begin by reverting to the funeral home and each one would be an expanded version of a story/eulogy told at his funeral. The final episode would resolve as the finale of Gaiman's two-issue story did.

Discovery/DCU almost definitely wouldn't go for it, there's better money to be made in a less confusing series. This idea is very meta and also only works for a limited series and only really makes sense for superfans, but it's what I'd like to see.

I'd especially love to see the Alfred eulogy in live-action, but I'd love to see them all.

Hey, why not an animated feature based on that terrific story? Somebody get me James Gunn on the line. If anyone would go for it, it would be him.

[batnbreakfast]

I would love to see Gotham Central done right but it was scrapped and instead we are getting the Arkham show (maybe) and Penguin. Gotham (ugh) was not Gotham Central. One could argue The Batman (2022) already was like that. The other thing I'd really love would be watching all the characters we are never going to see or at least not in the next ten years protecting Gotham City and Bludhaven: Robin, Batgirl, Bullock, Montoya, Sasha Bordeaux, Clayface, Phantasm, the Question, Poison Ivy, Hugo Strange, Mad Monk, Henri Ducard, Jace Fox.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I have a 10 season spanning Batman series planned out in my head. Inspired by Young Justice/ Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Babylon 5, it would be a massive story driven series, featured a vast variety of the Batman supporting cast and villains (both popular and underrated), covering 10 years of Batman’s crusade against the scum of Gotham (from his beginning year to his final battle for the soul of Gotham City

INITIAL MAIN CAST
1) Bruce Wayne/ Batman: A wealthy American playboy, philanthropist, and owner of Wayne Enterprises. After witnessing the murder of his parents Dr. Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne as a child, he swore vengeance against criminals, an oath tempered by a sense of justice. Bruce Wayne trains himself both physically and intellectually and crafts a bat-inspired persona to fight crime.
2) Alfred Pennyworth: Bruce Wayne's loyal and tireless butler, housekeeper, legal guardian, best friend, aide-de-camp, and surrogate father figure following the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne. As a classically trained British actor and an ex-Special Operations Executive operative of honor and ethics with connections within the intelligence community, he has been called Batman's batman.
3) James Gordon: One of the few uncorrupted Gotham City police officers, who’s on duty the night of the murder of Bruce's parents and, in this way, shares a special bond with the adult Bruce and thus with Batman. He is somewhat skeptical of Batman's vigilante methods, but nevertheless believes that Gotham needs him.
4) Julie Madison: An oft-imperilled socialite/ actress who’s in love with Bruce Wayne; Bruce cares deeply for Julie, but is reluctant to tell her the secret of his night-time activities. However, Julie herself suspects that Bruce is hiding something from her. She acts alongside Gotham celebrity actor Basil Karlo (Clayface).
5) Harvey Dent: An upstanding Gotham City District Attorney, personal friend of Bruce and Julie; and ally of James Gordon and Batman. Harvey Dent is hideously scarred on the left side of his face after mob boss Sal Maroni throws acidic chemicals at him during a court trial. He subsequently goes insane and adopts the "Two-Face" persona, becoming a criminal obsessed with the number two, the concept of duality and the conflict between good and evil.
6) Jonathan Crane/ Scarecrow: The self-proclaimed Master of Fear, who uses his position as professor of psychology at Gotham University and hopefully as future head psychologist at Arkham Asylum to secretly conduct experiments concerning fear. Pupil of Hugo Strange, mentor of Thomas Elliot, and the in-adverted perpetrator of Poison Ivy’s origin.
7) Oswald Cobblepot/ The Penguin: A Gotham City mob accountant who fancies himself a gentleman of crime. Using high-tech umbrellas as weapons. Penguin takes over Moxon’s operation following his death. Mainly Specialises in weapons-smuggling (but like to adapt).
8) Roman Sionis/ Black Mask: A successful CEO of his own business “Sionis Industries”; and secretly a brutal and ruthless crime lord in Gotham City who has a fixation with masks and derives sadistic pleasure from the act of torture.

S1 RECURRING CHARACTERS: Selina Kyle, Lucius Fox, Harvey Bullock, Vicki Vale, Leslie Thompkins, Hugo Strange

The initial threat is the Five Familes (Carmine Falcone, Sal Maroni, Tony Zucco, Lew Moxon and the mysterious Black Mask), who’s line-up rotates with each season and mob bosses are incarcerated or killed (including favourites like Penguin, Maxie Zeus, Ventriloquist, etc), and the organised crime in Gotham (including rivals like Alfred Stryker’s Red Hood Gang); but within the first year, Golden Age Villains like Catwoman, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter and Cavalier make appearances culminating in the Season 1 finale debut of the Joker.

BIG BADS of each Season:
1) Red Hood Gang VS Five Families/ Scarecrow
2) Sal Maroni VS Harvey Two-Face
3) Hugo Strange, Hamilton Hill and Rupert Thorne
4) Ra’s Al Ghul and the League of Assassins
5) Penguin VS Black Mask and The False-Face Society
6) The Joker
7) Bane/ Azrael and the Order of St Dumas
8) Hush, Riddler, Scarecrow and Jason Todd
9) Talia Al Ghul and Leviathan
10) Court of Owls

This sounds amazing, I'd watch it.

For me, I'd explore Batman's early years and have a mix of both grounded crime and mystical horror elements for stories.

My take on Bruce would be a mix of Beware the Batman's and Telltale's take on the character.

I thought about using Anarky as a proto-Robin figure but he and Bruce will have a falling out over time.

Another option would be using Jace Fox or Terry from Batman Beyond as the protagonist instead of Bruce. It would be uncharted territory to explore.

[batnbreakfast]

For me, I'd explore Batman's early years and have a mix of both grounded crime and mystical horror elements for stories.

Sounds like Matt Wagner's Batman which was a sequel to YEAR ONE that added the supernatural

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Sounds like Matt Wagner's Batman which was a sequel to YEAR ONE that added the supernatural

I didn't know about that but that sounds like a good comparison for what I'm going for.

[Jackalope89]

A show that ACTUALLY has Batman would be a good start.

Of course gotta have Alfred with dry humor, Commissioner Gordon stressing out about his job, Bullock being a rule "bender", Montoya being a good cop but also supportive of vigilantes to a degree, and the core Bat Family as, well, an ACTUAL family. Like the 4 boys + Cass at least. Dysfunctional? Sure. But I want them as an actual family on screen.

[berserkerclaw]

As long as he isnt fresh out of the gate. We have seen that too much. I'd make Gotham knights but completely different then the one that's airing now. I'd like to see the sidekicks get more airtime. Baymmans great but live action barely lets the Robins or batgirls out to play. I want Oracle,Batgirl(Cass) Robin(Tim) nightwing etc. Yes I know we had Titans but still

[captchuck]

Batman should be in the show as the central character. I'd like to see it as the middle of his career. I wouldn't mind some soap-opera stuff with Catwoman. I'd prefer no bat-kids. No Robins either...

[CPSparkles]

I'd like a Dickbats era TV show or Rebirth BB era Batman show. There's already 3 BruceBat projects upcoming [YoungPat, GunnVeteran and CCanimatedBat] so keep the variety going. I'd a TV show focus on a different character under the cowl.

A batman TV series set during the Batman Beyond era has the added benefit of been tonally different from every other Bat project out now or coming up. A futuristic Gotham might be tricky and costly to do in life action though.