Comics on Film: 'The Batman' Is Coming, So What Do We Want From It?

A couple of days ago, actor/director Ben Affleck revealed that the name of his upcoming directorial debut in the DC Extended Universe would be something that will likely resonate with a lot of major fans of the Dark Knight: his film, simply titled The Batman (for now), will feature Affleck’s solo debut as the World’s Greatest Detective, and will feature him squaring off against the well-known DC Comics assassin known as Deathstroke the Terminator.

While Affleck’s debut as Batman in this past March’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice wasn’t wthout controversy, most of the issues that fans and critics had with the movie were far from resting on Affleck’s shoulders. In fact, a fair amount of critics in particular went out of their way to praise his performance as a highlight of the overall film, saying that he was a more-than-worthy successor to the “Mantle of the Bat.” Even some detractors of the film on the side of hardcore DC Comics fans saw the benefit of Affleck’s take on the character, with a fair amount of criticism being leveled more at the way he was written than the way he was played.

So, with a new solo outing directed by and starring Affleck coming to theaters in the next few years, what do we want from that effort since it will be crafted largely by Affleck himself? From one major Bat-fan to one of the best directors working today, here’s some wholly unsolicited advice.

Don’t Change Your Style, Mr. Affleck

Affleck is an experienced actor, to be sure, but The Town and Argo both seemed to indicate that his previous work in front of the camera gave him a sizable amount of exposure to some of the best directors in the industry, and he took those lessons forward to craft really great cinematic experiences. This culminated most clearly at the 85th Academy Awards, in which Argo won Best Picture.

So, this leads to my first piece of wholly unsolicited advice to Mr. Affleck: I hope he doesn’t change his directorial style. The Town in particular made clear that Affleck has a command for gritty, street-level action, and while Batman has had a fair amount of stories where that may not be the order of the day, the director has proven that he can make those kinds of scenes compelling. He also has a great eye for the environment, as clearly shown in Argo, when the streets outside the Canadian embassy in Tehran were clearly visualized to be dangerous and hostile to the Americans in the process of being rescued.

Some directors feel the fact that they’ve gotten hold of a comic book character means that they should surrender to the absurdity of the characters instead of getting inside the material. That most basic fact is the fundamental dividing line between masterpieces of the genre like Superman, The Dark Knight, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the more embarrassing entries like Batman & Robin, Jonah Hex, and Fantastic Four.

Do Your Homework

Some of the biggest criticism from fans leveled at Batman v Superman came from the perception that there was only one major comic book influence on the style and tone of the film: Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. While no one can dispute DKR‘s importance to the legacy of Batman, it’s still not necessarily the be-all end-all of Batman stories.

Some of the best narrative strength of The Dark Knight Trilogy as a whole came from the philosophy behind those movies which said that works of merit from across multiple eras of the character’s history should be acknowledged in some form, and that is clearly represented by all three of those films: Batman Begins took inspiration from 1987’s Year One, 1989’s The Man Who Falls, and 1996-97’s The Long Halloween. The Dark Knight was also inspired by The Long Halloween, but took additional cues from the very first Joker story featured in 1940’s Batman #1, 1971’s The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge, and 1988’s The Killing Joke. The Dark Knight Rises was influenced by 1993’s Knightfall, 1998’s No Man’s Land, and 2000’s Dark Victory.

The strength of taking inspiration from a lot of different stories from different eras also means that as a filmmaker, Affleck wouldn’t be beholden to one specific plot or sequence of events as they originally played out in the pages of those comics. Absorbing some of the most meritorious works from Batman’s 75-plus year history will likely give a creator a good baseline of what makes a good or timeless Batman story. Affleck spoke about how Deathstroke’s iteration from DC’s New 52 initiative from 2011-2016 played a role in his choice to use that character, and as much flak as the New 52 can often get from comics fans, it was actually a pretty good era for the Dark Knight, all things considered. It gave us Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s fantastic ongoing series, as well as other great stories by creators like Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, John Layman, Jason Fabok, Gregg Hurwitz, David Finch, Francis Manapul, and Brian Buccellato.

Take advantage of your association with DC, Mr. Affleck, and have fun by digging into the archives and finding the Batman stories that most connect with you, and chances are you’ll have even more fun coming up with a film you want to make.

Don’t Be Afraid to Innovate

That being said, there’s kind of a false perception that exists about comic book fans that we don’t like seeing anything new. It’s pretty easy to see why some people may think that, because sometimes we as fans can have a tendency to throw our favorite comic book pages in a director’s face while screaming “WHY AREN’T YOU DOING THIS?!” at them. Not all of us feel that way, though. The reason we often recommend filmmakers absorb a character’s history isn’t necessarily because we want them to simply adapt our favorite stories exactly as they played out on the comic book page, we just want a prospective screenwriter or director to have a good grasp of the material they’re charged with adapting.

That’s generally why we’ve embraced a lot of recent efforts by filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, the Russo Brothers, Joss Whedon, etc.: their work has demonstrated an understanding of who the characters really are, which has translated to movies that work very well for critics, fans, and general audiences alike. As an example, making S.H.I.E.L.D. a compromised agency infiltrated the forces of Hydra in The Winter Soldier made both fans and audiences interested in the test it provided for Captain America, and was a unique scenario that put a lot of pressure on a truthfully-represented Steve Rogers.

That’s why, after absorbing what makes a good Batman story, you shouldn’t be afraid to play with our expectations and surprise us. If your movie feels true to who the character is, then you should have no qualms about building on and testing the character’s limits. As soon as you’ve demonstrated the fact that you really know what makes this guy so enduring, anyone can recognize that compelling storytelling is all about conflict and tension that can then serve to ultimately elevate that character. As long as your story is true to who Batman is, based on your absorption of some of the character’s greatest works of merit, then you can likely throw him in a pretty crazy scenario.

That’s why many of us love Batman in the first place: if a great many stories have shown us anything, it’s that it can be an immensely rewarding experience to absorb a story showing how he digs himself and Gotham City out of some wild and dirty messes. You’ve already proven yourself an extremely capable director, Mr. Affleck. Here’s to your ultimate success in making The Batman the best it can possibly be.

What do YOU want to see from The Batman? Where do you think the DCEU will ultimately take the Dark Knight? Sound off below, and we’ll see you for a brand new column next week!

Chris Clow is a gamer, a comic book expert and former retailer, as well as a freelance contributor to The Huffington Post and Batman-On-Film.com, as well as host of the Comics on Consoles podcast. You can find his weekly piece Comics on Film right here at Movies.com. Check out his blog, and follow along on Twitter @ChrisClow.

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