There have been a lot of Batman movies, eight if you count only the live-action series beginning in 1989. But there were more that were conceived, proposed, pitched, or written that never made it to the screen -and some of them are pretty weird. Blockbuster movies these days always come with an implied possibility of a sequel, so producers are constantly thinking of “the next one.” Such was the case for Joel Schumacher’s 1997 movie Batman and Robin.
Nicolas Cage as the Scarecrow. Courtney Love as Harley Quinn. Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tommy Lee Jones, and Jim Carrey returning as the Joker, the Penguin, Catwoman, Two-Face, and the Riddler. More Bat-Nipples. All this, and so much more, was set to happen in Batman Unchained, Joel Schumacher’s follow-up to Batman and Robin that never happened because, well, he made Batman and Robin. Mark Protosevich’s script dealt with Batman “learning to conquer fear and to confront the demons of his past,” according to the Hollywood Reporter, including “sadistic” Harley and “brilliant” Scarecrow teaming up to drive the Dark Knight insane and send him to Arkham Asylum. Schumacher told Protosevich that he had written “the most expensive movie ever made,” and when Batman and Robin bombed, the studio “pulled the plug on the whole project.”
That’s just one example of five unmade Batman movies you can learn about at Uproxx.