Welcome to the tenth installment of Page One Rewrite, where I examine comics-to-screen adaptations that just couldn’t make it. This week, I'm looking at the script for “Batman 2,” written by the writer of 1989’s Batman, Sam Hamm.
Warner Bros. developed this script with Hamm, apparently without director Tim Burton’s input, around 1990. Burton initially expressed reluctance to make another Batman, but agreed to return after Warner Bros. granted him more creative control, telling him this could be more of a Burton film than a Batman film. Burton rejected Hamm’s script and brought in Heathers writer Daniel Waters. Wesley Strick was later chosen to do another draft, and stuck around the set for even more rewrites.
The critical reception to the eventual film, Batman Returns, was somewhat positive, though many viewed the script as a mess. Warner Bros. felt the movie was too dark and disturbing, jeopardizing licensing deals with corporate partners like McDonald's. But if they didn’t like Burton’s film, it’s hard to imagine their response to Hamm’s first draft.
The opening line mirrors Hamm’s famous introduction to Batman. The 1989 screenplay opens with “...hell has erupted through (Gotham’s) sidewalks.” The sequel’s opening line is equally provocative: “It’s finally happened. Hell’s frozen over.” The Christmas setting of the actual film originates in this draft, as does the idea of Batman jumping into action early, stopping a gang of looters.
These crooks have no connection to the script’s main villains, though. They’re merely props to dramatize how Gotham has changed since the last movie. Batman merchandise is everywhere in a nod to the real-life “Bat-mania” that followed the first film. We also meet a vigilante gang known as the Order of the Bat, who wear Batman t-shirts and don red berets (parodying the civilian group Guardian Angels, which patrolled New York subways at the time.)
Vicki Vale is still around, serving as Bruce Wayne’s confidant and working as a news photographer. She’s covering the most cliché of villains of the era, a greedy developer who’s determined to tear down low-income and homeless communities in order to build a new high-rise.
One of the homeless kids Vicki befriends is Dick Grayson, who stayed in subsequent drafts late into production, up until the point a costume was designed and Marlon Wayans had been cast in the role.
Later drafts had Dick as a mechanic who helps out Batman; here, he’s a 13-year-old vigilante defending the local homeless. His backstory is left a mystery, but amongst his meager possessions is the circus performance outfit with a stylized “R” emblem. Dick is described as “sunken-eyed, grimy-looking, in a torn and tattered raincoat,” which I’ll assume should be yellow.
The first villain we meet is Mr. Boniface, introduced inside a prison cell, surrounded by birds. He’s “beak-nosed, epicene, and so fat that it seems his skin should burst.” He also employs an arsenal of trick umbrellas, yet is adamant no one refer to him as his nickname, the Penguin. (“Epicene” means androgynous or asexual, by the way, leading me to wonder how Hamm envisioned Penguin.) The notorious thief bribes his way out of prison and immediately sets out on his next scheme.
He enlists the aid of Selina Kyle, described as “exotic, with vaguely Eurasian features,” and later “dark and elegant, fine-boned, regal of bearing.” Selina works as Curator of Antiquities for a local museum, hiding her double life as a jewel thief with a bondage fetish. Her Catwoman outfit is explicitly described as “a bondage mask…studded, with openings for the eyes and mouth, (with) one incongruous touch; a pair of pointed cat ears.”
Hamm’s replacement Daniel Waters is quoted as saying, “Sam Hamm went back to the way comic books in general treat women, like fetishy sexual fantasy. I wanted to start off just at the lowest point in society, a very beaten down secretary.” This Selina has no origin story; we meet her as an amoral crook, who can barely maintain her public façade when around men she’s attracted to. Her introductory scene has her murdering over a dozen criminals with a machine gun as she interrupts a massive drug exchange at the docks. (At two separate points in the script, Catwoman steals a machine gun and mows people down.)
We learn Catwoman’s true goal wasn’t the drugs, but instead a raven statuette that belongs to millionaire industrialist -- and secret drug kingpin. -- Walter Barrett, who is returning to Gotham after a five-year stay in Europe. The script does move along at a steady clip, introducing the cast and getting to the plot early on. Penguin and Catwoman’s scheme has them stealing five raven statuettes from the Five Families of Gotham, the most elite of the elite, which of course includes Bruce Wayne and Randall Shaw, that greedy developer from earlier.
A flashback to 1880 -- which Hamm intended to be highly stylized, with Burton likely in mind -- tells the story of the Gotham Treasury being looted, and five rich men who bail out the city in exchange for land rights, mineral rights and service contracts. The elites then grow even more powerful, while the city remains unaware they were behind the Treasury’s robbery. The Five Families have ceremonial ravens made; combined they reveal the location of the treasure they’d stolen.
Penguin and Catwoman work to destroy Batman’s image and set the police against him, presumably to keep him busy while they target the five wealthy Gothamites. Bruce is contemporaries with the other four men; some he’s cordial with, others he despises. Selina declares Bruce her personal project, assuming she can seduce him into handing over his statuette. But Bruce is unaware he ever possessed a raven, as Alfred gave it to one of his father’s associates shortly after the Waynes’ murder.
Regarding that murder, we discover a shocking retcon in the climax -- Bruce’s father knew of the Five Family’s secret and refused to keep quiet. Jack Napier was no random thug in an alley, he was a hired killer paid to silence the troublesome Waynes.
1989’s Batman received some criticism for portraying Batman as fairly incompetent. Here, he’s even more of a disaster. He fails to save any of the targeted men, as all are murdered by Penguin and Catwoman. There’s also a bit that has his cool new flying wings extract during an underground battle, causing him to get hooked on a passing subway train and dragged away.
Dick Grayson is also present during this fight, as fate has enabled him to learn Bruce’s secret identity, and to briefly possess all of the ravens. He’s seriously injured by the villains, who steal the ravens and locate the map the five statuettes reveal. The gold and silver stolen in 1880 is today located at the same place Vicki is taking an injured Dick Grayson: Wayne Manor.
Specifically, the treasure is hidden in the Batcave’s grotto, covered by a mountain of bats. Yes, there’s treasure in the Batcave and Bruce never even knew. The climactic battle has Alfred taking a bullet, a catfight between Vicki and Catwoman (set in the kitchen, no less), Penguin discovering Bruce Wayne’s secret and then falling to his death after Batman triggers an army of bats, forcing him to lose his balance and plunge into an endless pit.
Catwoman, meanwhile, seriously injures herself after falling atop a glass chandelier. She attempts to slice her own throat, but Batman won’t allow it. Since Vicki prevented her from discovering the Batcave, she remains ignorant of Bruce’s secret, so there’s no convenient plot excuse for killing her off.
The final scene has Dick and Alfred recuperating inside Wayne Manor, as “this decidedly eccentric family unit” celebrates Christmas. Bruce muses he’ll use the treasure to provide a home for those displaced by Shaw’s development. (He’s rich; he could’ve done that already). Then in the closing moment, Bruce gives Vicki her Christmas present: a diamond engagement ring.
FAN SERVICE
Hamm’s script has the same tenuous connection to the source material as 1989’s Batman. This story, however, does give Commissioner Gordon more to do, and even pairs him with a Lt. Bullock. Not Harvey Bullock, though. Eddie Bullock, instead.
There is one moment directly inspired from the comics; a scene Hamm also wrote for the first movie, but was never filmed. While escaping police, Batman commandeers a mounted cop’s horse, in a clear homage to Dark Knight Returns.
It could be argued finding a place for Robin is fan service, also. As is a fight scene between Batman and Catwoman set in the Wayne Manor armory featured in the first film.
NON-FAN SERVICE
Why Hamm isn’t using Penguin’s actual name from the mythos is confusing. Even pre-Internet, this wouldn’t have been hard to research, especially if he had access to DC. Establishing that Penguin hates being called this, and not having anyone refer to Catwoman by name, indicates a reluctance to truly make this “comic book,” a common attitude at the time.
“UM, ACTUALLY…”
Gordon defends Batman’s honor, declaring “Batman’s never committed murder!” Did he see the first movie?
APPROVED BY THE MPAA
Hamm’s portrayal of Catwoman would seem difficult to make PG-13 friendly. The actual film hints at a BDSM connection, but it’s explicit here. The Five Family members are also murdered in some brutal ways. One scene has Catwoman seducing one of her targets into bed, donning her bondage mask, and then murdering him in the midst of S&M play. She uses the man’s blood to paint a Bat-signal on his Jackson Pollock painting.
I LOVE THE '90s
After Batman’s reputation is ruined, local shop owners replace his merchandise with Simpsons and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles memorabilia.
PULLED FROM THE SCRAPS
A few ideas made it into the final film, such as Penguin framing Batman. There’s also a sequence that has the Batmobile squeezing through an alley while escaping police, and a large set piece during a Christmas tree lighting ceremony is also here. The “flying Batman” scene (which really makes no sense in the finished film) goes all the way back to Hamm’s first draft.
DID WE DODGE A BULLET?
Batman Returns is usually praised for its performances, its look, and the dynamic between troubled souls Bruce and Selina. Few people will tell you it has a solid screenplay, however, with the script constantly changing onset and the villain’s master plan retroactively turned into some nonsense with penguins having rockets strapped to their backs.
If you’re willing to accept the Burton films as dark fairy tales, then some of the nonsensical elements are forgivable. Both Catwoman and Penguin have origins that make no literal sense, but you buy them as creepy villains who reside in this crazy world of Gotham City. Hamm’s script isn’t bothering with origin tales. We accept the villains as murderous thieves and move on from there. They don’t suffer from any inner torment, and don’t serve as any real reflection upon Batman. Hamm’s idea is that Bruce’s relationship with Vicki is making him less tortured, more human. Burton, though, was adamant about presenting Bruce as even more of a freak in the sequel.
So, much of the eccentricity of the actual film isn’t here, but it’s a far more coherent story. Hamm seemed to have more elaborate action scenes in mind for the sequel, but it’s hard to imagine Burton even attempting some of these stunts, as in Returns his Batman can still barely move. Saying Hamm’s script is more “mainstream” is a stretch, given the BDSM elements, but he does seem to care more about the heroes than the villains. It’s not exactly inspired, but it’s a tight script that brings together various threads efficiently. Hardcore Burton fans might’ve missed the weirdness, but this would’ve provided a far more solid starting point for the film.
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