Batman Forever and Batman & Robin may have found new life today as unintentional comedies and so-bad-they're-good movies. Yet they're generally disliked by superhero fans, especially fans of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy. But what if there's a canon explanation for why they're so ridiculous?
An online theory suggests that the last two movies in the film series that began with 1989's Batman didn't actually happen but were fictional adventures told within that universe in cinema form. It explains that soon after the events of Batman Returns, Bruce Wayne reveals his identity as the Batman. Sometime after that, the rights to his life story and alter ego are bought, bringing the two Joel Schumacher movies into existence. With The Flash bringing Michael Keaton back to the role of the Caped Crusader and seemingly wiping the other two movies out of canon, there is a chance this theory could be plausible and worth exploring in-depth.
Bruce Wayne Is Revealed to be Batman
By the end of the second entry in Tim Burton's Batman universe, Gotham City had already gone through two major threats. One of two things may have occurred: either an identity-revealing event similar to Batman: Arkham Knight happened, or the weight that Bruce Wayne had to carry became too much and he decided to give up on everything. After all, many of his enemies do exist solely because of Batman's actions. The 1989 Joker is a prime example of this.
One way or another, his identity becomes public knowledge. This, of course, creates a media firestorm that eventually leads to a movie being made about his life and exploits as the Dark Knight. However, being a fictional product within a fictional universe, it's easy to believe that it would end up becoming an exaggerated piece of cinematic entertainment.
Movies Based on Batman Get Made
It's not a new concept to have Warner Bros. exist within its own movies. The company could exist within the Burtonverse and have acquired the rights to make a movie based on Bruce Wayne's life and Batman. The company then hires Joel Schumacher to direct it, with Val Kilmer and George Clooney slated to play the vigilante billionaire. But these movies aren't documentaries. Instead, they're action-packed superhero flicks. This is the '90s, after all, so the media giant will want to make the movie as marketable as possible by creating all sorts of tie-in products. To make the story more family-friendly, it introduces a new character that younger audiences can connect with: Robin.
Because the public is already familiar with Wayne's tragic past, they simply allude to his backstory in Batman Forever. They also make the Riddler and Two-Face as eccentric as possible in a callback to the real-life Joker, which explains the movie's common criticism of Jim Carrey's portrayal being a more over-the-top version of Jack Nicholson's character. It could also explain why Billy Dee Williams didn't return to play Harvey Dent. The massive success of this movie immediately leads to the follow-up, Batman & Robin, in which the studio doubles down on the campy tone and toy marketing.
The Dark Knight Returns
The failure of Schumacher's second film most likely prompted the in-universe Warner Bros. to pull the plug on the Batman franchise, just like in real life. But this time around, there is no reboot to bring life back into the superhero. Instead, Bruce Wayne himself retakes the mantle at some point in his later years, setting up his appearance in the upcoming Flash movie.
With Michael Keaton set to reprise his role as Batman in The Flash, it will be interesting to see what his incarnation of the character has been up to all these years. Maybe his exploits with The Riddler and Mr. Freeze never happened and the comic book sequels are the canon continuation. Or maybe he did hang up the cape and those fictional in-universe movies were produced, which prompted him to don the cowl once more to redeem himself. No matter the case, fans are certainly eager to catch up with this version of the character that changed superhero movies forever back in 1989.
Even though this may all just be a theory, it's a fun way for fans to reexamine the latter two films of the original series and accept the Burton films as absolutes. Hopefully, a new point of view will warm people up to those "bad" movies rather than ignoring their existence altogether. Either way, nobody can deny the mindless fun that can be had with Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.