Over the years, Batman Unchained (sometimes called Batman Triumphant) has become the stuff of legends. It’s the Batman movie that never saw the light of day -- an ill-fated sequel to 1997’s Batman & Robin that ended up being shelved shortly after the film’s release.

Higher-ups at Warner Bros. originally hoped to have another Batman movie in theaters by 1999, but when Batman Unchained never made it to production, it ended taking another eight years for Bruce Wayne to appear again on the big screen. So, with that in mind, let's look at what Batman Unchained would have looked like, and why was it ultimately canceled.

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The Director

Joel Schumacher next to an image of George Clooney's Batman.

There was a lot of early optimism around Batman & Robin, which made the Warner Bros. team feel confident enough to approach Joel Schumacher about creating one more Batman project. Already well steeped in Batman lore, Schumacher was a natural choice at the time. His film, Batman Forever, had done great at the box office and there was no reason to believe Batman & Robin wouldn’t also be a big success. Schumacher was beginning to feel less enthused by the demands specific to creating another big Batman movie, but he agreed to the project, so long as he was ensured time to focus on a few smaller passion projects and the ability to take the sequel in a new direction.

The Script

Akiva Goldsman, the screenwriter behind Batman & Robin and Batman Forever, decided he wasn’t particularly interested in writing another Batman movie. When he declined, Mark Protosevich, who readers might know as the screenwriter of films such as The Cell and I Am Legend, stepped in. Protosevich’s script never developed beyond the early stages, but the draft was circulated amongst key decision-makers before ultimately being rejected.

Apparently, Schumacher and Protosevich were eager to explore a few of Batman’s demons, crafting a film that would depart from the lighter tone of Batman & Robin. They envisioned a script with a more serious approach to the world of Gotham, acknowledging that the franchise probably needed to evolve in a new direction. Batman movies are often shaped by their choice of villains and, in Batman Unchained, Protosevich imagined putting the Scarecrow and Harley Quinn up against the masked crusader. His plan was to have the two characters combine their evil forces in the last half of the movie.

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The Cast

Batman: Unchained was intended for several of the stars from Batman & Robin to reprise their roles, including George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell. There is, however, some debate as to whether Alicia Silverstone’s Batgirl would have ended up making an appearance.

As the central villain in the film, the Scarecrow would have been a meaty part in need of a charismatic actor, someone capable of testing and manipulating viewers’ perception of reality. Joel Schumacher has talked about envisioning Nicolas Cage as an option for the role. Cage’s sometimes unhinged performances do seem like a natural fit for the “Master of Fear." Harley Quinn’s casting was never firmed up to the same extent, however, Courtney Love was pitched as a potential option for the unhinged character.

However, the coolest potential casting decision would have been the return of many previous Batman villains. There was talk of creating a big hallucination scene where Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), the Riddler (Jim Carrey), Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer), the Penguin (Danny DeVito) and even the Joker (Jack Nicholson) showed up to torment Batman. For fans of the franchise, it’s both an exciting and terrifying prospect. Done well, it could have been an amazing, climactic scene to round off the series of films and bring a satisfying conclusion to Batman’s arc. Done badly, it would have risked seeming more like fan service than a compelling plot point.

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Why Didn’t It Get Made?

One of the key objections to Protosevich’s script was that the movie would have been too expensive to film. However, as scripts undergo a number of changes prior to shooting, it’s more likely that the poor reception to Batman & Robin upon its release had a larger influence on the stalling of the project. Currently sitting at 11 percent on the Tomatometer, Batman & Robin is frequently noted as one of the silliest installments in the Batman franchise. There were those infamous nipples in Batman’s suit, the bat credit card, and the collection of groan-inducing puns. All the hype prior to the film’s release also didn’t help with the inevitable letdown.

The script for Batman Unchained was ultimately put aside and, while planning for a sequel wasn’t entirely eliminated, Batman didn’t end up gracing the silver screen again until Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins in 2005. Interestingly, like Schumacher and Protosevich, Nolan recognized that the Batman films needed to take a darker and more thoughtful path. Not only did Nolan relaunch the franchise, but he also set a trend of gritty reboots that many other directors took inspiration from in proceeding years, for better and for worse.

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