Batman Unchained: The Unmade Fifth Batman Movie

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

From 1989 to 1997, the Batman Anthology went on for four movies. It started with Tim Burton’s Batman starring Michael Keaton as the title character to Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin. The series started off strong with Batman and Batman Returns, but due to complaints that Batman Returns was too dark and its box office was not as strong as Batman’s, Joel Schumacher was brought in to direct Batman Forever, which also led Michael Keaton to leave and to Val Kilmer and later George Clooney playing Batman. The shift in tone was noticeable, and the movies Schumacher directed got mixed to negative reviews. Batman & Robin, in particular, got destroyed by critics and was a disappointment at the box office. Because of this, Warner Bros. held off on any future Batman movies until 2005’s Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale in a reboot. Before all of this, there were plans for a fifth Batman movie in this series, once again directed by Schumacher and starring Clooney as Batman. What were these plans?

The original title for the unmade fifth Batman installment was Batman Unchained. It was rumored that its title or another unused title for the movie would have been Batman Triumphant. Based on rumored plot points, this seemed like a darker Batman than Schumacher’s previous two movies. Schumacher wanted to bring the franchise in a much more serious direction, more in line with Burton’s movies and his original dark vision for Batman Forever. The main villains for this movie were going to be Scarecrow and Harley Quinn. Quinn had been recently introduced in Batman: The Animated Series in the 1990s and was a popular character quickly added into the comics. However, instead of having Quinn be romantically obsessed with the Joker as she was in the animated series, Harley in Batman Unchained would be portrayed as the Joker’s daughter, bent on revenge for the Joker’s death in the 1989 Batman. Courtney Love was rumored to be the actress Schumacher wanted for Harley.

As for Scarecrow, he would have been like his usual comic book and animated series counterpart, using fear toxins. He would also have a grudge against Bruce Wayne. The plan was for Scarecrow to drive Batman insane and have him sent to Arkham Asylum. There was speculation that Nicholas Cage might play Scarecrow, and in 2015 Schumacher stated Cage was his top choice. Separately, rapper Coolio said Schumacher promised him the role. Coolio had previously cameoed in Batman & Robin and claimed his appearance was based on an agreement with Schumacher that he would play the villain in the next movie.

Under the fear toxin, Batman would see hallucinations of the villains he face in the first three Batman movies, including Joker, Catwoman, Penguin, Riddler, and Two-Face. Jack Nicholson was going to reprise his role as the Joker in these scenes. There were also plans to have Michelle Pheiffer, Danny Devito, Jim Carrey, and Tommy Lee Jones to come back and play their former villain roles as well. This would have been a way to connect all the movies together, including Burton’s. None of the villains in Batman & Robin were going to be in these hallucinations.

Batman Unchained was also going to have Bruce and Dick Grayson, once again played by Chris O’Donnell, have a fallout where Grayson leaves, but comes in later to help Bruce. Harley would have a redemption moment, and Batman would stop Scarecrow. Batgirl, who was played by Alicia Silverstone in Batman & Robin, was not in this movie. Batman Unchained would end with Bruce traveling to Bali and entering a cave where the Bats fly around, showing he had conquered his fears.

As interesting as this plot sounded, it would never see the light of day. Batman & Robin bombed, which caused some problems. George Clooney didn’t want to play Batman again, which meant they would have to find a new actor to play Batman after the previous three left. Joel Schumacher lost his passion for the project. Because of how poorly Batman & Robin performed, they couldn’t afford some of the talent and things they wanted, like the previous villain actors returning. The third act alone was considered to be one of the most expensive scenes for its time if it had been made. Because of this, Batman Unchained was canceled, and Warner Bros. would spend the next several years figuring out what to do about Batman movies until they hired Christopher Nolan to reboot it.

Interestingly enough, certain ideas from Batman Unchained did make it into other Batman media. Batman Begins had Scarecrow as one of the villains, played by Cillian Murphy. Batman Begins has a scene where in the cave where Bruce would eventually make it into the Batcave, he is standing among the flying bats showing he is no longer scared, similar to the original ending of Batman Unchained, where Bruce stands among the flying bats, no longer scared. In the 2015 video game Batman: Arkham Knight, one of the major plots is Batman seeing Joker in hallucinations, and Scarecrow is the main antagonist.

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