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Holy Rusted Metal Batman!

Could Batman Make His TV Comeback Courtesy Of The CW’s Arrow?

by Jill Pantozzi | 2:47 pm, August 3rd, 2012


Most of us remember the impression Batman left the last time he starred in a live-action television show. Adam West’s portrayal will never be forgotten but in the wave of Christopher Nolan’s more realistic (and highly successful) take on the character in film, could Batman ever be brought back to the small screen? According to the CW’s Arrow writer Marc Guggenheim, the answer is yes. 

While there were allusions to Bruce Wayne/Batman on the CW’s long running Smallville, he never actually made it on screen. Why? Well because Warner Bros. and DC Comics had a good thing going with Nolan’s Batman and they didn’t want to muddle the waters. Though Batman has since shown up in Bryan Q. Miller’s Smallville Season 11 comic.

So what leads us to believe Batman will come back to TV? An interview IGN did with Guggenheim. We already knew for sure other DC characters will be making appearances on the show. Kelly Hu will be playing China White while the character Deadshot will be played by Michael Rowe., but Guggenheim gave a few details about them.

Of China White, he said, “She doesn’t wear the white jumpsuit, just because that doesn’t photograph great. We felt like with the white hair, that was enough. Beyond that, it’s pretty much the character as I think you’d expect — maybe even with greater martial arts skills than you could necessarily show off in a comic book.”

“We also establish that he never misses,” Guggenheim said of Deadshot. “We’re setting him up as an antagonist for Arrow in episode three. I think it sends a very clear message that we’re not fooling around.”

Those are both villains. What about bringing in some allies for Ollie? Guggenheim said, “Probably.”

And Batman specifically?

“My hope is that we can use him at some point. I think that plagued the Smallville showrunners more than it plagues us because, obviously, the Dark Knight Trilogy is over,” he said but that they’re not quite available yet. “My hope is that they’ll be available to us at some point. That would be awesome. No question, that would be absolutely awesome. But I don’t know. That’s above my pay grade.”

So, what do you think? It’s obviously Guggenheim’s intent to bring Batman into Arrow when he can. Are you ready to see another version of the Caped Crusader so soon after Nolan’s universe wrapped?

(via MTV Splash Page)

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=774950160 Dean Kish

    It’ll overshadow Green Arrow and the universe they are trying to establish with this new show. Who really wants to go back and watch a show about Green Arrow after seeing a fully realized TV version of Batman. (80% of Green Arrow is a knock-off of Batman) If they want to incorporate Batman into the show, why not introduce Nightwing or even Huntress? That way you have Batman in the Green Arrow TV-verse but you aren’t taking anything away from Green Arrow. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/shelleybear Shelley Adrienne Mimi Belsky

    They could bring him back.
    Consider “Birds of Prey”, a show very much a head of it’s time.
    The D.C.U. is structured that way.

  • http://twitter.com/sacredprofanity Cliff

    “‘ll overshadow Green Arrow and the universe they are trying to establish with this new show.”

    Very well put. The only thing I’d argue with is that 85% of Green Arrow is knock-off Batman, not 80% – to the point where in the comics, after the Arrow Plane, Arrow Cave, and ArrowCar are mentioned, Bats once asks, “God, didn’t you ever have an original idea in those days, Ollie?”

  • David Walton

    Also note that a new Batman show is coming out called “Beware the Batman”. It’s a 3D affair like that Clone Wars show that will feature the lesser villains of the Batman series. Katana seems to be his sidekick in this one as well.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beware_the_Batman

  • Anonymous

    So help me God….but if Arrow gets to use Batman and Wonder Woman after Smallville begged and begged to use them for 10 years…I may actually lose it with anger at that company.

    Look, I like Oliver Queen and I will watch this show for sure.  But frankly, I have to be honest here that i’ve found much of the press for this TV show and the subtle way they have taken shots at Smallville by promising to be “less comic book and darker and grittier” to be beyond irritating and arrogant.  The only reason this show EXISTS is because Smallville was so successful.  And it’s much easier to talk big when you have only shot a pilot episode. Keep a show going for 10 years like Smallville did with rabid fans and then we’ll talk.

    Smallville had ups and downs.  It had great episodes and bad episodes.  It was one of those shows that when it was good…it was really good and when it was bad it was shoot yourself bad.  But it absolutely had great moments and great interpretations.  It had an amazing interpretation of Lois Lane and one of the best incarnations of Lois/Clark to ever exist.

    Bruce Wayne was a missing link for Clark on that show.   The missing presence of these two dear friends was felt.   Clark searched for a “brother” for 10 years.  He originally thought it was Lex Luthor and we know how that turned out.  But there was a hole in the series where Bruce Wayne belonged as Clark’s best male friend. 

    And yes, the show tried to fill that male best friend hole with Oliver but honestly…it just didn’t work because Ollie is not Bruce.  Ollie IS a little more morally grey than Bruce is and that didn’t always work with Clark’s straight as an arrow moral code.  Oliver and Clark loved each other but Oliver did some shady stuff that never flew with Clark.   Bruce was missed.

    I know it’s dumb.  I know it’s beyond anyone’s control.  But I may actually cry if Arrow gets to use Batman (and Wonder Woman) after Smallville was denied using him for 10 years.

  • Oliver Jonas Queen

    I’ve never understood DC and Warner Bros policy in this regard. Isnt MORE exposure for the character a good thing? Why should the movie version be the only version? Hell,have the entire JLA show up on ARROW…it can only help. Warner Bros is its own worst enemy…stop hampering yourselves and the creators who want to work with your characters.

  • Anonymous

    I can only hope Batman steers way clear from the mediocre, teeny bopper, insultingly one dimensional, godawfulness of the CW.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=774950160 Dean Kish

    looks awful… but can’t be as bad as Ultimate Spider-Man

  • Anonymous

    Meh. Alluding to Batman maybe existing in your universe is not the same thing as him actually showing up on screen.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/5VQ2KRIGTOKGIIC474OXZK36DQ Maeve

    Nothing stopping them from bringing Batwoman in, though, right?

  • http://www.facebook.com/englerp Engler Pascal

     As one of the apparently few who  actually enjoyed the last few seasons of Smallville unironically and prefers them to the first half, I agree. 
    Plus: “less comic book and darker and grittier”? Imho most of the great moments of Smallville were  the more “comic book”-y moments.
    Also is the dark&gritty-Era still on? (Yes, i enjoyed Nolan’s Batman-trilogy, but still.. )

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