Back during Superman’s anniversary this year I thought it would be interesting to look at a series of fanfilms created to honor Superman and find indie and hobbyist movie makers who get what makes Superman so great. Like with that story I plug “Batman fan films” into YouTube and saw what it spit out. I went through the Watch Later list like I did with Superman but the only thing I found that wasn’t a review, commentary, or documentary was an animated film, so we get to add that to the list.
Detective Comics #27 featured the debut of “The Bat-Man”, a character inspired from pulp heroes as a detective in Gotham City who is secretly a millionaire playboy. I did a review of that story and the others in the Golden Age anthology (because that’s how the Golden Age comics operated; check the Blue Beetle reviews I’ve done recently though I missed this week’s). It’s a decent introduction to one of the most important characters in DC’s roster (the former National Comics even renamed their company after Detective Comics despite most of their titles not being detective stories). In our more cynical times Batman overtook Superman as their flagship character but I don’t think enough people really understand the Batman I grew up with. Like with Superman I’m going to choose five fan films that grab my interest and see how well they interpret the Dark Knight compared to what I know Batman to be. This should be fun.
“Broken Promise” by Stephen Trumble Animation
I’m not in love with the Batsuit or Batmobile designs but I did like the story. It shows how Batman follows his policy against killing, still believes the Harvey Dent that existed prior to Two-Face isn’t lost as he tries to reach him. I imagine most of the stories will focus on the fighting and that’s fine. It’s easier in animation, certainly easier than showing live-action Superman fight, but we will see some live-action Batman before we’re done. I still believe animation makes for more interesting superhero action because you can play with visual expectation and physics in a less “realistic” world. These are short films and they only have time for so much. This one made good use of the time, given how long it takes to make animation. (It’s why YouTube seems to be against it. Animation takes more time and money to get out on a regular basis and YouTube algorithms seem to prioritize quantity over quality, as well as bigger names over smaller ones.) Also a good use of Scarface and the Ventriloquist.
“Nothing To Fear” by Lux Tenebris
Before you hit play, turn on the captions. The audio is in the creator’s native language of Portuguese but the captions offer English s subtitles. My guess is he knows that an American superhero would have plenty of English speakers who would want to be able to see his work. This isn’t so much a movie as a series, and we’ll be watching the first two episodes currently released. Note that there’s some swearing in episode two and a rather brutal (not necessarily graphic) death in episode one and violence in both. None of the videos tonight are kid-friendly, which makes me a bit sad.
This seems to be his own take on Jason’s death and Tim Drake’s “audition” to become the third Robin. Tim’s backstory doesn’t seem right given Jack Drake is supposed to be rich enough to be Bruce Wayne’s neighbor and I’m hoping Tim gets his more traditional Robin suit soon because its my favorite of the Robin costumes. Jason seems spot on as he might have been more willing to take out the baddies permanently and using Scarecrow to focus on Bruce’s trauma over Jason’s death (I’m theorizing we’ll see that before the series is over) is a good angle to go with. Scarecrow wanting to use his fear gas to force people to overcome fear and war on the criminals seems a bit out of character for the scientist who likes studying fear (his actual obsession, and I wrote about obsession as a theme for Batman stories) but it’s not a bad idea for a different take. I went and subscribed to the channel in hopes of seeing new episodes, since they take a while to produce.
If you’re done with the animated Bat fan films, let’s get into some live-action stuff.
“The Oath” by Kaotica Studios
This is a prequel to the first Tim Burton movie, as you can tell by the Easter eggs. The dead guy is the one the two crooks talk about at the start of the film, and there are mentions for Jack Napier, Carl Grissom, and Eckhart. Usually it’s Batman vs dirty cops or just cops jealous of Batman’s reputation or just not liking vigilantes in general. Here we have a story where he STOP a cop from going dirty to help his wife, using both “Batman” and “Bruce” to keep him on the path of being a good cop. This was a really good showing of Batman and his world through the eyes of one of the officers on the job.
“Ego” by Awesomeness HQ
This is the one most hurt by the fan budget, especially if you’ve read the original story by the late, great Darwyn Cooke. Limited by cast and location (some guy’s apartment is no replacement for the Batcave), it does kind of hurt the overall visual side of the presentation. Even the costume looks like an adult Halloween costume, though the choice of resembling the Matt Reeves costume, one I personally dislike, made more sense to me after seeing that the story being adapted was one of the inspirations for his movie.
All negatives aside the essence of Cooke’s story is there, as a new Batman tries to deal with his situation and what his life has become. The inciting incident suffers the most (a crook Batman forced to give up the Joker’s location learns the Joker’s onto him and murders his family and kills himself to spare them all the Joker’s sadistic torture) but overall you see Bruce wrestling with the two halves of himself, not letting himself become a split personality like fellow DC hero Rose and her hero alter-ego The Thorn, and trying to find peace between his two lives. It’s well told for the budget but if you can find the original comic I very much recommend checking it out. Or try the motion comic below by The Bat.
Might have been better with a proper music score but both versions work for what they are and the budget available. I wonder if there’s one of these for Batman Chronicles: The Gauntlet? I’d love to see that story adapted.
I want to stop this one on a slightly different note. Just as people don’t remember that Lois Lane also first appeared in the same comic as Superman it’s forgotten that Commissioner James Gordon also debuted in the same story at Batman. So the final fan film I’m looking at promises a look at Batman’s most important un-costumed partner.
Gordon: A Batman Fan Film by Creative Force Films
The black and white kind of hides the lack of Joker make-up. The hair style not so much. Credit to the actors, though. They do a good job and the black and white does give the story the proper atmosphere.
I didn’t think the Joker was responsible for killing Gordon’s wife and son. I’m apparently out of the loop, though the events of The Killing Joke is part of this story. I was wondering if anything on this list would have gotten something wrong, and here it is. On it’s own the story is fine but as a Batman/Jim Gordon story it doesn’t do so well with the adaptation test. The Joker won. Gordon gave in to the madness, to his darker nature, and I hate that. Don’t tell me it’s more “realistic” because that’s bullcrap. This isn’t reality. This is people in tights flying around punching each other. It’s not real and wasn’t created to be realistic.
It might be cathartic for the creators somehow but there’s a reason why in The Killing Joke Gordon goes through all that torture and tells Batman to go by the book. The story was to show that the Joker was wrong, that “one bad day” doesn’t turn you into a monster. Bruce had a bad day but turned it into something good. Barbara had a bad day but overcame it and found a new path, which is why being Batgirl again seems a step backward from Oracle. Gordon has seen some @#$% go down, but rose above it not because he believed in the people in charge of the system but that the system itself could work under the right people, because like the best DC heroes costumed or otherwise he believes in people, life, in the greater good and the best of humanity. That’s the heart of what the Batman stories have become and why we love the character for so many years.
Whether alone, with his “family”, or his friends and fellow heroes, Batman represents overcoming not only the darker aspects of our society but the darker side of ourselves. He became the Batman not because of his trauma. It led him to become what he is but you can’t be a symbol of life if you’re driven by death. Batman overcomes death or avenges those taken too soon. He is a protector, a champion for those who are afraid, but he shows us the bullies are more afraid than you are, that they’re a “superstitious, cowardly lot” and their actions are out of fear and hate. Batman’s is out of love. Love for Gotham City. Love for others. He wants to keep anyone else from becoming like him, whether by giving them a new course in life, helping them find their better selves, or by simply holding the hand of a dying girl. He makes heroes, not villains. He brings hope, not “vengeance” as we’ve come to believe thanks to an overused line. He is hope, He is the darkness turned against those who use it as a weapon to make it a safe place. He shows us we can stand up for what we believe in and possibly win. Batman is a superHERO. Even villains have cool costumes and neat gadgets. What makes Batman a hero isn’t what he has, it’s what he does with them…to make the world a safer place for everyone, to be our best selves, and seek a better tomorrow. That’s a superhero.
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