This Is What Frank Miller Would Do With The Batman Franchise

The Batman is in good hands right now. Putting aside whatever you think of Zack Snyder's portrayal of the character, it's Ben Affleck who has the keys to Batman franchise. The director of Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo is making the next Batman film, so there's reason to look forward to the future of these movies. We still don't fully know what to expect from Affleck's vision for Batman, but we do know what the franchise would look like if The Dark Knight Returns writer Frank Miller had his druthers.

Below, learn Frank Miller's Batman movie idea.

Frank Miller has never enjoyed the Batman movies. He once said he hated them, without ever having watched all of them, just because Batman is "hard to see any other way than my way." The director of The Spirit has a clear idea of what he'd do with a film about the caped crusader, though.

Miller told Variety he'd want to make a "smaller" Batman movie:

My dream would be to make it much smaller. To lose the toys and to focus more on the mission, and to use the city a great deal more. Because he's got a loving relationship with the city he's protecting. And unlike Superman his connection to crime is intimate; it has been ever since his parents were murdered. And he defeats criminals with his hands. So it would be a different take. But it will never be in my hands, because it would not be a good place to make toys from. There wouldn't be a line of toys.

Miller most likely referenced toys because that was a part of the reason why his and Darren Aronofsky's Batman movie didn't happen: Warner Bros. thought their vision was too dark to sell action figures. Variety asked Miller to reflect again on Aronofsky's "90-minute origins story":

That screenplay was based on my book "Batman: Year One," and yeah it was much more down to earth. In it a fair amount of time is spent before he became Batman, and when he went out and fought crime he really screwed it up a bunch of times before he got it right. So it was 90-minute origins story.

When it comes to what Miller thought of the last time we saw Batman, in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, he replied:

I'll just say: "Thanks." What can I say? [Laughs] No, actually I'll withdraw that; I'll say: "You're welcome!"

Miller confirmed he has no film projects in the works. It's been eight years since he directed solo with The Spirit, a critical and box office bomb. With major misfire in mind, when Miller says Batman would never be in his hands because of "toys," that's probably not the only reason why. But there are far worse ideas than a stripped down, intimate Batman movie that places more emphasis on Gotham City.