DC ELSEWORLDS: Reimagining Keaton Sequels & DC Films that Never Were

[Frodo]

BATMAN AND ROBIN : THE MOTION PICTURE ( 1986)
Director : Steven Spielberg
Producer : Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall
Executive Producers : George Lucas and Michael E. Uslan
Screenplay : Lawrence Kasdan
Music : John Williams

Project History
The long gestating Batman project is given a boost in 1983 , as Steven Spielberg agrees to helm the project with Lawrence Kasdan penning the film.

With Lucasfilm teaming up with Warner Brothers pictures , George Lucas and Michael E. Uslan serve as the film's executive producers .

Batman And Robin : The Motion Picture , goes into production in 1985 with Harrison Ford attached to star as The Caped Crusader, Robin Williams cast as The Joker , and newcomer Sean Astin cast as Robin , The Boy Wonder.

Rounding out the cast are Cybill Shepherd as Julie Madison , Sean Connery as Alfred Pennyworth, and Charlton Heston as James Gordon .

Script
Taking a page from child centric films like ET and Goonies , Robin aka Dick Grayson, is our gateway into The world of The Batman , and is the film's central focus.

The Batman of Kasdan's script, is an already established crime fighter in a retro ,1940s world, complete with The Batsignal and an established Rogues gallary.

The film's antagonist is The Joker , who is based heavily off of his more sinister characterization of the early 1940s , as opposed to the more impish figure of The 1960s Tv series.

Batman's love interest is the sharp tongued socialite Julie Madison , who doesn't entirely buy Bruce's aloof and oblivious act .

The audiences gets hints that she may indeed have figured out that Bruce is Batman , but the character never comes out and says it.

Following the comics , Dick Grayson is a circus acrobat, whose parents are murdered during a
performance, though in this iteration , The Joker, dressed as a circus clown is the one who kills
The Flying Graysons, while Bruce Wayne and Julie Madison , watch on.

The 12 year old Grayson is adopted by the aloof and mysterious Bruce Wayne, and it isn't long before Grayson begins to discover that his new Guardian , is more than meets the eye.

Predictably, Grayson eventually finds out Batman's true identity , wants to get revenge on The Joker but eventually discovers that justice, doesn't mean vengeance .

The boy becomes Robin, and The Dynamic Duo , is born.

Kasdan's script plays very much like a retro serial akin to The Indiana Jones films , complete with daring do , big set pieces, and 1940s style dialog.

While the film is easily more serious than the TV Show 20 years earlier, the film's tone is more akin to the pulp comics of the 30s and 40s, than Frank Miller or Denny O'Neal's darker takes on the character.

While the goal is to portray Batman more seriously, Spielberg and the producers are wary of going so dark that it alienates Parents and prevents children from seeing the film.

The film is targeted primarily at families , so the Batman of the script isn't The Dark Knight, but is instead, The Caped Crusader.

The film also features a teen Barbara Gordon who serves as Grayson's peer and crush throughout the film .


The Cast

Robin / Dick Grayson : Sean Astin

Batman / Bruce Wayne : Harrison Ford

The Joker : Robin Williams

Alfred Pennyworth : Sean Connery



Julie Madison : Cybill Shepherd



Barbara Gordon : Megan Follows

James Gordon : Charlton Heston



The Joker's Moll : Annie Potts



Joker's Henchman : Donald Gibb



Joker's Henchman : David Patrick Kelly



Joker's Henchman : Stephen Furst

 

[Frodo]

SUPERGIRL : THE MOVIE ( 1984)
Director : Joe Dante
Producer : Ilya and Alexander Salkind
Screenplay : Tom Mankiewicz

Project History
With Superman 3 and Supergirl both in development , and with both scripts unsatisfactory, The Salkinds decides to forgo Superman 3 for the time being and to use Supergirl as a launchpad for Superman 3's story.

Supergirl would be released in 1984 , with Superman 3 following in 1985 .

Helming Supergirl ,would be director Joe Dante , and despite prior disputes , Tom Mankiewicz, would agree to rewrite the film .

With 19 year old Helen Slater already attached in the lead role , fellow up and coming actress Annette O'Toole , who had been eyed for Superman 3, instead joins Supergirl , as Lana Lang .

Character actors Christopher Lloyd and Joanna Cassidy agree to play the film's villains, Jax Ur and Faora , while newcomer Matthew Modine is cast as Supergirl's love interest .

Meanwhile , Christopher Reeve welcomes the chance to play a mentor role in the new film.
Margot Kidder's Lois , However is absent, while The Salkinds decide what to do with her character for Superman 3.

Script
The Salkind's original ideas and scripts are tossed out and a page one rewrite is mandated for the film.
Dante and Mankiewicz both think the original script is " awful", and basically only leave the title, and change everything else .

The new script finds Kara Zor El a survivor from Krypton , whose escaped due to the assistance of the idealistic Zor El and Alura .

However, it's taken her decades to arrive on an Earth, shortly after the events of Superman 2 , in which her Cousin Kal-El is already Superman while Kara, who is technically older, is a child.
Ultimately, she's taken in by Lana Lang and Pete Ross, friends of Clark Kent who know that he's Superman.

Clark wants her to have a choice he doesn't have, in leading an anonymous , normal existence , without the burden of the world on her shoulders.
Mirroring Superman The Movie, we see the child grow into a teenage girl putting the story in 1984 , with her technically arriving in 1978.

As opposed to attending a girl's school as in the original script , she goes to Smallville High as Kara Kent , and falls for the big man on campus Whitney Foreman, who also begins to care for the mysterious girl in town.
However, her quite life in Smallville is interrupted by Kryptonian Scientists Jax Ur and Faora whose ties to Zor- El only fuel their obsession with the Girl Of Steel.

As the two Kryptonians arrive in Smallville searching for Kara , She must don the identity of Supergirl in order to protect those she cares about .



The Cast



Supergirl / Kara Kent : Helen Slater



Jax Ur : Christopher Lloyd



Faora : Joanna Cassidy

Whitney Foreman : Matthew Modine



Lana Lang : Annette O' Toole

Pete Ross : Jameson Parker



Zor El : Michael York n

Alura : Judy Geeson



Superman / Clark Kent : Christopher Reeve

10 year old Kara : Drew Barrymore