Highlights
- Batman's lesser-known villains have the potential to push him to his limits both physically and mentally, providing a fresh take on the character and avoiding repetitive storylines.
- Repeating popular villain storylines diminishes the value of lesser-known villains and limits the exploration of Batman's history and diversity. It also overlooks other important characters in the Batman universe.
- A fresh take on villains is necessary for the DCU Batman to prevent the franchise from becoming one-dimensional and losing audience interest. Lesser-known villains offer unique and threatening qualities that popular villains cannot replicate.
Batman has no shortage of villains and the DCUBatman should make more use of them onscreen. Batman’s less-known villains are quite capable of pushing Batman to his limits both physically and mentally. If the DCU Batman hopes to outshine previous films, it’ll need a fresh take on villains to avoid comparisons.
Mining Batman’s less-known villains can give the DCU Batman the reboot it deserves and desperately needs. Repeating storylines of popular villains will not grant the DCU Batman the opportunity to further explore the history and diversity of the Batman franchise. Focusing on less-known villains can open the door for Batman without copying anything from The Dark Knight by exploring more character development, new relationships, new levels of insanity and depravity, and, above all, new legends in the making.
Popular Batman Villains Have Been Exhausted
Batman’s most popular villains have graced the screen repeatedly, but their stories have hardly changed or been presented in fresh ways. The Joker has always been the insane criminal mastermind that pushed Batman to his limits. Batman always figures out the puzzle behind The Riddler’s schemes in the nick of time. While these stories may still hold entertainment value for newer fans, long-term fans of the Caped Crusader will find themselves essentially watching similar stories dramatized by new actors.
This repeated modern Batman storyline diminishes the immense value of lesser-known villains, many of whom are more sinister, smarter, or violent than Batman’s popular villains. It also detracts from the diversity of the Batman universe including the other members of the Bat-family and people who’ve assisted Batman besides Commissioner Gordon, some who also wound up as villains, such as Red Hood. Even if the popular villains are to remain a priority in DCU Batman films, there are a plethora of other storylines that could be adapted to keep them fresh. One interesting story that plays on the ambiguity of good and evil among Batman’s villains featured foremost is the Endgame storyline that featured villains assisting Batman in protecting Gotham from the Joker. But that may also be considered a small, though welcomed, fresh take onscreen for the Joker if compared to The Dark Knight. Here lies the issue of how Batman’s repeated onscreen villains stymie the entertaining landscape of Gotham’s dark knight and Arkham’s finest.
Batman's Less-Known Villains Are More Interesting
Underrated and underused villains imply a sense of undervalued marketability. Yet, this continued mismanagement of giving these less-known Batman villains their due onscreen further cements this self-fulfilling prophecy of them being less marketable even if they are more interesting and entertaining, like a grounded version of Clayface. This concern, however, can be mitigated. Professor Hugo Strange, for instance, is a psychologist who treads a fine line between insanity and mad genius. That is to say, his villainy undoubtedly rivals that if the Joker.
Capitalizing on this villain’s live-action debut in Gotham as a DCU Batman villain could pave the way for other less-known villains who have been relegated to the silver screen to crossover. The Flamingo, Gotham Knights' Joker’s Daughter, and Clock King have all made their villainous live-action debut on television while proving to hold their own brand of untapped potential. Devouring a cop’s face is beyond heinous even for the Joker.
Why DCU Batman Needs A Fresh Take On Villains
With the advent of streaming classics, the DCU Batman runs the risk of positioning Batman films as a one-trick pony with its handful of villains and minimal plot changes. A fresh take on villains presents an opportunity to dive deeper into Batman’s character rather trying to reimagine his backstory as with The Batman, or adapting any alternate versions of Batman, such as, The Batman Who Laughs. Instead, lesser-known Batman villains can help create new stories and viewing experiences that are incomparable to previous cinematic entries. There can only be so many quality takes on the Joker before fans start to lose interest. Spreading the villain love in the DCU reboot can reduce the devaluation that could occur from proliferating the cinematic landscape with more Jokers, Riddlers, and Penguins.
These lesser-known villains are more unique and can even be more threatening than popular Batman villains. The DCU needs a clean slate and these minor villains can step up to grant Batman’s superhero-detective genre a fresh change by adding elements of horror, or flipping the Batman script into a musical if the sound-manipulating villain-turned-hero Pied Piper ever gets a chance to return to Gotham. In the end, the DCUBatman simply cannot continue to rely on recasting popular villains when their competing stories are already accessible through streaming. A far better solution would be injecting new criminal blood into the franchise to challenge Batman in ways the popular villains just simply cannot.