Close your eyes and imagine a film where Batman and Superman fight. Okay, imagine that film is somehow darker than what Zack Snyder delivered in his “Batman v. Superman” film. Shocking, right? Well, according to a recent interview with Collider, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman revealed that he was working on a version of ‘BvS’ almost 20 years ago that might have been grittier than the Snyderverse. Maybe.
Here’s the description given by Goldsman of the unproduced film:
“I wrote on […] this version of ‘Batman v Superman’ [around 2001or 2002]— when Colin Farrell was cast as Batman and Jude Law was cast as Superman and Wolfgang Petersen was directing —we were in prep and it was the darkest thing you’ve ever seen. It started with Alfred’s funeral and Bruce has fallen in love and renounced being Batman, the Joker kills his wife, and then you discover it was all a lie. Just that the love itself was constructed by the Joker to break [Bruce]. It was a time where you would be able to get these sort of stories together in script form but they couldn’t quite land in the world. Somehow, the expectations of the object — whether they be audience or corporate or directorial — it wasn’t landing quite in the way I think we imagined when we put them on the page.”
When explaining what the comic book inspiration for the film was, it appears that the Golden Age run of “World’s Finest,” which focused on the partnership between Batman and Superman, is a close comparison. Though, this would have obviously been darker.
“It was really ‘The World’s Finest,’ in a kind of dark and interesting way,” he added. “I think it could have been lovely. On the other hand, none of me is sad that Nic Cage’s Superman didn’t get made. So, I guess in that whole period of time, there were wins to be had and losses to be avoided (laughs).”
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Now, critics of Zack Snyder’s “Batman v. Superman” might take issue with anything being “the darkest thing you’ve ever seen,” as one of the primary criticisms of that film is the dark tone. Alas, given that Goldsman’s version included Alfred dying and Joker killing Batman’s wife (only to then find out it’s a lie) shows that it definitely would have been on the more gritty side of the Batman mythos.
Even if that version of the film doesn’t appeal, there’s a bit of intrigue with the casting of Jude Law and Colin Farrell as Superman and Batman, respectively. Both are great actors and probably would have been solid in the roles. But we’ll never find out.