Batman has had countless interpretations in various movies and TV shows, which often make positive changes to the lore of the character and other Gotham city residents. Every comic book movie makes heavy changes to its inspiration, with many comic details often being too difficult to work into the runtime of a film. In many instances, filmmakers and showrunners present better ideas for Batman and his world than the comics themselves, improving on the source material.
There are a few ways in which the various Batman movies and series have changed the continuity of the comics for the better. Batman’s origins are often expanded upon further in the films and TV shows, often adding interesting details that make for prescient changes to the classic formula of his beginnings as a superhero. The treatment of Batman’s villains in movies is also a big area in which the adaptations offer improvements, better explaining their backstory to fit in with Batman’s own.
10 Batman Was Trained By Ra’s Al Ghul
Batman Begins
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Though often overshadowed in pop culture memory by its sequel, the legacy of Batman Begins made some impressive deviations from the standard Batman story that worked incredibly well. The film sets up Liam Neeson’s Ducard as the major villain, eventually revealing him to be the classic comics character Ra’s al Ghul.
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But the film made the clever decision to tie Ra’s to Batman’s own backstory, being the one to train Bruce Wayne in the arts of combat and stealth as an initiate of the League of Assassins. Previously, the Batman of the comics has had many different masters that taught him in various aspects of his career.
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9/10 8.1/10 Batman Begins PG-13
Director Christopher Nolan Release Date June 15, 2005 Cast Ken Watanabe , Liam Neeson , Gary Oldman , Tom Wilkinson , Linus Roache , Christian Bale , Katie Holmes , Mark Boone Junior , Michael Caine , Rutger Hauer , Cillian Murphy , Morgan Freeman Runtime 140 Minutes
However, Nolan’s ideas for Batman’s origins in Batman Begins were so clever and obvious that the comics later adapted them into his official origin. In the comic run Batman: The Knight by Chip Zdarsky, the idea of Ra’s al Ghul being the one to train Bruce became canonized in the comics.
9 Mad Hatter Being A Hypnotist Showman
Gotham
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The various seasons of Gotham provided a very different take on the residents of Batman’s signature city, providing alternative origins for most of Batman’s famous supporting characters and villains. While its depictions of The Penguin and The Riddler are both quite intriguing, it’s the series’ treatment of the Mad Hatter that works particularly well.
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5/10 10/10 Gotham Drama
Cast Sean Pertwee , Erin Richards , Jada Pinkett Smith , Zabryna Guevara , Donal Logue , robin lord taylor , Ben McKenzie , Morena Baccarin , David Mazouz Release Date September 22, 2014 Network Fox Writers Bruno Heller
In Gotham, The Mad Hatter starts off as Jervis Tetch, a street criminal and showy hypnotist who ends up using his powers to nefarious ends after the death of his sister, Alice. Meanwhile, in the comics (and most other media representations), The Mad Hatter is a much more disturbed individual whose powers of hallucinations and mind control come from genius feats of engineering, obsessing over unrelated women named Alice in a more ominously romantic way.
The Mad Hatter’s hypnotism being a natural skill is far more compelling.
Not only does Gotham‘s changes to Jervis Tetch make him a more dynamic and interesting character, but it also prevents him from being yet another copy-paste Batman villain with an inexplicable prodigy level of intellect in the creation of certain technologies. The Mad Hatter’s hypnotism being a natural skill is far more compelling.
8 Connecting Thomas Wayne To The Falcones
The Batman
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Thomas Wayne is the idealized paragon of righteousness in the eyes of Batman, always having looked up to his father prior to his untimely murder. Indeed, in most versions, Thomas Wayne is usually regarded as a brilliant, but kind and philanthropy-minded business executive who held the respect of peers and the common folk of Gotham alike. However, in Matt Reeves The Batman, the Wayne family is revealed to not be so squeaky clean.
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8/10 9.5/10 The Batman PG-13
Director Matt Reeves Release Date March 4, 2022 Cast Colin Farrell , Jeffrey Wright , Paul Dano , Andy Serkis , Robert Pattinson , Zoe Kravitz Runtime 176 minutes
The Riddler eventually reveals that Thomas Wayne had a connection to Gotham’s organized crime, doing business with none other than infamous mob boss and legacy Batman villain Carmine Falcone. Making Batman’s father less than perfect and a contributor to the very crime and corruption that Batman wages his lonely crusade against is a fascinating twist that forces Bruce Wayne to re-examine is idolatry and biases towards his own family. In a way, this critique of Bruce’s own inherent privilege as a born billionaire makes for a more interesting story.
7 Bruce Wayne Wanting To Kill Joe Chill
Batman Begins
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Ra’s al Ghul being Bruce Wayne’s mentor isn’t the only change Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy makes from the get-go. In one scene in Batman Begins, it’s revealed that Bruce Wayne wasn’t always so adamant about his “no killing” rule, at one point being so devastated over the loss of his parents that he attempts to murder their killer, Joe Chill, in a public courtroom.
Shockingly, an assassin from the Falcones beats him to the punch, taking Joe out before Bruce Wayne’s very eyes.
Giving Batman more of an arc in grappling with his desire for revenge does wonders for his dynamism as a character, providing more layers to his moral code than previously thought possible. Seeing Joe Chill die may have been critical in the formation of Batman’s “no killing” rule. The idea of Bruce being angry enough to circumvent his morals adds to his complexity as a dark defender of Gotham.
6 The Riddler Being A Spurned Wayne Employee
Batman Forever
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For the most part, the overlooked camp of Batman Forever doesn’t really seem to be the place where one might expect to find some clever changes to Batman’s lore. As a whole, the outrageous film seems more preoccupied with setting up merchandise opportunities and outlandish performances to worry too much about narrative cohesion. However, there is one narrative decision the film makes that actually does strengthen The Riddler’s backstory as a villain, despite Jim Carrey’s ludicrous display of slapstick comedy throughout.
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5/10 6.4/10 Batman Forever PG-13
Director Joel Schumacher Release Date June 9, 1995 Cast Jim Carrey , Nicole Kidman , Tommy Lee Jones , Drew Barrymore , Chris O’Donnell , Val Kilmer , Pat Hingle , Michael Gough , Debi Mazar Runtime 117 Minutes
In Batman Forever, Edward Nygma is actually a former employee of Wayne Enterprises, a gifted researcher on the cutting edge of technology that can manipulate the human mind. Swearing revenge on Bruce Wayne due to the horrific implications of his invention, Nygma slowly becomes the Riddler, with his personality gradually deteriorating due to long-form exposure to his mind-reading device. While Riddler’s technical acumen may be a step too far, making him a Wayne employee is a fascinating concept with plenty of room to explore.
5 The Riddler Using His Riddles To Make A Point
The Batman
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The second film to utilize The Riddler as its main villain, The Batman also had some brilliant changes to make regarding the character’s modus operandi. Historically, in the comics, The Riddler’s obsession with riddles is an inherent thing, something of a gimmick that writers use to help separate him from similar mastermind-type characters. Yet The Riddler’s riddles in The Batman serve a greater purpose that ties in to Nygma’s motivations, which extend much further than petty revenge or mere criminal ambition.
Here, Reeves ensures that each riddle is used to make a point, whether it’s exposing the true depths of Gotham’s police corruption at the hands of Carmine Falcone or forcing an informant to admit that he accepted a bribe. Rather than dishing out generic riddles whose answers are largely unrelated to his schemes, Reeves’ Riddler drives the narrative of his investigation with each clue he leaves. Otherwise, The Riddler is simply a criminal who essentially wants to be caught by leaving deliberate clues.
4 The Creation Of Harley Quinn
Batman: The Animated Series
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It’s hard to talk about the influence of adaptations on the Batman mythos without bringing up Harley Quinn. Today, Harley Quinn is not only one of the most popular villains associated with Batman, but one of DC’s most prominent flagship characters in general. Having been adapted in live-action movies, comics, and other animated shows since, it’s hard to believe that Harley Quinn might’ve never existed if it weren’t for Batman: The Animated Series.
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9/10 9.6/10 Batman: The Animated Series
Cast Kevin Conroy , Mark Hamill , Bruce Timm Release Date September 5, 1992 Seasons 4 Writers Bruce Timm Directors Bruce Timm
Batman: The Animated Series introduced Harley Quinn as a psychologist at Arkham Asylum assigned to the Joker, who slowly falls for his insidious wiles to become his sidekick and love interest, Harley Quinn. From there, Harley goes on to take on a life of her own, becoming her own self-made supervillain and even something of an anti-hero in later appearances. It’s interesting to note that one of DC Comics’ most beloved figures didn’t come from a comic book at all, but a 90s cartoon adapting Batman’s stories.
3 Joker Being The One To Kill Batman’s Parents
Batman (1989)
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Tim Burton’s Batman is credited with being the first Batman movie to truly explore the comics’ dark themes surrounding the character, eschewing the camp of 1966’s previous Adam West star vehicle of the same name. Here, Jack Nicholson’s Joker is presented as a menacing foe, bearing many of the same hallmarks as the iconic villain as the comic version. However, a key difference between the two is the Joker’s origin, which the comics tend to leave ambiguous, but is spelled out clearly in Batman.
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8/10 8.4/10 Batman (1989) PG-13
Director Tim Burton Release Date June 23, 1989 Cast Michael Keaton , Jack Nicholson , Kim Basinger , Billy Dee Williams , Robert Wuhl , Pat Hingle , Michael Gough Runtime 126 Minutes
The 1989 film reveals that not only was Joker once a common criminal, but he was the same person who killed Bruce Wayne’s parents, rather than the two-bit purse snatcher Joe Chill. This shocking reveal, accompanied by Joker’s iconic phrase from the film “You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?”, helps connect Joker to Batman better. The two have always been diametric polar opposites on the moral scale, and having an actual vested interest in one another keeps this antagonistic dynamic more fitting than if they had only met for the first time later in life.
2 Lucius Fox Being Batman’s Armorer
Batman Begins
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One of the most underrated strengths of Batman Begins is its depiction of Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne’s relationship. In the comics, Lucius Fox is one of the few allies in on Batman’s secret, running Wayne Enterprises in his stead while he wages his one-man war on crime. However, the Nolan films turn Morgan Freeman’s Lucius into more of the Q to Batman’s James Bond, surreptitiously supplying him with the coolest Batman gadgets of the Nolan trilogy, including the militaristic “Tumbler” Batmobile.
This also heightens Fox’s importance on Batman’s support team, something the legacy character deserves.
While Batman never overtly tells Lucius his secret, he slyly implies that he’s well-aware of what his technology is being used for, making for some great chemistry and banter between the two. Having a master engineer behind Batman’s tools of the trade makes far more sense than Bruce himself somehow finding the time to come up with his gadgets on top of everything else. This also heightens Fox’s importance on Batman’s support team, something the legacy character deserves.
1 Mr. Freeze’s Animated Origin
Batman: The Animated Series
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Harley Quinn’s introduction wasn’t the only one of Batman: The Animated Series’ lasting impacts on DC Comics. The show was also responsible for completely reinventing the icy villain Mr. Freeze, resulting in a new version of the character that has been used as the basis for nearly every one of his appearances since, even the ice-pun slinging Arnold Schwarzenegger Mr. Freeze. Originally, Mr. Freeze was just one of Batman’s many gimmicky enemies, prancing about in a garish yellow costume and what looked like a office water cooler on his head.
In Batman: The Animated Series, Victor Fries is given an update to both his outfit and his backstory. The show explained that Mr. Freeze cryogenically froze his terminally ill wife, committing crimes in hopes of finding a cure at the cost of his own unique condition. This was so much better than the comic version that it’s since become the standard backstory for Mr. Freeze in both the comics and any subsequent Batman media.
Upcoming DC Movie Releases
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Joker: Folie a Deux
Release Date October 4, 2024
- Superman (2025)
Release Date July 11, 2025
- Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
Release Date June 26, 2026
- The Batman Part II
Release Date October 2, 2026
Joker: Folie a Deux
Superman (2025)
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
The Batman Part II