Has Batman gotten too dark?

[enyawd72]

I love Batman...always have since the days of the TV series. The '77 Filmation cartoon is my favorite animated version.
I also loved the 80's-90's era with Batman Year One and Dark Knight Returns, the 89' movie and so on, right up until The Dark Knight. Then something strange changed.

I find I can't really stomach repeated viewings of The Dark Knight, because it's just sodepressing. The entire movie is just such a downer. I enjoy the action scenes, and yes, Heath Ledger is brilliant, but the movie itself just isn't FUN. It leaves you feeling empty and washed out at the end. That's the problem I have with the state of Batman today. Now that Brave and the Bold is gone, it seems there is nothing left of Batman but the constant doom and gloom, and it's really quite emotionally draining.

The same type of somber mood seems to have permeated a lot of today's comics but I think Batman in particular has been too dark for too long, and it's made him into a character that's just not enjoyable anymore.

[palitoy]

I've said it a lot in the last few years but TDK is a great film but it's not a great Batman movie IMO. I like it but it strays from the concept and is far to dreary.

Can't speak about the comics but I don't think Batman is general is too dark. We've had TAS (still the best adaptation of the character for my money), JLU and Brave and the Bold which were all fun.

With the Avengers standing to make a billion this month, it's likely the next Bat reboot will be a touch lighter.

[EMCE Hammer]

The previews for the next one are just as hardcore. I expect to find the film OK, but wish for something different. I just hope the pendulum doesn't swing too far the other way and we end up back in Clooneyville for the next go round.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I'd say yes overall. I enjoy Nolan's movies a lot, but they are emotionally draining. I do appreciate their adherence to Batman's code of ethics, which the previous movies often threw to the side. While darker, Batman is more admirably heroic in Nolan's film on the whole. Sure, he breaks Eric Robert's ankles, but he didn't shove a bomb down his pants, or open up with a hail of machine guns.

As I posted in the thread on the third DKR trailer, I feel this movie is going to be gut-wrenching, but I feel it will end on uplifting note. Batman Begins was the high, DK and the first part of DKR are probably the absolute low, and then he'll rise above. Or something like that.

I haven't read new Batman comics in four years, so I can't really comment there. I do miss B&B, and it looks like the new "Beware the Batman" will be quite a bit darker. BTAS struck the best balance since the 70s comics of giving us a grim but compassionate, heroic Batman that was appropriate for about any age.

Chris

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

I suspect part of it's you. Back in the day the dark Batman appealed to folks of our generation 'cos we were teenagers and the harder, grittier Bats appealed to the hormone dirven tastes of an awkward teen. Now that we're old we fond life itself is dark and hard enough, so we're turned off of that sort of thing story-wise.

Don C.

[Wee67]

I've said it a lot in the last few years but TDK is a great film but it's not a great Batman movie IMO. I like it but it strays from the concept and is far to dreary.

Interesting. I do feel TDK was more than a great superhero movie. It was simply a great movie. I don't know if the Batman cvharacter was taken too far into the dark, but the film itself is definitely a very dark story. In a way, the bad guy actually won in the end- the Joker succeeded in breaking the best, bright hope for Gotham (Dent) and Batman is not credited with saving the day(Not the the hero Gotahm wants, but the hero Gotham needs). PLUS, he kills the love of Bruce's life.

However, Batman does beat the temptation of becoming the darkness he fights (doesn't kill the Joker in revenge for the girl and Harvey, shuts down the listening device). He does live up to his code.

I dont' read the comic as much, but what I have seen takes some of Batman's borderline psychological disorders/traits to such an extreme that he seems almost clinically disturbed. The few storylines I've read have him almost being cruel to the people around him. That protrayal is sometimes disturbing.

[enyawd72]

Hmmmm....

I suspect part of it's you. Back in the day the dark Batman appealed to folks of our generation 'cos we were teenagers and the harder, grittier Bats appealed to the hormone dirven tastes of an awkward teen. Now that we're old we fond life itself is dark and hard enough, so we're turned off of that sort of thing story-wise.

Don C.

You make an excellent point. I'm not into horror films like I used to be...I enjoy monster movies like The Wolf Man, but the torture/killing stuff like Saw and such is a major turnoff.

[Hector]

I love Batman dark...that makes him stand out.

I for one...was never a big fan of the 60s show (***ducks***).

The ORIGINAL Batman comics were dark.

That's how Batman should stay...leave the rainbow coloring to The Avengers movies, lol.

[palitoy]

You know, I find the whole Warner Brothers take on Superheroes misguided.

I have a 9 year old kid, we're both big DC fans, yet we've never been to a DC comics movie in his lifetime. On the flip side, Avengers movies have been father/son events.

I deemed Batman:Begins, TDK and Superman Returns far too mature for him at the time.

The worst for me was Green Lantern, that should have been our first DC movie. Having been warned I saw it alone before I took him.

The movie has nightmarish sequences and tons of swearing, both do little to further the story or character. It's a movie about a space cop with a magic ring, it should have been all ages instead it was made "dark".

[clemso]

Yeah, i felt depressed after watching that DKR trailer. Its certainly not a all family event.

[rche]

you don't need rainbow colors or over the top violence to have a good detective story.

[rche]

there was a bit of comedy at the end of that last trailer.
cat - I don't usually get in cars with strange men
grumbly voice dude - it's not a car

hilarious

[Mikey]

I put the recent Batman movies in the same catagory as the recent James Bond movies ... They take themselves too seriously and in a way it's embarrassing to watch them --- meaning they feel like they're made only for "hardcore" fans.

[The Bat]

I love Batman dark...that makes him stand out.

I for one...was never a big fan of the 60s show (***ducks***).

The ORIGINAL Batman comics were dark.

That's how Batman should stay...leave the rainbow coloring to The Avengers movies, lol.

RIGHT ON Hector!! Once again we see eye to eye.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I think the character can still maintain his integrity and darkness with a somewhat lighter approach. BTAS/TNBA/JLU proved that.

My only grumble with the Nolan films is part of me wishes they were more accessible to kids. I appreciate the sincerity and realism Nolan brings to the films, but it's that real-world 'this is almost possible" feel that makes the movies a bit too disturbing for young kids. I'm torn as a true, die-hard Batman fan, and a dad who would like to enjoy the movies with my kids without fear of scarring them for life.

I wouldn't mind a different take now that Nolan is done after DKR. As long as we don't go back to Schumacher-ville.

Chris