If James Wan manages to make Aquaman a critical and box office success, I suspect Warner Bros. will let him do whatever the hell he wants for his next movie. Now, he’s a busy guy, but it seems that his love for the DC Universe doesn’t stop with the adventures of Arthur Curry, as he has a concept for a really interesting take on Batman.
The story comes via Heroic Hollywood, who sat down with Wan in advance of Aquaman‘s release later this month. They asked him what other comic book properties he’d love to direct and here’s what he shared:
“In the past like most people I loved the idea of directing Batman, but a horror version of Batman. That would be a potential fantasy of mine, but I feel like he’s been done quite a fair bit. But, I do love the idea of doing an outright scary Batman. I feel like that’d be really cool.”
Wan is absolutely right, a horror movie featuring Batman would be incredible. I think there’s a number of ways you can go about this, too. Perhaps the most obvious is to treat the Dark Knight as the horror movie monster. Christopher Nolan attempted that with Batman Begins, showing us the character as a stealthy and terrifying predator who picks off his targets one by one – eventually turning him into a literal monster when the Scarecrow’s interrogated by him while under the effects of fear toxin.
But another way would be to take inspiration from some well-regarded comics that put Batman in horror-themed surroundings. For example, in Doug Moench and Kelley Jones’ 1991 Elseworld story Red Rain, Batman must do battle with vampires that are killing the homeless in Gotham City. He soon becomes a vampire himself and has to balance his heroism with his increasingly dangerous bloodlust.
Or how about Grant Morrison’s Arkham Asylum, in which Batman is steadily psychologically dismantled as he treks through a nightmare version of the asylum to find the Joker? Morrison’s Batman R.I.P. might also be a good shout, in which the Caped Crusader is driven insane by Dr. Hurt.
Tell us, do you have any suggestions as to horror-themed stories you’d like to see Wan tackle? I mean, it doesn’t look like The Batman is going anywhere right now, so who knows, maybe Warner Bros. will give him a shot at the character?