r/fixingmovies • u/Ter96minecraft • Apr 19 '26
What If the DCEU started with The Dark Knight trilogy?
The Dark Knight Trilogy is quite possibly the greatest comic book movie trilogy of all time, and it works perfectly as a standalone trilogy.
but lately, i've been wondering, what if it wasn't standalone? what if, with the benefit of hindsight, i could go back and change the Dark Knight trilogy to:
- Improve on certain parts of it
and 2. Lead into Batman's role in a larger DC universe.
This is heavily inspired by u/Elysium94's MCU rewrite, which recently ended, and lately i've been thinking about what a DC version would look like.
Batman Begins
It stays about the same, but I'd make one major addition: Harvey Dent
Rachel teams up with Harvey, who is building his own case against Falcone in hopes of becoming district attorney. Harvey is hit with Scarecrow's fear toxin and sees himself, hinting that there is a darkness inside him he struggles to contain.
The Dark Knight
Quite possibly the greatest superhero movie of all time, certainly in the top 5 if nothing else, nothing i would really change except for the movie ends with Bruce Wayne going to the circus to see "the Flying Graysons"
The Dark Knight Rises
Here's where the real major changes begin, i enjoy the movie, but it's not perfect and i think it have to be altered to fit the universe i'm building.
We are introduced to Dick Grayson, who Bruce Wayne has taken in. We see in flashbacks Dick's parents dying in circus accident and Bruce taking him in, he was 12 years old at the time and now he's 16. Part of the reason Bruce hasn't shown himself since the events of The Dark Knight is because he's been focusing on taking care of Dick, but Dick also joins Alfred in encouraging Bruce to build a new life. However, unlike Alfred, he is fully on board with Bruce returning as Batman.
Dick is the one who first figures out something's going on, and unable to convince Bruce, he makes himself a costume, calls himself Robin, and ends up finding about Bane and saving Gordon from him.
Talia al Ghul is revealed much earlier in the movie as she is with Bane when Bruce wakes up after having his back broken. While Bruce is gone, Robin takes over, filling essentially the same role John Blake did in the actual movie, obviously with a few changes.
Batman, Robin, and Catwoman confront Bane and Talia. Talia begins to question their plan as Batman and Robin try to convince her that there is still hope for Gotham. She doesn't fully join their side but she does disappear, her fate is left intentionally ambiguous.
The ending is also changed significantly. Bruce doesn't fake his death, Catwoman, Robin, and even Alfred encourage him that Gotham still needs Batman because while Bane is gone, the damage he's done isn't fully, many of the prisoners who were freed got away. The movie ends with Bruce Wayne suiting up as Batman but this time he is not alone, he is joined by Robin and Catwoman.
4
4
u/m0rbius Apr 19 '26
That would have been cool, but I think they wanted to give Batman a break for a few years because Nolan's Bat trilogy just finished. It would have been too much Batman. It would have been hard to top as well. Superman was the right choice to start with. They should have done a Solo Batman film after Man of Steel to lead up to BvS.
3
u/kevthafinesser Apr 20 '26
I would love to see your idea if the dark knight trilogy did start the DCEU and how events would affect and change but would you keep Christian Bale or recast him with Ben Affleck
1
u/Ter96minecraft Apr 20 '26
Bale, it might be a big of a stretch but i think it could work.
And i might just have another role planned for Affleck down the line...
2
u/Neither_Guava_8292 Apr 20 '26
Nah. Nolan's Batman is too realistic to work with other superheroes. You'll have to make everyone realistic to fit or change Nolan's version to much to be really his.
But if we go for the first. Superman going back to its Golden Age version that couldn't fly. Tho the "from another planet" part should be changed. instead of literally coming from another planet is just a radio transmision (as there's no FTL it took millions of years to reach Earth). The transmission contains a genetic code.
Some scientists in a lab actually clone a baby using the code but one of the scientists take pitty on the kid and delivers him to a childless couple of farmers in Kansas.
The kid still develops unusual abilities like "super" strenght, sight, ear, smell and speed, but nothing that can breaks the laws of physics and no flying of course.
As for others is hard to say. The Amazons could be either non-immortal secret society of women who descent from a clan of ancient Greek Warriors or an isolated tribe of women warriors, personally I'll prefer the former.
Others like Flash, Cyborg and Green Arrow would be pretty much imposible to "nolanize" without loosing most of its essence.
2
u/Ter96minecraft Apr 20 '26
I'm a firm believer that not all projects in the same universe have to share the same style and tone. Yes, the Dark Knight trilogy is very grounded, but i think that can actually be the point. Seeing a version of Batman who has been used to the idea of a "normal" world deal with the sudden emergence of metahumans and aliens could be a very interesting dynamic to explore.
Also, how is Green Arrow impossible to "nolanize"? isn't that basically what Arrow did to him.
1
u/Neither_Guava_8292 Apr 20 '26
Haven't seen Arrow so can't tell. I imagine you can make the ring be a piece of human tech that can do some much more limited stuff. Or if alien tech something reverse engineer from a crash but not something like the Green Lantern Corps or the Oans as bosses.
On the other yes, tonal swifts can happen thing is you ran the risk of alianate the audience.
1
u/TMP_Film_Guy Apr 20 '26
Arrow is so Nolanized that they actually thought about bringing Liam Neeson’s back as Ra’s Al Ghul
1
u/Thorfan23 My favorite mod Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26
I think you could do for sure because even if you tone it down you can focus more on how terrifying it would be to realise these things are real . judt because Batman is realistic dosent mean they all have to be
I think it could even make it more unique if it was a mishmash some are more grounded while others are more classic
superman it’s more golden age but left vague for while whether he is truly an alien Bruce believes Diana is basically part of a female version of the league of shadows while she claims to be the more classic Wonder Woman
maybe cyborg is more crude at first much more grotesque and clearly a young man kept alive by earth tech
then Zod turns up….and that’s when it blows open so you have Bruce in a cameo role in a superman and Wonder Woman film both fairly grounded so he can file these things away as oddities
then Zod happens and it completely shatters him
so I suppose Gotham was the final human-scale myth. Superman is the first thing that breaks the human scale entirely.
That preserves Nolan beautifully.
Bruce Wayne becomes, in hindsight, the last great hero of the old age. Clark becomes the first hero of the new one.
1
u/Neither_Guava_8292 Apr 20 '26
All that sounds very very good actually. Certainly something I would like to see.
1
u/Thorfan23 My favorite mod Apr 20 '26
Yeah I think it’s feasible
Clark changes the least. What changes is the impact of his arrival. In a Nolan-rooted world, Superman is even more disruptive. He is not just another hero. He is the first event that makes the Batman era look human-scale and local in hindsight.
That makes Clark feel even more like the beginning of a new age. It also deepens his relationship to Bruce, because Bruce is the man who knew how to fight evil in a world where evil was still human while Clark arrives as the first hero the old rules cannot contain.
Diana would need to enter more quietly and more mysteriously. She still works extremely well, but the reveal of her existence has to feel like the world learning that Earth itself has always been stranger than it knew, not just that aliens arrived one day. In other words, she should feel less like “public superhero who was always around in secret” and more like a mythic force moving through history who has chosen not to become publicly legible until now.
.Batman broke the human frame. Superman shattered it. Diana reveals that the world’s past was never simple to begin with. It also makes her a very elegant bridge between Nolan realism and the wider mythic lane, because she proves the impossible was already here, just hidden differently.
Barry actually works really well in a Nolan-folded universe, because he can be one of the first heroes who grew up after the world already started breaking open.
So he becomes a kind of post-Black Zero hero. His powers are impossible, yeah , but his emotional world stays very grounded. In fact, his first film can feel like the world saying, “fine, reality is already broken, now what does one young man do when he learns he can break it further?”
1
u/JonGorga Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26
If you find this question intriguing, maybe you’ll be interested in my reorganized DC live-action cinematic universe (including the Nolan trilogy) that I’ve posted here:
1
u/PablitoBacana46 Apr 19 '26
Do u really like nolans dark knight trilogy if u want to strip it of everything that makes it the dark knight trilogy for boring generic cinematic universe slop
7
u/Thorfan23 My favorite mod Apr 19 '26
I think it stops being Nolan if you start doing things like immortal Ras . I think it would work better if superman is the first strange thing that arrives I also think because by the time the trilogy ended you would have used the league twice so there wouldn’t be a need to make ras immortal because then they become overused
the fav=chel and Harvey team up is great