30 Astonishing Batman Movie Facts

Soundtracks

Batman had two soundtracks - a score by Danny Elfman and an album from Prince (who was originally hired to write two songs). Burton has said that he "couldn't make the [Prince] songs work” and “did a disservice to the movie and to him”.

Before Prince, Michael Jackson had been asked to write and perform the songs, but had to drop out due to his concert commitments.

U2’s Bono was asked to appear in Batman Forever and perform a song. Instead, U2 provided the track ‘Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me’ for the soundtrack.

Inspiration

Batman Begins writer David S Goyer said that Jeph Loeb’s storylines The Long Halloween and Dark Victory were chief inspirations. He denied the common belief that it was based on Frank Miller’s Year One .

Christian Bale became determined to star in the next Batman film after reading Grant Morrison and Dave McKean’s Arkham Asylum .

The Batcave

Batman Begins was the first film to feature an entirely physical set. Previous movies used a mix of set and visual effects.

The Batcave in Tim Burton's Batman was created on Pinewood's stage D, completely filling it's 18,150 square feet.

Kilmer learned that he had scored the role while in a real bat cave in Africa, researching The Ghost and the Darkness .

Villains

Christopher Nolan’s co-writer brother Jonathan has said that Liam Neeson’s turn as R’as al Ghul was inspired by Osama bin Laden, both of whom sought to reshape the world by terrorist means.

Jack Nicholson was always Tim Burton’s first choice for the Joker, but other actors including Tim Curry, Willem Dafoe, David Bowie, Robin Williams, and James Woods were considered. Nicholson’s success set up Batman villain roles as hot Hollywood property.

Billy Dee Williams accepted the role of Harvey Dent in Batman so that he could later play Two-Face in the franchise. Joel Schumacher had different plans, offering the Batman Forever role to Tommy Lee Jones who accepted because the villain was his 11-year-old son’s favourite character.

Fanboy outrage

Ben Affleck wasn’t the first Bruce Wayne casting to incur the wrath of the fans. Michael Keaton’s choice for Tim Burton’s Batman resulted in 50,000 letters of complaint arriving at Warner Bros.

Fans apparently didn’t consider the actor - known predominately for comedy - to be suitably serious, suave or physically imposing for the role. Keaton himself is said to have expected a tone similar to the 1960s version when first approached.

Batman co-creator Bob Kane was also sceptical about the choice of Keaton, but seeing as he stuck around to consult on the next film, we assume he changed his mind.

Batmobile

The Batmobile in Batman Begins went on to inspire a robotic tank prototype built by BAE Systems.

The Dark Knight Trilogy Batmobile (aka the Tumbler) was a functioning vehicle with a real jet engine. It could reach speeds of 100 miles per hour.

A drunk driver collided with the Tumbler during the filming of Batman Begins on the streets of Chicago. The driver apparently thought that he had collided with a UFO.

Costumes

Michelle Pfeiffer went through 60 Catwoman suits during the filming of Batman Returns , to the tune of an incredible $66,000.

The Dark Knight Trilogy Batman suit was extremely heavy and movement restricting, causing Christian Bale to suffer painful headaches. It was so heavy and claustrophobic that the actor has said he considered quitting when he first tried it on.

Two crew members were also on hand constantly during the filming of Batman Begins , their role solely to keep Bale’s Batsuit as clean as the day he bought it.

Castings

Jennifer Lawrence auditioned for Catwoman's sidekick Jen in The Dark Knight Rises . Leonardo DiCaprio auditioned to play Robin in Batman Forever.

Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston and Marilyn Manson were all considered for the role of Joanthan Crane/the Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy before Cillian Murphy bagged the role.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Kurt Russell, Alec Baldwin, Ethan Hawke, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp were considered for Batman Forever before Val Kilmer got the part. So, if you think Ben Affleck's bad, imagine Hanks in the Bat-suit.

Titles

Various titles were considered for Batman Begins before the film’s title was chosen, including ‘Batman 5’ and ‘Batman: The Frightening’. Its alias during production was ‘The Intimidation Game’.

The Dark Knight ’s codename was ‘Rory’s First Kiss’ and The Dark Knight Rises was ‘Magnus Rex’. Rory and Magnus are the names of two of Christopher Nolan’s sons.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Marion Cotillard beat Naomi Watts and Rachel Weisz for the role of Miranda Tate. The actress began filming two months after giving birth to her first child.

Out of respect for the late Heath Ledger, the Joker is not mention once throughout the entire film.

The final fight scene is the only occasion in any of the modern films in which Batman is seen during the day.