When “Titans” returns for its second season on Friday, the DC Universe series will add a slew of characters, none bigger than Batman himself. But the version who “Game of Thrones” alum Iain Glen will portray will exclusively focus on the Bruce Wayne side of Gotham City’s most famous vigilante’s double life.
“He’s still Batman,” showrunner Greg Walker told TheWrap. “We just don’t see him with the cape and cowl running around, and the bat signal.”
Batman is Warner Bros.’ most lucrative DC Comics character, one in which the company has been fiercely protective. The character has already toplined two separate film franchises, with Robert Pattinson set to lead a third, beginning in 2021 with Matt Reeves’ “The Batman.” Glen’s version of Wayne is just one of the ways that DC Comics-based TV shows are incorporating as much of Batman as they can into their worlds, despite the character remaining off-limits on the small screen.
This gave “Titans” an opportunity to portray Batman, who has already been played by seven different actors, in a different light: How the years of being a masked vigilante affected Bruce on a personal level. “Bruce is really good at being Batman, but he’s horrible at being Bruce,” Walker explained. “He’s kind of taken an aspect of his personality, and an identity, and focused on that at the expense of being a person that has to deal with relationships.”
“Titans,” based on the popular “Teen Titans” comic, is centered on Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites) long after his days as Batman’s crime-fighting sidekick. Even though Batman wasn’t physically present in Grayson’s life, Walker argues it’s pretty much impossible to tell a Robin story that doesn’t include Batman in some way. The first season had references to Batman and (purposely) hard-to-see shots of him using stuntmen.
“Bruce Wayne was a character last year in a huge way, in terms of the psychological battle that Dick was going through,” Walker said. “To actually have a relationship with a live, walking and talking Bruce Wayne seemed to be the next step if you’re going to do this in an emotionally grounded, psychologically real way.”
The second season will focus on Grayson trying to bring the Titans back together following their encounter with Trigon at the end of Season 1. Walker said that every member of the Titans will have their own feelings toward Wayne that will play out this season.
“We see versions of Bruce that are in the conscious world and we see manifestations of Bruce that are, at times, not rooted in reality. People’s imaginations of Bruce take on their own form. Bruce is many things to many people,” he said. “A limitation of the show is we can’t have Batman. So we try to turn that into a lot of possibilities of kind of exploring Bruce, and all the dimensions of Bruce.”
Along with Wayne, “Titans” is adding more characters from DC Comics’ toy chest including Esai Morales as the villain Deathstroke. Other characters that will be introduced include Jericho (Chella Man), Aqualad (Drew Van Acker) and Superboy (Joshua Orpin).
“Titans” returns for Season 2 on Sept. 6.
Every DC Comics Movie Ranked, Including 'Wonder Woman 1984'
Marvel may be the dominant force in comic book movies at the moment just through sheer numbers, it's actually DC Comics that has the historical edge. Films based on DC properties go back nearly a century to those ancient Batman and Superman serials, while Marvel didn't really get things going until this century. That's a lot of history -- how do the recent "Birds of Prey" and "Joker" stack up? Let's take a look.
37. "Jonah Hex" (2010)
Despite the efforts of Josh Brolin and Michael Fassbender, this is one of the worst comic book movies of the modern era.
36. "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987)
Christopher Reeve is by far the best Superman. But "Superman IV" is a bomb in every sense -- partly because of its heavy-handedness about bombs. Nuclear bombs. The film finds Superman trying to eliminate the world's nuclear threat, but his best intentions run afoul of a silly, badly dated villain named Nuclear Man.
35. "Supergirl" (1984)
We had a female-superhero movie in 1984, and it was pure cheese. But hey, at least they tried. The best thing I can say about it is there are worse things in life than this movie.
34. "Suicide Squad" (2016)
Less a movie than it is a fever dream of unrelated sequences and montages that somehow end up using more than two hours of your time. Totally incomprehensible experience.
Best known as "the one Shaq was in back when he tried acting," "Steel" is pretty bad. But the fun kind of bad.
32. "Justice League" (2017)
Warner Bros has continued to innovate in how to make bad DCEU movies, with "Justice League" managing to be terrible in a totally different way from "Batman v Superman" and "Suicide Squad."
31. "Man of Steel" (2013)
Could have been worse, I guess. But it's still morally gross and has a plot that doesn't make sense. That it's very pretty to look at doesn't override those things nearly enough to make it watchable.
30. "Joker" (2019)
This is not a good characterization of the Joker as a human being, and aside from that it's just a soulless, meaningless experience.
29. "Catwoman" (2004)
Thoroughly horrible, but somehow amusing even so. Sad that it's seemingly been swept into the litter box of history.
28. "Batman & Robin" (1997)
Rightly hated, but it's tremendously entertaining here and there. Uma Thurman and Arnold Schwarzeneggar are going so far over the top I can't help but admire them.
27. "Superman III" (1983)
Featured a brilliant corporate rip-off -- one later referenced in "Office Space" -- but the attempt to funny things up with the addition of Richard Pryor didn't gel. There was also a weird bit about a weather satellite creating bad weather, which isn't what weather satellites do. Seeing Clark Kent fight Superman was pretty cool, though.
26. "Green Lantern" (2011)
Overreliance on cartoony visual effects during a period when big blockbusters were moving away from that aesthetic meant this was a movie nobody liked. Not that it was especially horrible. It just looked like a dumb cartoon and is hard to watch.
25. "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012)
Probably wasn't intended to be a grim and gritty Shumacher Batmovie, but that is indeed what it is. This is Nolan going full Hollywood, smashing plot points into place by sheer force of will rather than because they make sense. An extremely theatrical Tom Hardy as Bane is amusing front to back, and a nuke with a countdown clock on it will never get old.
24. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" (2016)
A total mess that hates Superman and turns Batman into a total maniac. None of those things are good. Ben Affleck can't save the thing, but he's excellent nonetheless and gives it a huge bump it probably doesn't deserve.
23. "Watchmen" (2009)
I have no particular affection for the revered "Watchmen" comic the way a lot of other nerds do, so my distaste for this adaptation isn't personal. It just doesn't add up to nearly as much as it thinks it does.
22. "Batman" (1989)
Fondly remembered mostly because it was the first Batmovie in a couple decades. It isn't actually very good, though. The reveal that a younger version of the Joker killed Bruce Wayne's parents is as hamfistedly dumb as it gets in a "Batman" movie.
21. "V for Vendetta" (2006)
Felt nothing watching this. I tried, OK. It's impeccably made, though, and very watchable.
Giving this its own slot because it fundamentally changes the narrative of the movie and the character of Superman in the DC Extended Universe. This version is still not great (especially at three freaking hours), but it's a monumental improvement over the theatrical version.
18. "Red 2" (2013)
Did you even know these were comic book movies? Whatever, it's a great cast in a serviceable action movie and everybody's having a good time. Hard to remember, but fun.
17. "Red" (2010)
Better than its sequel, but they're basically the same.
16. "Batman Forever" (1995)
Hits just the right tone for what Joel Shumacher was trying to do with the two films he directed. Tommy Lee Jones, as Two Face, is doing stuff in this movie that is hard to believe even today, given his perpetual sour face in nearly every other movie he's been in.
15. "Superman Returns" (2006)
Actually a pretty decent attempt by Bryan Singer to do a Christopher Reeve "Superman" movie in the present day, but Brandon Routh couldn't pull off the charisma it takes to be the Man of Steel. It was his first movie, so that's not surprising. But it's a shame, because Routh has gotten much better in the years since.
14. "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" (1993)
Remember that time they released a "Batman" cartoon theatrically? It gets lost amongst all the live-action ones, but "Mask of the Phantasm" is better than most of them.
13. "The LEGO Batman Movie" (2017)
Funny, sweet and self-deprecating -- exactly what we needed in the wake of the disaster that was "Batman v Superman."
12. "Superman II" (1980)
Made kids everywhere cry as they watched Superman give up his powers for a normal life with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder). There are different edits of this movie, and we frankly can't keep them straight. But the sight of a powerless Clark getting beat up in a diner made Superman as sympathetic as he's ever been.
11. "Wonder Woman" (2017)
Has the standard origin movie problem of "too much story, not enough time." And the standard DC Extended Universe problem of "We gotta have a nonsensical CGI battle at the end." But despite those caveats it's an enormous delight, and a big step forward for the DCEU.
10. "Birds of Prey" (2020)
This film is sensory overload, but (mostly) in all the right ways. And it's got the best action we've ever seen in any DC or Marvel movie. This would be a top 5 DC flick easily if the storytelling wasn't such a huge mess.
9. "The Dark Knight" (2008)
Should be way shorter, but Heath Ledger's Joker is far and away the best villain in any of these movies. Ledger elevates what would otherwise be just another self-indulgent Christopher Nolan exercise into an endlessly watchable picture.
8. "Superman: The Movie" (1978)
This is the gold standard of Superman movies, and was the best superhero movie bar none for many, many years. John Williams' score soars, and so does the believable and compelling romance between Superman and Lois Lane. The film convincingly blended camp (in the form of Gene Hackman's wonderful Lex Luthor), an epic origin story that actually felt epic, and funny lines. The scene in which Supes and Lois fly together is one of the most beautiful metaphors for new love ever captured on film.
7. "Batman Returns" (1992)
One of the best of the franchise because it's really just a political thriller. The Penguin emerges from the sewer and runs for mayor of Gotham! It's great stuff, especially as we continue to watch the rise of Trump in our world.
6. "Shazam" (2019)
It’s just so much fun! It’s a blast to watch, and is just a really nice celebration of the good parts of humanity. “Shazam” is a movie that simply feels good to watch.
5. "Constantine" (2005)
A happy balance of serious and ridiculous, manages to find exactly the right tone for this weird religious fantasy and a cast led by Keanu Reeves. They all seem to get it.
4. "Wonder Woman 1984" (2020)
Patty Jenkins' has the same sort of qualities that made "Superman: The Movie" so appealing. It's earnest, sincere and serious, but not silly or gritty or full of irony.
3. "Aquaman" (2018)
It's not often that we get a comic book movie that is: full on ridiculous; loves how ridiculous it is; and is made with skill by a legitimately great filmmaker. James Wan's "Aquaman" is all of that, and it's just a wonderful experience.
2. "Batman: The Movie" (1966)
Has a timelessness that none of the other films do, and it's just a delight from beginning to end thanks to Adam West's winking Batman and the coalition of villains who can't stop cackling maniacally. Watching it again recently, I found it functions almost perfectly as a parody of the super-serious Christopher Nolan Batfilms, which is incredible.
1. "Batman Begins" (2005)
The most complete film, on its own, in the entire live-action franchise. It's just, like, a regular movie... except it's about Batman. It has actual characters and everything, and Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne even has emotions. It's weird.
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How does the latest entry in the DC Extended Universe fare in our rankings?
Marvel may be the dominant force in comic book movies at the moment just through sheer numbers, it's actually DC Comics that has the historical edge. Films based on DC properties go back nearly a century to those ancient Batman and Superman serials, while Marvel didn't really get things going until this century. That's a lot of history -- how do the recent "Birds of Prey" and "Joker" stack up? Let's take a look.
