The Arrowverse Cant Properly Use Batman Anymore

The Arrowverse Can’t Properly Use Batman Anymore

Contents

However much Batman fans may want to see the Dark Knight stand tall in the Arrowverse, here’s the simple truth: it’s too late now.

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The Arrowverse Cant Properly Use Batman Anymore

It’s now too late for the Arrowverse to use Batman properly, but that doesn’t mean he still can’t be included somewhere. For years, DCTV viewers believed Oliver Queen was the first vigilante of Earth-1. And then, to everybody’s delight, references began to be made to characters from the Bat-Family; Felicity Smoak considered using the codename Oracle but it had already been taken, and Oliver name-dropped Bruce Wayne in one speech. Suddenly it seemed as though Batman could actually be part of the Arrowverse.

According to Batwoman season 1, the Dark Knight had policed Gotham since the early 2000s, and by 2003 he’d gotten caught up in his traditional vendetta with the Joker. Batman had an established rogues’ gallery in Gotham, and he’d built up an extended Bat-family as well; and there was at least one Robin. Batman went missing roughly three years before Batwoman season 1, which means he vanished sometime around 2016; curiously, that’s at about the same time Oliver Queen was taking on some traditional Batman enemies, the League of Assassins. The Batwoman season 1 finale saw the villainous Hush transformed into a Bruce Wayne doppelganger, thereby revealing the Arrowverse’s Bruce Wayne is the likeness of Warren Christie (The Resident, Chicago Fire). Many fans are hopeful this will lead to the introduction of the real Batman.

But here’s the problem; eight years into the Arrowverse, it is now too late for the franchise to use Batman in any satisfying way. The story of Batman’s disappearance must be told, but he can only ever be a background presence, nothing more.

Arrow Was Really The Arrowverse’s Batman

The Arrowverse Cant Properly Use Batman Anymore

Audiences have surely heard this before: a long-missing billionaire, inheritor of his father’s fortune and company, returns to his home city. His absence has transformed him, and while he pretends to be a carefree playboy, in reality this is a front; he has devoted himself to protecting his city from crime by becoming a dark and brutal vigilante. This man of mystery likes to keep his cards close to his chest, but little by little he finds himself surrounded by allies, friends and family alike who commit themselves to extending his mission. All of that is a perfect summary of Batman, and indeed of Batman’s traditional character arc, as the Dark Knight gradually learns how to play well with others. It is also, however, an accurate description of Oliver Queen’s character arc in Arrow.

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The simple truth is that the Oliver Queen of Arrow is very different to the comic book character. The vigilante was essentially reinvented for the small screen; Green Arrow was transformed into Batman in all but name. There’s nothing wrong with that approach, and the writers and showrunners shouldn’t be criticized for it. But the decision to make a sort of Green Arrow/Batman hybrid series means it will be very difficult for the Arrowverse to use Batman now. All the traditional Batman tropes have already been played out in the Arrowverse (including villains and the hero’s team), and all the most beloved character arcs have already been done. Far from feeling original, the Arrowverse’s Batman would feel like Green Arrow redux.

Batwoman Has Taken Batman’s Place In Gotham

Even Gotham City doesn’t need Batman anymore. Gotham initially felt the Dark Knight’s absence, and indeed there are references to a flurry of pretenders who attempted to fill the gap. But it was eventually filled by Kate Kane, the Arrowverse’s first Batwoman. She she did more than just substitute herself for Batman; where Bruce Wayne chose to become a symbol of fear, Kate Kane wanted to inspire. Batwoman chose to out herself as a lesbian to Gotham City, and in so doing, for the first time, she allowed Gotham to actually relate to a Bat, to feel there was a real person behind the cowl. Gotham took Kate to its heart in a way it has never done Batman, and when she gave up being Batwoman for just a few days, it didn’t take long for others to suit up. In truth, this means the Arrowverse’s Batwoman is already better than the comics. There, Batwoman will always be a soldier on the front lines of Batman’s wars; she will always be a lieutenant, not the general. But that isn’t the case in the Arrowverse anymore.

Ruby Rose’s surprise decision to exit Batwoman means she is being replaced – by an original character, rather than anyone from the comics. Little is currently known about Ryan Wilder, aka Batwoman 2.0, with the only real information to date coming from a leaked casting description. But the interesting thing about that description was that it stressed Ryan Wilder was inspired by Batwoman, not by Batman; furthermore, she seems to have no clear connections to Bruce Wayne at all. The Arrowverse is adding another degree of separation between Batwoman and Batman, with the mantle of the Bat passing far beyond Bruce Wayne. It’s a clever way of saying Batman is now surplus to requirements.

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Batman’s Best Stories & Villains Have Already Been Used

Making matters worse, most of the iconic Batman stories have already been done. Because Arrow had essentially turned Oliver Queen into Bruce Wayne, it ripped off Batman’s most famous plots. Oliver acquired the traditionally complicated relationship with Ra’s al Ghul and the League of Shadows, the dynamic between Green Arrow and Quentin Lance was clearly pulled from Batman and Commissioner Gordon, and entire storylines like “Batman: The Cult” and “Heir to the Bat” were heavily adapted. The Arrow season 3 episode “Uprising” even explicitly riffed on The Dark Knight Rises.

Worse still for Batman, many of his most notable villains have already been used in the Arrowverse as well. Arrow drew liberally on Batman’s rogues’ gallery, with prominent characters including Firefly, Deadshot, Deathstroke, KGBeast, Anarky, Ra’s al Ghul, Talia, Prometheus, and the Dollmaker. These were all reinterpreted to be centered upon the Green Arrow and Star City, rather than Batman and Gotham City. Meanwhile, Batwoman season 1 has similarly reinterpreted other classic Batman foes around Kate Kane, and has killed off the Joker; a sensible move, because there’s no way the Crown Prince of Crime would have been able to resist a vulnerable Gotham for three years when Batman went missing. But all this means there isn’t a Batman-shaped gap for the Dark Knight to occupy anymore; his villains have been changed to the point he wouldn’t fit in their lives, while others are long since dead.

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The Arrowverse is sure to use the real Bruce Wayne sooner or later, but it’s quite clear he can never be the Batman known and loved by Bat-fans the world over. At most, a returned Batman can only ever be a background presence, perhaps a watchful eye observing the new Batwoman warily, jealous for his legacy to be upheld – or he could begin to form Batman Inc. on some level. But it’s simply too late for Batman to be a major player in the Arrowverse.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/arrowverse-batman-stories-villains-already-used-not-needed/

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