Frank Miller Describes What His Batman Movie Would Be Like

If you happened to see Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, you’ll likely have noticed how pervasive Frank Miller’s influence was. Whether that aspect worked for you or not is neither here nor there, but from certain visual stylings, plot points, and the basic premise, it was easy to see that director Zack Snyder was a big fan of Miller’s Dark Knight Returns.

While attending Europe’s largest comic store, Lucca Comics & Games, Miller sat down with Variety and discussed what his vision for the Batman franchise would be.

“My dream would be to make it much smaller. To lose the toys and to focus more on the mission, and to use the city a great deal more. Because he’s got a loving relationship with the city he’s protecting. And unlike Superman his connection to crime is intimate; it has been ever since his parents were murdered. And he defeats criminals with his hands. So it would be a different take. But it will never be in my hands, because it would not be a good place to make toys from. There wouldn’t be a line of toys.”

The superhero genre certainly loves its toys, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a collectibles market for that sort of Batman project. Still, the course has been set within the DC cinematic universe, so it’s unlikely to change.

Miller previously worked with Darren Aronofsky on a Batman project that had a screenplay but never got much further. If that film had been made, it would have been relatively close to what he would do with the franchise now.

“That screenplay was based on my book “Batman: Year One,” and yeah it was much more down to earth. In it a fair amount of time is spent before he became Batman, and when he went out and fought crime he really screwed it up a bunch of times before he got it right. So it was 90-minute origins story.”

When asked if he had seen Batman v Superman, Miller said “I’ll just say: ‘Thanks.’ What can I say? — he laughs — no, actually I’ll withdraw that; I’ll say: ‘You’re welcome!’

The next Batman project will be Ben Affleck and Geoff Johns untitled solo film, which is looking to release sometime in 2018. Up first though is Wonder Woman, which hits theaters on June 9, 2017, followed by Justice League, which lands in theaters on November 17, 2017.