The Batman: Judge Rules DC Movie Wasn't Plagiarized
A judge has ruled that Warner Bros. did NOT plagiarize the story for The Batman (2022) from one of its freelancers in the 1990s.
The Batman (2022) was facing some serious legal issues, which have now been resolved. A judge in New York ruled on Wednesday this week that Warner Bros. Entertainment wasn't legally liable for plagiarism over the script of The Batman – and accusation brought up by writer Christopher Wozniak, a for DC comic book writer and freelance artist in the 1990s.
The 45-page decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer found that WB and The Batman writer/director Matt Reeves had not copied Wozniak's story "The Ultimate Riddle" (now titled "The Blind Man's Hat"), which he submitted to DC numerous times after writing in 1990; Wozniak also claimed he had sent the story to a film producer, Michael Uslan, in 2008 as the basis for The Batman's script.
When the lawsuit was announced, Wozniak's attorney, R. Terry Parker, made the following claim:
"There are so many original expressions from my client's story found in the defendant's movie that we believe this is clear case of copyright infringement. The similarities are just too uncanny to be accidental."
However, in something of a twist, Judge Engelmayer not only didn't agree that DC/WB had plagiarized Wozniak's work to make The Batman, he pointed out that Wozniak's story itself was a violation of DC's copyright laws. As the judge wrote, "The story's use of the Batman character and the surrounding protected elements is an act of clear and blatant copyright infringement."
It was also stated that the framework of The Batman and its story – detective hunting a serial killer, big twists where the killer is one step ahead – were too commonplace to be the source of a lawsuit. Finally, the judge didn't believe Wozniak had any substantive proof that Warner Bros. had come into contact with his story and then retooled it into The Batman.
"We respectfully disagree with the court's decision and are considering our next steps," Wozniak's lawyer, Terry Parker, said in an email.
It's a complicated and muddled story here – which in legal terms is often bad for a plaintiff making an accusation. Wozniak raised eyebrows by citing specific moments of his story – like the basic premise of The Riddler being a killer mad at Gotham's corruption, or a specific scene where Bruce Wayne/Batman gets a phone call that Alfred has been the victim of a Riddler firebomb attack. Yet, as the judge pointed out, a story that Wozniak tried and failed to sell to DC – and still handed off to a film producer – is not exactly a protected work under copyright, if the characters belong to DC. In fact, DC sued Wozniak over the story just months after he filed his lawsuit in October of 2022. From the moment fans first saw The Batman trailer, comparisons to David Fincher's Se7en were made, which (as the judge suggested) is proof that the serial killer mystery movie formula is not at all uncommon.
The Batman is streaming on Max. The Batman: Part II is in development and has an October 6, 2026 release date.
Source: Reuters