The upcoming Bat-Fam series will hit Prime Video this November and will introduce a villain we almost saw in live-action movies starring the Dark Knight back in the 1990s. Bat-Fam was first announced to be in development back in 2023, and will soon be landing on Prime Video as a spinoff series from 2023’s Holiday special, Merry Little Batman. The series will mark the return of Luke Wilson as Batman and Yonas Kibreab as Damian Wayne’s Little Batman, as well as James Cromwell as Alfred Pennyworth, but Bat-Fam will also be debuting new animated DC characters.
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One of these new characters is Man-Bat, a villain first seen in DC Comics back in 1970’s Detective Comics #400. Voiced by Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live, The Secret Life of Pets), Man-Bat will be taking up residence in Wayne Manor’s belfry in Bat-Fam, and will be known as the younger Wayne’s “Pap Pap,” despite being Batman’s long-time nemesis. This isn’t the first time Man-Bat will appear in an animated DC project, but the villain-turned-sometimes-antihero has never appeared in live-action – though it was planned at least twice.
Man-Bat Was part of 2 Scrapped Batman Movie Pitches
Man-Bat originally appeared in an early and unproduced script for Batman Unchained, the sequel to Batman & Robin, which starred George Clooney as the Caped Crusader back in 1997. Man-Bat was ultimately dropped from the movie in favor of a storyline focused on the Scarecrow and Harley Quinn, but Batman Unchained would never come to fruition. In 1998, Man-Bat was then included in Lee Shapiro’s script for Batman: DarKnight, largely inspired by DC Comics’ Dark Knight Returns. Jonathan Crane would have inadvertently transformed Kirk Langstrom into the Man-Bat, whose brutal activities would have marred Batman’s name, pulling him out of retirement.
Batman: DarKnight would have been an excellent exploration of the man vs. monster theme for both Kirk Langstrom and Bruce Wayne. However, in 2001, Warner Bros. decided not to move forward with Batman: DarKnight, while the screenplay was released on Amazon in 2015. Man-Bat has continuously missed his shot in live-action, but DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has recently expressed his interest in bringing the villain into the DC Universe (via Bluesky). Considered for the animated Creature Commandos series, it’s now possible Man-Bat could join the live-action DCU, perhaps even in The Brave and the Bold.
The DCU’s The Brave and the Bold movie will introduce a new version of Bruce Wayne’s Batman and Damian Wayne’s Robin. This could follow in the footsteps of the animated Bat-Fam series, which will establish a somewhat-close relationship between Damian Wayne and the Man-Bat, whose grotesque transformation seemingly won’t phase the Little Batman. As one of Batman’s most persistent adversaries in DC Comics, it would be great to see Man-Bat finally debut in live-action after years of wasted opportunities.
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