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Our view of Batman today is shaped mostly by Christopher Nolan’s DARK KNIGHT trilogy and by Tim Burton’s two earlier episodes, all of which gave the comic book, movie serial & TV crime fighter a new dark life on the big screen.

Burton’s original BATMAN (1989) starring Michael Keaton with Jack Nicholson as The Joker was wildly successful for WB & The Guber-Peters Co., grossing $411.6M worldwide on a $40M budget. But BATMAN RETURNS (1992) with Keaton and Danny DeVito as The Penguin disappointed with $266.9M globally on an $80M budget. McDonald’s decided the sequel was too dark for kids and scrapped its Happy Meal promotional tie-in.

A solution to keep the franchise alive came with the 1995 sequel BATMAN FOREVER, with Burton now a producer and Joel Schumacher directing. Val Kilmer, the new Batman, fought two villains — Harvey Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) & The Riddler (Jim Carrey).

John McTiernan had been asked to direct, but couldn’t do it because of  DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE scheduling conflicts. In June 1993 while Schumacher was shooting WB’s crime drama THE CLIENT, he got the nod from the studio and Burton to direct FOREVER.

Schumacher had in mind a dark feature about Bruce Wayne’s Batman burnout, but WB wanted the lighter tone of the comic books and the campy 1960s ABC-TV series. Keaton nixed that approach and reportedly passed on a $15M offer to stay on board.

WB & Schumacher wanted a younger Bruce Wayne now. They offered it to Ethan Hawke, who passed. They also considered Alec Baldwin, William Baldwin, Daniel Day-Lewis, Johnny Depp, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hanks &  Keanu Reeves. Burton wanted Depp, but Schumacher hired Kilmer, who’d loved Batman since a childhood visit to see the TV series being shot. Kilmer signed on before seeing a screenplay or knowing who would direct.

That was great casting for Schumacher, but he may have regretted it when he and Kilmer were at each other’s throats during production. Schumacher called Kilmer “childish and impossible” and said he fought with crew members. Kilmer apparently didn’t talk to Schumacher for weeks after the director called him rude. Nonetheless, Schumacher later applauded Kilmer’s performance, saying he was the best Batman of the first four episodes.

Kilmer’s casting was definitely bad news for Rene Russo who’d been hired way back as Bruce Wayne’s love interest. WB decided Russo was too old to star opposite Kilmer, although she was only six years older. Sandra Bullock, Jeanne Tripplehorn & Robin Wright were considered, but Nicole Kidman was cast.

In the end, WB got what it wanted. The younger, livelier and much brighter FOREVER broadened the Batman audience, reinvigorating the franchise with $336.6M worldwide on a $100M budget.