Whether you loved The Batman or hated it or thought it had some charms but was way, way too obsessed with itself, there’s one thing I hope we can all agree on, and it’s this: The Batman would have been a lot of fun if original 1966 Batman TV series star Adam West had played the role of Bruce Wayne instead of Robert Pattinson. Disagree? I present to the court, “Exhibit A.”
The proof is this fun mash-up video where those knuckleknobs at the Corridor Crew digitally inserted footage of Adam West, playing Batman, from the half-century-old show into the movie’s trailer in lieu of Pattinson. Well, not just West — Paul Dano’s Riddler has been replaced by Frank Gorshin, while Colin Farrell has been significantly upgraded with Burgess Meredith’s monocle-wearing, “wak wak”-ing Penguin. (Zoe Kravitz remains as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, presumably because she does a lot of gymnastics and slinking around in the movie footage, and replacing her with Eartha Kitt would have taken a prohibitive amount of work.) Behold:
The Batman Starring Adam West.. Coming Soon! pic.twitter.com/pE11DcBQbS
— Corridor (@CorridorDigital) April 24, 2022
The Batman director Matt Reeves retweeted the video and called it “amazing,” and I’m inclined to agree, although I think it would have been even more effective if the filmmakers had played it a bit more straight. The original 1966 series was campy and silly enough to make a hilarious dichotomy with the unbelievably overserious movie — the moment when Adam West picks up the police phone and says “Hello, this is Batman” in such a friendly tone to the imprisoned Riddler is golden — without making it more cartoonish with wacky sound clips or the overreliance on the big bomb scene from the classic Batman movie. But I’m also well aware I’m overthinking it, and should be embracing any amount of fun that gets crammed into The Batman without hesitation.
[Via Nerdist]
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Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.