Story details from the canceled The LEGO Batman Movie sequel reveal a very different take on the conflict that inspired Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was in the cards.The original The LEGO Batman Movie released in 2017 and was a hit with both critics and audiences, raking in $312 million at the worldwide box office, with a sequel revealed to have been greenlit a year later. Initially set for a 2022 release, The LEGO Batman Movie 2 never left the planning stage, as the rights for The LEGO Movie franchise were bought by Universal in 2020, and DC parent company Warner Bros. could do nothing.
Speaking with UPROXX, The LEGO Batman Movie director, Chris McKay, opened up about where the story of the sequel would have taken Bruce Wayne, and how it connected with Batman and Superman’s relationship. McKay revealed some interesting details from the sequel’s script, which was written by Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon, and WandaVision director Michael Waldron. According to McKay, the film would have been “a quasi Superfriends movie,” with a story that would see the Justice League fight Lex Luthor and OMAC, while flashbacks explained the bad blood between this version of Batman and Superman. Check out the full quote below:
We had a really fun script with Dan Harmon and Michael Waldron, wrote a really fun kind of Superfriends. The sequel would’ve been a quasi Superfriends movie and the structure was going to be a sort of Godfather II kind of thing with Batman and the Justice League facing a modern-day problem, Lex Luthor and OMAC, while at the same time flashing back to the reasons why Batman and the Justice League – and in particular, Superman – have bad blood. It was going to explore Superman and Batman’s relationship in a very different way than you’ve ever seen it portrayed, including Superman’s alienation from humanity and how hard it is to truly be friends, real friends, for years. It was ultimately going to answer the question: How do you become Super-friends. And there was going to be a crossover with a major franchise that can only happen in a LEGO movie.
The LEGO Batman Movie 2’s Batman & Superman Story Sounds Fantastic
The LEGO Batman Movie was an outstanding hit, bringing together many different parts of Batman’s mythos, with a story that both honored the iconic character’s long history in comics, animation, movies, series, and games, while putting its own spin to the character and the world of DC. One of the most interesting, and hilarious, plot points of the original movie was the Batman’s estranged relationship with the Justice League and, especially, Superman.
The LEGO Batman Movie saw the Dark Knight invade Superman’s Fortress of Solitude with Robin to steal Clark’s Phantom Zone projector and use it to imprison the Joker. While other iterations of the DC universe would have had Batman simply go to Superman to ask him for the item, explaining the situation, the same could not happen in The LEGO Batman Movie‘s universe. Batman and the Justice League were shown to not be exactly friends, with Bruce finding himself in the middle of a party to celebrate the JLA’s 57th anniversary, which he was not invited to.
The interactions between Batman, Superman, and the Justice League as a whole, were hilarious, and the new details revealed from the canceled The LEGO Batman Movie 2 point to that storyline being the basis for the sequel. The cancelled sequel likely would have been another success, given how well-received the scenes with the awkward interactions between the heroes in the original were. McKay saying that the movie would have dealt with “how hard it is to truly be friends, real friends, for years” means that poignant moments such as the heartfelt found family story of The LEGO Batman Movie would have been present in the sequel, making the cancellation hit harder.
Source: UPROXX
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