[2] Following the cancellation of two further film proposals, the franchise was rebooted in 2005 with Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale.

Being a World War II era production, the movie serial like many of this period was used as war-time propaganda and had an anti-Japanese bent with J. Carrol Naish playing the Japanese villain, an original character named Dr. Daka.

Rounding out the cast were Shirley Patterson as Linda Page (Bruce Wayne's love interest), and William Austin as Alfred.

Supporting players included Jane Adams as Vicki Vale and veteran character actor Lyle Talbot as Commissioner Gordon.

The 20th Century Fox release starred Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin, as well as Lee Meriwether as Catwoman, Cesar Romero as the Joker, Burgess Meredith as the Penguin and Frank Gorshin as the Riddler.

[23] Jack Nicholson accepted the role of the Joker under strict conditions that dictated a high salary, a portion of the box office profits and his shooting schedule.

[30] Batman received positive reviews, broke numerous box office records, and won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction.

Wesley Strick went uncredited for writing the shooting draft, deleting the Robin character, reworking the Penguin's characterization and "normalizing" all dialogue.

[33][34] Various A-list actresses lobbied hard for the role of Catwoman before Michelle Pfeiffer was cast, while Danny DeVito signed on to portray the Penguin.

[36] However, Batman Returns was released to generally positive reviews,[37] with praise for its action sequences, performances, Danny Elfman's score, effects and villains, although its dark tone and high level of violence for a PG-13 film was criticized.

After their defeat, the film would have ended with Bruce Wayne traveling to Bali and entering a cave, where he allows himself to be swarmed by bats to symbolize that he has conquered fear.

[citation needed] Despite Warner Bros. and Schumacher's interest with Year One, Lee Shapiro, a comic book fan, and Stephen Wise pitched the studio with a script titled Batman: DarKnight in mid-1998.

[61] Dr. Jonathan Crane uses his position as professor of psychology at Gotham University and as head psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum to conduct his fear experiments (this element would later appear in Batman Begins).

[76] Despite interest from Schumacher, the studio amazed and pleased fans by hiring Darren Aronofsky to direct and co-write with Miller,[77][76][55] whom he previously collaborated with on an unproduced script for Ronin.

[85] In February 2007, during pre-production for The Dark Knight, Warner Bros. hired husband and wife screenwriting duo Michelle and Kieran Mulroney to script a Justice League film[86] featuring a younger Batman in a separate franchise.

[87] George Miller was hired to direct the following September,[88] with Armie Hammer cast as Batman a month later[89][90] and Teresa Palmer as Talia al Ghul.

[92] Production offices were moved to Vancouver Film Studios in Canada for an expected July 2008 start and a planned summer 2009 theatrical release date,[93][94] but Warner Bros. ultimately canceled Justice League following the success of The Dark Knight.

Hammer's option on his contract lapsed and the studio was more willing to proceed with Christopher Nolan to finish his trilogy separately with The Dark Knight Rises.

[103] The film was primarily shot in the United Kingdom and Chicago,[104][105] and relied on traditional stunts and scale models with minimal use of computer-generated imagery.

Alfred Pennyworth was played by Michael Caine, Jim Gordon was portrayed by Gary Oldman and Lucius Fox by Morgan Freeman.

The Dark Knight featured Christian Bale reprising his role as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Heath Ledger as The Joker, and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent / Two-Face.

The film concludes with Bruce having 'retired' as Batman after faking his death to live with Selina Kyle, evidence suggesting that he has passed on the Batcave to Blake while Gotham rebuilds in memory of the Dark Knight's heroism.

Upon release, The Dark Knight Rises received positive reviews and was successful at the box office, going on to outgross its predecessor and become the 24th-highest-grossing film of all time grossing over $1.08 billion.

[142] Warner Bros. announced that Superman and Batman would unite in a new film, a follow-up to Man of Steel (2013), taking its inspiration from the comic The Dark Knight Returns and set for release in 2015.

[147][148] On January 17, 2014, it was announced that the film had been delayed from its original July 17, 2015, release date to May 6, 2016, in order to give the filmmakers "time to realize fully their vision, given the complex visual nature of the story".

[150] At some point prior to the events of the film, Wayne Manor has decayed, and Bruce and Alfred relocated to a smaller glass house above the Batcave.

[158] Despite this, in November, Variety reported that Warner Bros. was unlikely to release Snyder's version of Justice League in theaters or on HBO Max, calling it a "pipe dream".

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. hoped for Keaton to return for multiple DCEU films in a way "akin to the role played by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, something of a mentor or guide or even string-puller.

[171][172] Along with Keaton and Affleck playing Batman in different timelines, George Clooney makes a cameo as Bruce Wayne in the closing scene.

[184] In June 2023, Andy Muschietti was confirmed as the director of the film ahead of the release of The Flash later that month, with his sister Barbara set to produce through their production company Double Dream alongside Gunn and Safran.