Joss Whedon's Batman pitch

From filmstalker, Joss Whedon has confirmed that he pitched an idea for a Batman film, in the early days of Batman Begins. He's been talking about the rough idea behind his version, and why he thinks the studio didn't go for it.

I really like Christopher Nolan's films. But I always like hearing about what films could have been, and what actor nearly got what parts. Makes you wonder how different the films could have been.

Joss Whedon was talking to MTV through Cinematical about the pitch he made to Warner Bros. He told them the idea behind his version.

Well, I actually did pitch a ‘Batman’ film when [Warner Bros. began developing "Batman Begins"], and it wasn’t what they did but the vibe was very similar. Mine was a bit less epic. It was more about the progression of him and it was more in Gotham City. He didn’t go to Tibet and meet cool people, but it was very similar in vibe [to Nolan's "Batman Begins"].

Sounds pretty good. Interestingly though his pitch didn't include any of the villains usually associated with Batman.

In my version, there was actually a new [villain], it wasn’t one of the classics — which is probably why they didn’t use it! It was more of a ‘Hannibal Lector’ type — he was somebody already in Arkham Asylum that Bruce went and sort of studied with. It was a whole thing — I get very emotional about it, I still love the story. Maybe I’ll get to do it as a comic one day

He's still a big fan of Christopher Nolan's films though. But no so much The Incredible Hulk.

I just love the respect [Nolan has] for the character and the world. I thought Christopher Nolan’s done an amazing job of bringing out the comic book, and I see a lot of movies [coughs “HULK”] — sorry, I had a Hulk stuck in my throat — that don’t really have the aesthetic or the pathos or really get why the comic book works.
Nolan's films are easily my favourite, although it has been a while since I last saw the first two by Tim Burton. Not being an avid reader of the comic books, I actually quite like the idea of a new villain. If Nolan does another film, maybe would that solve the problem of bringing a character like Robin into his more realistic films?