Some ideas arrive too early. Whereas others come to the wrong studio, at the wrong time, and disappear before they even have an opportunity to become what they were supposed to be. One such near-mythical project is the ‘Bruce Wayne‘ series by Tim McCanlies. The project was supposed to be a serious, character-driven prequel that was conceived in the late 90s.
While fans today accept the idea of exploring Gotham before Batman thanks to shows like Gotham, Pennyworth, and the Matt Reeves–verse expansions, the landscape looked very different in 1999. Studios were territorial. Superhero universes weren’t interconnected, and live-action Batman was in a dark place. They were still recovering from the critical catastrophe caused by ‘Batman and Robin’.
The Batman Origin Story We Needed
Bruce Wayne, however, as envisioned by Tim McCanlies, was something very different. He was daring and unexpectedly mature: a deep psychological drama chronicling the “missing years” that shaped Bruce into the mythic figure he later becomes. Had it been made, we may be living with an entirely different modern perception of the Caped Crusader. McCanlies had pitched a show that dared to humanize the most guarded character in comics before ‘Smallville’ and before the streaming era.
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His concept was straightforward yet groundbreaking in the era: follow Bruce Wayne from age 18 into early adulthood, not as Batman, not as Gotham’s knight, but as a damaged young man still trying to understand his trauma, identity, and responsibility. The 63-page pilot script leaked in November 1999, and it foreshadows a far richer world than most superhero series of the time. Bruce comes back to Gotham after ten years in a foreign country with Alfred, only to discover that his city has become a playground of corruption.
This Bruce is not a brooding character standing on the rooftops yet. He is angry, idealistic, and painfully conscious of his powerlessness. The script contains characters that would later become vital elements of Bat-lore. This includes Young Harvey Dent, who is not yet a tragic villain, but a promising student of law. Vicky Vale is already on the trail of corruption in Gotham. Harleen Quinzel, before her notorious metamorphosis. And Jim Gordon, a friend in a police force that is otherwise compromised.
There were even plans to introduce Selina Kyle, Jack Napier (the future Joker), and a teenage Clark Kent, meeting Bruce at a journalists’ conference. The concept was remarkable because of its emotional focus. Alfred would tell every episode in memoirs, making Bruce not a legend in the making but a young man who trips, learns, fails, and tries again. Bruce Wayne was not about capes and villains of the week, but about psychology, grief, identity, all the elements that would later make ‘Batman Begins’ a masterpiece.
Why The Show With So Much Potential Got Scrapped
In 2000, IGN stated that the project was killed by a power struggle within Warner Bros. It was feared that a Batman TV series would disrupt the studio plans of a new movie. The executives were then thinking about adapting ‘Batman: Year One‘ by Frank Miller, and the thought of telling the early life of Bruce on TV was threatening. So, between this battle, a promising series died. However, the idea of a young pre-hero character stuck, just not the one McCanlies intended.
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Tollin/Robbins Productions, who loved Bruce Wayne, repurposed one of its planned story arcs: Clark Kent visiting Gotham. That seed ultimately became ‘Smallville’. The show that would run 10 seasons, become a cultural phenomenon, and redefine superhero television. Basically, a rejected Batman show became the backbone of one of television’s most successful Superman adaptations.
And because ‘Smallville’ existed, Warner Bros. later refused to allow Bruce Wayne to appear in it. The studio still protected Batman’s early years like a crown jewel. Meanwhile, Batman’s cinematic fate was still uncertain. Would Warner Bros. have still entrusted the reins to Christopher Nolan had the Bruce Wayne TV show been made? Had the Bruce Wayne TV show gone forward, would Warner Bros. have still handed the reins to Christopher Nolan? Would Batman Begins exist as we know it?
