It seems to take me a while to get around to this project. (I’d work faster if you hired me, Matt Reeves!) Last year I published the outline of the first act of a sequel to The Batman (2022). There are four goals to my pitch: (1) keep the narrative as grounded as possible; (2) be faithful to the best iterations of Batman across the comics and video games; (3) insert the foundations of introducing Robin and Batgirl; and (4) answer the four questions I think are pivotal to most Batman plots:
- Who is the villain?
- Who is the love interest?
- Are we expanding the Bat Family?
- How does Batman grow from the story?
I don’t know if my best guesses count as spoilers– but you’ve been warned!
Act 2, Scene 1: The Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the First On-Screen Victim
(I chose the Mad Hatter because, while he has obvious ties to the fantastical, he is actually a fairly grounded character: a serial killer who is trapped in his own world as much as he traps his victims.)
A girl in her teens wakes up. She is in a dingy, abandoned, studio apartment somewhere in the Narrows (an old tenement district of Gotham). She is dressed in a blue dress, white stockings, white apron, and a blonde wig with a black headband (depicting an Alice similar to the Disney one, but without copyright infringement). Her body is tied to the chair she is seated in; her left hand is tied to the armrest, but her right is free. She looks around and sees two men seated at the table with her.
The table is set for tea. One of the two men is staring at her, an eerie smile on his face. He is dressed in a tattered victorian costume, including a large top hat. He is fairly small in stature and could be described as mousey. The other man is stoic and is wearing a brown bunny head with the mouth cut out. He sits at rapt attention, but doesn’t seem to notice that the young lady “Alice” has awoken.
“There she is– Alice! Our Alice has awoken!” Hatter rasps.
“Where am I?” the girl asks, obviously afraid. She begins to claw at the ropes with her free hand.
“Ah ah ah– Alice, you can’t leave Wonderland until you go down the rabbit hole! Drink up, drink up!” Hatter chides her as she struggles. She reaches for the butter knife to take to her ropes. Hatter giggles. “That won’t work, Alice! ALICE!”
The girl jumps in her chair, dropping the knife at the outburst. You can practically hear her heart pounding as Hatter stands up and begins to cross the room. “Look– you don’t want me. I’m– I’m–”
“My Alice. You’re my Alice,” he cuts her off as she fumbles for any excuse to escape. He sits on the corner of the table, his eerie smile is back as he leers over her body. She is rightfully repulsed. He picks up the tea cup from her placemat and holds it in front of her. “Tea? Alice?”
She holds her head back and tries to resist as he pushes the cup against her lips. She pushes against him with her free hand hard enough to tip her chair back, taking herself to the ground. As she falls, she gasps, as surprised as Hatter. She accidentally gets tea in her mouth. The wig comes off as she hits the ground.
The world begins to lighten in color as she looks around the room. No longer is it a tiny, dingy apartment. It’s a luxury ballroom. There is a man-sized brown hare at the fine dining table. Before her is a man of impeccable quality, dressed in a fine top hat. “I see it. I see you.”
“Oh, Alice-not-Alice. It’s too late for that. We could have danced the night away. But you’re not my Alice. You’re some trash!” He grabs her by her real hair and pulls her to her up. The world takes a dark turn. Hatter now looks monsterous. The Hare finally looks over at her, sharp teeth in his mouth. The ballroom is now an enclosed concrete box.
“Up,” Hatter commands. Hare stands tall. “She’s one of yours after all.”
The Hare picks up a large knife from the table and walks toward Alice as Hatter walks away. The camera focuses on him as Alice screams one more time, cut short by the knife. Hatter sips tea as if everything is perfectly normal, but as if he had been slightly put out. Like being told there were no more finger sandwhiches.
Hatter stares down at his tea.
Act 2, Scene 2: The Mob Meeting
The tea becomes a dark river at night, reflecting the lights of the city. There are men waiting by their old cars by a river. One of the men still inside the car checks his watch. A younger man is sitting next to him, on his phone. “He’s late.”
“Of course he’s late. Penguins walk slow,” the older man jokes. The young man chuckles.
“Still, it’s disrespectful.”
“It is. But we’re not petty. We’re Sionis’. So. We put on a brave face, one that even the Batman would be afraid of. We don’t demand respect with our words, we demand respect with our demeanor and our actions. That’s the measure of a man.”
The young man nods along and looks out the window to see several shiny SUVs pulling up the road. The older man is put off, “Fuck’s sake. It’s like he’s the fucking circus. He might as well have put up a neon sign saying ‘Here comes a fucking mobster.'”
The SUVs come to a stop across from them. Muscular men come out first. They open the door for the penguin; men open the door for the Sionis men. They all get out and talk, discussing a truce. They debate “the map,” dividing the city between them. Sionis has most of the north; Penguin has most of the south. They quibble about the port, in the middle of the east island.
“Fine. Let’s leave it at this: the port is joint-owned-and-operated. My guys stay out of your way. Your guys stay out of my way.”
Penguin visibly does not like this deal, but he says, “Deal.”
A cop car pulls up. The officer driving rolls down the window. The mobsters are all visibly tense. “We got a call about some activity here. Didn’t know it was you, Mr. Cobblepot.”
“Ah, Bullock. My friends and I were just fishing. We’re done now,” Penguin says with a smile, pointedly at the elder Sionis. He struts over to the car and slips him some bills. “A gratuity. Thank you for your service to our community.”
Act 2, Scene 3: Harvey Dent and the Batman
Gordon and Dent stand on the rooftop, the bat signal is lit. Gordon is smoking.
“You should really give that up,” Dent says, staring up at the signal in the sky.
Gordon cracks a slight smile. “So I keep being told.”
Batman appears. Dent is startled. Gordon shrugs. “You’ll have to get used to that.”
“So. The Batman. Harvey Dent,” Dent says, putting out his hand for a handshake. Batman doesn’t take it. Instead, he hands him an envelope. “What’s this?”
“Evidence,” Batman says. He tells them about some part of a plot from the Gotham PD show or simply explaining that there are apparently only two people moving toward Falcone’s position as king of Gotham’s underworld: Penguin and Sionis. “I also got a picture of Bullock, getting paid off. Again.”
“I told you,” Gordon began, “I can’t just fire and arrest the whole department. Between you fighting the grunts dumb enough to try you, budget cuts, and internal investigations like this– we’re crippled.”
“And giving Bullock money isn’t enough,” Dent adds. “We need to either catch him doing the mob a favor, or we need to cut the head off the snake. Stop all of this for good.”
“But I have something for you, too,” Gordon says. He pulls out photos of the dead “Alice” from Act 2, scene 1. “He struck again.”
The men talk about the case, going into as much detail as they know/is interesting for them to know. Eventually, Dent turns to Batman, but he’s gone. Dent looks to Gordon, who says, “He does that.” (Another nod to the Dark Knight movies.)
Act 2, Scene 4: Breakfast
Dick Grayson sits at a long table in Wayne Manor. Alfred pushes a dining cart in, his cane hanging from the handle. Dick stands up, immediately, “Let me help with that.”
Alfred makes to protest, but does so feebly. Dick starts setting the table for three with Alfred’s help. We can linger here as long as it’s interesting and as long as it shows that Alfred and Dick are building a relationship.
Bruce comes in. Dick looks at him with concern. “Are you okay? You look exhausted.”
Bruce puts on a feeble smile. “I am.”
But he leaves it at that. Dick tries to connect with Bruce. Bruce is hard to connect to. Dick and Alfred talk, they connect.
But breakfast is cut short by a ring at the gate. Alfred moves toward the speaker, but winces from moving too quickly. Bruce gets it for him. It’s Gordon and a social worker. They’re buzzed through.
Cut to the three men meeting Gordon and the social worker in a sitting room. They look around. The social worker makes a note. “It has seen better days, but we are renovating!” Alfred says, noticing.
“You look tired, Mr. Wayne.” The social worker says, not really asking a question.
Bruce nods, trying to pass on his charisma. “I do keep a rather rigorous social calendar.”
The social worker does not look impressed. Gordon asks Dick, “How are you doing, son?”
Dick shrugs.
“Are they treating you well?”
Dick nods.
“I have to say, it was an unusual choice, Captain Gordon, to let a billionaire just take Mr. Grayson–“
“I… happen to know that Mr. Wayne has familiarity with the situation the kid, sorry, Mr. Grayson, is going through.” He shares a meaningful look with Bruce.
“Still, I don’t know if I can sign off on this. Especially with Mr. Wayne’s… schedule.” The social worker stares up at Bruce, disapproving.
“Mr. Wayne is often busy, but I became his guardian before, and, even battered and bruised, I’m still more than capable,” Alfred says. He has an authority that they all recognize. The social worker makes notes, adjustments.
“As I’m sure you remember, it is a process. You’ll have paperwork and court appearances–“
“Yes, yes, and I can do them all.” Alfred holds his hand out for the paperwork. She hands him what he needs. “Now, if you will all excuse us, we have to get young Master Grayson to school.”
Act 2, Scene 5: The Car
Cut to the car. Bruce and Dick are in the back. Alfred is driving.
“Thank you. You know. For taking me in,” Dick says. He’s trying to connect with Bruce. Bruce makes eye contact, but just nods. “Where were you last night?”
Bruce and Alfred make eye contact in the rearview mirror. “I had a date.”
Dick smiles. “Nice.
Bruce chuckles.
“And thank you, Alfred. You didn’t have to– I mean, I appreciate–“
“Don’t mention it, Master Grayson–“
“Don’t– I mean, you can just call me Dick.”
The car pulls up to the school. Dick gets out. There are students outside who are staring. Dick lowers his head and trudges away. “He’ll be fine, Master Bruce.”
“Thank you, Alfred. I– It means a lot to me.”
“I know, Master Bruce. I know.” The car pulls away. “You’ve had two calls. Your Uncle Phillip is still pushing to meet. And Vicky Vale. It seems she would like an interview.”
Bruce thinks for a minute. “Tonight. When I get up, I can meet Uncle Phillip and cut it short for the interview with Vicky.”
“First name basis already?” They make eye contact in the rearview mirror again. He’s teasing Bruce.
Thank you for reading!
I’ll pick up with the rest of Act 2 next time I get around to this; we’ll start with Dick meeting Barbara Gordon at Gotham Academy! If you enjoy projects like this and want to support me as a writer, like, subscribe, and consider donating (every little bit helps).
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