seemingly couldn't do enough to dilute the original vision. Marketing of the film began aggressively with the promise of a lighter tone and promises that Snyder was on-board, but by the time he left the project and Whedon took on the somewhat poisoned chalice, Warner Bros. Warner Bros had been forced into the shift on the back of Batman Returns when it became clear there was a serious disjuncture between the studio's aspirations of family audience box office and merchandising deals and Burton's vision. And the decision to focus away from Tim Burton's grotesque vision of Gotham City teeming with monsters and riddled with corruption that leaned into Batman as a horror-adjacent character made for a far less critically well-received movie. While Batman Forever made more money than Batman Returns, it also marked the degradation of Batman as a movie brand, which ended with the need for Christopher Nolan to reboot the franchise entirely. The lessons of Batman Forever and Batman And Robin's developments simply weren't heeded when it came to compromising the director's vision - which better suited the source material being adapted - in order to cater to a more family-oriented demographic seeking a 'lighter tone.' If only for the lessons Warner Bros ought to learn from it. While Snyder's iteration on HBO Max should address at least some of the mistakes, Joss Whedon's rushed, messy version of Justice League should not be dismissed outright. That can't be said of those involved with the film, however, as the conversation on The Snyder Cut has reframed the issues on-set and at a higher level that led to the disappointing final product. Justice League's problems have been well-covered in the three years since it was released and the DCEU is only now pulling away from the film in a positive way. The big money ensemble was forced to trade away its darker tone thanks to studio interference and a familiar concern over the marketability of more adult material and it was a decision that paralleled the end of Tim Burton's tenure as a Batman movie director.

Joss Whedon's Justice League repeated the same mistake that made Batman Forever so much worse than Batman Returns.

Batman forever movie mistakes