Why movies and shows about Batman villains don’t need Batman

By Alex Wiggan

If you’re a fan of Batman you’ll know as far as superheroes go, he is as popular now as he’s ever been. Batman stars in countless movies and television shows; he currently features in multiple monthly comic books; and he even gets his own annual celebration known as ‘Batman Day’.

If there is an opportunity to bring Batman to the masses then DC Comics will do it. The general consensus is you can never have too much Batman.

Yet there is a place where the Caped Crusader is absent and not really needed. And that place is in movies and shows about Batman villains!

When Catwoman got her own movie back in 2004, Batman was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Patience Phillips, aka Catwoman, had a solo adventure without any involvement from the Dark Knight.

In 2019, when the Joker became the star of his own film, he wasn’t pitted against Batman, he was largely fighting against his own mental health. Oh, sure, Arthur Fleck, aka Joker, did cross paths with a young Bruce Wayne, but there was no Batman in the movie.

And there was also no Batman when Arthur returned for the 2024 sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux. There was room for Harleen ‘Lee’ Quinzel, but the Dark Knight was not involved.

The Caped Crusader also sat out of the 2024 TV show The Penguin, leaving Oz Cobb to have his run of Gotham. And Batman didn’t appear in 2026’s Clayface either, ensuring the story centred solely around shapeshifting actor, Matt Hagen.

And do you know what? For the most part, Batman wasn’t needed in any of these projects anyway.

OK, so there is an argument the Catwoman movie could have been a better film if Batman had stopped by, but hey, even he would have had his work cut out with that one.

The thing is, movies and TV shows featuring Batman villains don’t actually need Batman. They are fine without him.

The reason? Well, it’s because most Bat-villains turn to a life of crime independent of Batman, meaning he’s not essential to their origin.

There’s an episode of Batman: The Animated Series titled ‘Trial’, where various villains put Batman on trial in Arkham Asylum, and accuse him of instigating their downfall. As the trail draws to a close, Batman’s defence representative, District Attorney Janet Van Dorn, concludes: “I used to believe Batman was responsible for you people. But now I see nearly everyone here would have ended up exactly the same, Batman or not.

“Oh the gimmicks might be different, but you’d all be out there in some form or another, bringing misery to Gotham. The truth is, you created him.”

After hearing the evidence, as well as Van Dorn’s closing statement, the jury (made up of various villains) agree and find Batman not guilty of creating them. Judge Joker adds: “Well done, counsellor, you’ve proven that Batman didn’t create us. That we in fact messed up our own rotten lives.”

You see, Batman might be connected to countless villains, but he isn’t the reason they exist. So, a Joker movie doesn’t necessarily need Batman, nor does a Penguin TV show.

A Clayface movie certainly doesn’t require Batman to tell its story, neither would a Mr. Freeze movie. And the same could be said for a Poison Ivy TV show, a Mad Hatter film, a Baby-Doll series, and so on.

Bat-villains work as well as they do because they are strong, interesting, compelling, and adaptable characters. They are also catalysts for their own troubles.

Many of Batman’s foes experience a particularly bad day and instead of shrugging it off, they lean into it, and obsess over it. Their bad day defines them, and shapes who they are.

Their origin is independent of Batman. He just happens to be the guy they encounter a little further down the track.

Moving forward, they become associated with Batman because they continually butt heads with him, while attempting some madcap scheme in Gotham. But they could easily move to Metropolis or Central City, and simply severe ties.

So, the film and TV industry could create countless movies and shows about Batman villains and they could leave Batman out of the story. All that’s required is a strong story, a unique angle, and plenty of room for the Bat-less villains to grow.