7) Batman
Tim Burton’s gothic Batman might seem more kooky to us nowadays rather than dark, but back in 1989, it was shocking to finally have a Batman adaptation take the character seriously. The initial version of the movie, however, hadn’t quite shaken off the campy excesses of the 1960s TV show to the same extent.
Written in 1984 by Superman and James Bond screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz, the script wildly veers from grim to goofy and back again. While it opened with the brutal killing of Bruce Wayne’s parents, it also featured Batman with sci-fi gadgets like holograms and a scene where he fought a bunch of jetpack-wearing goons. He was also depicted as being best buds with Gotham’s glitterati rather than a hunted vigilante. The Joker was still the main villain, but it was stuffed full of minor antagonists e.g. the Penguin, corrupt politician Rupert Thorne and the Waynes’ killer Joe Chill.
To be fair to Mankiewicz, Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One hadn’t been written at the time so there was no blueprint for a gritty Batman origin story. Still, the hero’s renaissance might never have happened if this tonally confused script got off the grounds.