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When The LEGO Movie hit theaters, audiences were surprised to see one unexpected breakout star—Batman, hilariously voiced by Will Arnett. His over-the-top, brooding, and self-absorbed take on the Dark Knight stole the show, leading to an instant fan-favorite character.
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I'm a night-stalking, crime-fighting vigilante
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I don't feel anything emotionally except for rage. Everyone knows who Batman is, but prior to 2017
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the vast majority of DC Comics' Batverse was still waiting to be faithfully translated
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to the silver screen. Then the Lego Batman movie happened. It could have been a glorified toy commercial
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but in what came as a delightful surprise to pretty much everyone, it turned out
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to be the ultimate cinematic love letter to the Dark Knight and one of the most faithful
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Batman adaptations ever. I've seen you go through similar phases in 2016, in 2012, in 2008, in 2005, in 1997, in 1995, in 1992, in 1989
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By the early 1980s, the general public mostly associated Batman with the campy 1966 Adam West TV show
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A darker, grittier version of the character managed to fight his way onto the screens in the 1989 movie
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simply titled Batman, directed by Tim Burton. Ever since then, film audiences have been treated almost exclusively to increasingly dark
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serious, and realistic takes on the caped crusader. The Lego Batman, who appeared in 2014's Lego Movie, and who was modeled on the Batman from
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Burton's movie, was a great satire of these black, body-armored, gravelly-voiced movie Batman
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Emmett, this is my boyfriend, Batman. I'm Batman. His role in the original Lego Movie was to be a romantic rival for the protagonist, Emmett
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But along the way, Batman was featured in some of the film's most memorable bits
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and became something of a breakout character. If anybody has black parts, I need them, okay
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I only work in black and sometimes very, very dark gray. Still, it wasn't obvious that he had a tale of his own worth telling
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much less one that demanded a spinoff. So when the Lego Batman movie was announced
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fans understandably suspected a cash grab. It would be the feature directorial debut of Chris McKay
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who had worn a number of hats on the Lego movie, but was still greatly an unknown commodity to the public
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Turns out McKay knew what he was doing From a world perspective Lego Batman instantly realizes what is by far the most expansive version of the Batverse
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ever to make it onto the big screen. Sure, it all doubles as commercials for Lego figures and playsets
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but everything happens in a way that supports the story and character journeys
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The film only takes minutes to establish all of Gotham City, Wayne Manor, the Batcave, the Batmobile, the Bat-Signal
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and a Commissioner Gordon who is used to turning it on every time he's in trouble. Hey, kids, who wants a shot from the merch gun
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Great. It also immediately shows us Batman's marquee supervillains, like the Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin, Catwoman, and Two-Face
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This stands in sharp contrast to the more serious takes, which tended to start with origin stories
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and then build and populate Batman's world piecemeal over the course of several films
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Lego Batman is as far from an origin story as you can get. It just dives into a fully formed Batverse, and even many of Batman's more obscure adversaries
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like Crazy Quilt, Eraser, Polka Dot Man, Mime, and Condiment King, get to make appearances
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Okay, are you making some of those up? Nope, they're all real. Probably worth the Google
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The film is full of fun Batman Easter eggs and just generally gushes with love for all things Batman
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Given the hyper-detailing, the Lego Batman movie probably could have rested its case on nostalgia alone
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but instead, it also delivered what is among the most complete and heartfelt Batman stories ever
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in a movie. The plot is pretty simple. Despite Batman being the celebrated hero of Gotham
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Bruce Wayne spends his life sad, alone, and trying not to think about how much he misses his family
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His life is so empty he can walk around Wayne Manor in a bathrobe and cowl. It doesn't matter
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There's no one to hide his secret from. But one night, he accidentally adopts plucky
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wide-eyed orphan Dick Grayson, and the two team up to take on the Joker
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Over the course of their adventure Batman begins to feel a fatherly pride to his new ward who of course becomes Robin Meanwhile the Joker is hurt and outraged because Batman won admit their rivalry is special
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You mean nothing to me. So he gets himself sent to the Phantom Zone, where he recruits monsters from other franchises
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like Sauron, Lord Voldemort, King Kong, and a bunch of others to help him attack Gotham
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The scale of the threat forces Batman to confront his fears. To win the fight, he has to open himself up to being a part of and working with a new family
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that includes Robin, Alfred, and the new police commissioner, Barbara Gordon. Why did you build this thing with only one seat
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Because last I checked, I only had one butt. But to save Gotham City from falling into an abyss, he also has to team up with all of his
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villains, which means fessing up to his special relationship with the Joker
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Chris McKay was a lifelong Batman fan, and it showed in every frame of the movie
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He crafted a heartfelt ode to found family where the assembled Batverse itself turned out to be the hero of the story
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And he did it while simultaneously respecting the mythology of the Lego movie
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If Joker's bomb were to go off, these plates would break apart, plunging every Gotham citizen into the eternal abyss that smells like dirty underwear
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Audiences loved it. Critics loved it. And most importantly, Batman fans loved it
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What are you doing? Punching Bane? That was unnecessary. The Lego Batman movie sounded like a stupid idea in the abstract, but that actually turned out to be its greatest strength
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It meant it didn't have to worry about seeming goofy. While we still have yet to see a live-action kid version of Robin, the Lego Batman movie built its whole story around the Batman-Robin relationship
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My name's Richard Grayson, but all the kids at the orphanage call me dick. Well, children can be cruel
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And the inherently goofy nature of Lego Batman made it easy to hand wave off some of the problematic aspects of a billionaire using an orphan to perform dangerous superhero work
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And when he allowed into the Batcave his reaction is nothing short of wondrous and rapturous delight
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Batman thrusts him into the field on a whim and he's hilariously great at it
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So we're never worried about Lego Robin. It all works because the tone of the overall world is so silly
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The aesthetic of the Lego characters also make it so easy to poke light
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at some of the comic book's arguably dated wardrobe choices, like Robin's green underwear and bare legs
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His pants are just a little tight. I don't know if I can throw a kick or jump in them
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I got an idea. It's better. It wouldn't have worked in live action
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but here it serves as a knowing wink to the camera and sets up Batman for a joke
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I can only look you in the eyes right now. That kind of thing freed viewers up
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to focus on the story of two lonely orphans who become each other's found family
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without getting bogged down in the kinds of troublesome real-world details that had frustrated previous attempts
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Another element of the Batman universe that Lego Batman was able to put back at the center of the storytelling was family
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Specifically, the Bat Family, which is the name fans use to describe the core characters in Batman's life
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But Lego Batman took the idea of the Bat Family to its furthest extreme, and by the time the movie is over, the whole city is effectively Batman's family
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Bruce opens himself up to being part of a family again, and he gains his whole world
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Most fitting of all is that Bruce's new family forms around Batman
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Unlike the more serious tone takes, being the Dark Knight isn't a curse to bear in this universe
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In the Lego movie, being Batman is a good thing, and it saves Bruce's life in multiple senses
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No wonder Batman fans loved it. In its opening minutes, the movie establishes that Lego Batman
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remembers the climaxes of Batman 89 and Nolan's Dark Knight. What about that time with the two boats
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This is better than the two boats. At the same time, elements of the Adam West show
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like Egghead and Chief O'Hara, and all those wacky silver-aged comic book villains are also
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a part of his world. And the Lego Batman movie is faithful to all of those experiences
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