After a couple of modest hits, “Batman Begins” brought Christopher Nolan’s name to the mainstream. The acclaimed “Dark Knight” trilogy that followed made it clear that Nolan had quite the fondness for the Caped Crusader. As a result, it seems a foregone conclusion that 1989’s “Batman” would be the classic comic book adaptation Nolan holds dearest to his heart. But in fact, that distinction belongs to “Superman,” the 1978 film that laid the foundation for all superhero blockbusters to follow — Nolan-directed or otherwise.
At the time of its release, there hadn’t been anything like “Superman” before — in terms of the movie itself, and the hype surrounding it. And Nolan, who would’ve only been 8 years old at the time of the movie’s release, was there to soak it all in. While the prior year’s “Star Wars: A New Hope” was what influenced Nolan’s life and career to become a filmmaker in the first place, “Superman” was the movie that most heavily informed his future comic book adaptations.
Superman 1978 inspired Nolan’s approach to Batman Begins
When he set out to make “Batman Begins,” Nolan drew from two films in particular — neither of them previous “Batman” movies. For tone and aesthetics, it was actually sci-fi classic “Blade Runner” that heavily inspired “Batman Begins”, most notably in its cinematography and production design choices. As mentioned previously, 1978’s “Superman” was another influence and, more specifically, did something that 1989’s “Batman” didn’t that would ultimately inform the very basis for “Batman Begins” coming into existence.
While Nolan has nothing but nice things to say about Tim Burton’s “Batman” movies, he lamented the fact that Batman as a character was already fully formed from the start of that film rather than seeing Bruce Wayne’s gradual transformation. As he told The Hollywood Reporter, “it left this interesting gap in pop-culture, which is you know, you had ‘Superman’ in 1978, but they never did the sort of 1978 ‘Batman,’ where you see the origin story.” So Nolan, inspired by the superhero movie he loved so much as a kid, jumped at the chance to fill that gap.
Of course, Nolan would also eventually get his chance to play in the world of Superman as well, as he was one of the original story writers and producers of 2013’s “Man of Steel” — thus helping launch the entire DC Extended Universe.