New Trailer Imagines What 1989’s ‘Batman’ Would Look like Today

It’s been almost 35 years since Tim Burton’s Batman was unleashed on the world, and totally changed the way people — not to mention Hollywood — looked at superheroes. After decades where the public’s image of Batman was mostly Adam West’s quipping, dancing Caped Crusader — a totally viable, and secretly kind of fantastic interpretation of the character — here was a brooding, complex hero cloaked all in black rubber and leather. He didn’t joke, he didn’t smile, and he never, ever turned his neck.

Batman has the benefit of being set in a not-quite real Gotham City, so it hasn‘t aged or become dated in the way a lot of movies of that period have. Still, this is a 35-year-old movie now. There’s been nine big-screen Batman films since then, and like half a dozen guys who have played the Dark Knight in various movies and animation since then. If they hadn’t, or if Burton had tried to make Batman today, what would it look like?

This new recut trailer from DC Comics gives us a glimpse. It reworks the teaser for Burton’s classic using modern trailer tropes, particularly the music. See what you think:

For sake of comparison, here is the original 1989 trailer for Tim Burton’s Batman:

That’s not a bad trailer at all. But it definitely looks more like something that was released a couple of decades ago. (Then again, so does that weird Batman logo on Michael Keaton’s Batsuit that has the extra points on the wings for some inexplicable reason. They fixed that in Batman Returns.)

Tim Burton’s Batman is currently streaming on HBO Max.