Last year, Batman Forever celebrated its 25th anniversary, but it wasn’t just the theatrical cut of the movie that drew attention. Director Joel Schumacher’s original vision for the Caped Crusader’s 1995 cinematic outing, a.k.a. the Schumacher Cut, drove the more passionate fans into a frenzy after it was revealed this longer and darker take truly existed. One year later, said fans have come out in droves on social media calling for Warner Bros to release the Schumacher Cut, and Val Kilmer has joined in on the fun.
Head over to Twitter today and you’ll see that #ReleaseTheSchumacherCut is trending. Whether that persuades the Warner Bros bigwigs to release the Schumacher Cut someday, akin to when Zack Snyder’s Justice League eventually debuted on HBO Max, remains to be seen, but Val Kilmer took the opportunity to reflect on Batman Forever:
Following Michael Keaton’s exit from the Batman film series after doing 1989’s Batman and 1992’s Batman Returns, Val Kilmer, well known from movies like Top Gun and Tombstone, stepped in to don the cape and cowl. His tenure as Bruce Wayne ended up being a one-and-done affair, with George Clooney succeeding him in Batman & Robin (and has been apologizing for the 1997 movie ever since). Last year, Kilmer said that the reason he didn’t play Batman a second time was due to both scheduling issues and growing bored with the role, but evidently he still holds a soft spot for Gotham City’s Dark Knight if he’s eager to learn new things about the character.
But Val Kilmer didn’t just bring up Batman Forever today to take a stroll down memory lane. He also channeled the movie to indirectly comment on a certain controversy that’s been taking the internet by storm.
Finally, we have a Batman actor who’s willing to address the wild topic of whether Batman is a… generous lover to Catwoman or any of the women he’s bedded over the years. I suspect Val Kilmer’s tweet will now lead to some new fanfics about his Batman and Nicole Kidman’s Chase Meridian, who spent a sizable chunk of Batman Forever having the hots for the superhero.
Batman Forever also starred Jim Carrey as The Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face and Chris O’Donnell as Dick Grayson/Robin, while Michael Gough and Pat Hingle reprised their respective roles of Alfred Pennyworth and Commissioner James Gordon. Although Forever was met with mixed critical reception, it performed solidly at the box office, making over $336 million worldwide and surpassing Batman Returns’ haul. While Kilmer’s time as Batman has come and gone, the DC Comics superhero is more popular than ever, as not only is Robert Pattinson leading Matt Reeves’ The Batman, but Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton will reprise their versions of the character in The Flash.
Should Warner Bros decide to release Batman Forever’s Schumacher Cut to the masses, we’ll let you now. In the meantime, keep checking back with CinemaBlend for all the latest and greatest news about upcoming DC Comics movies.
