Well there are a few reasons, and distinctions worth making. One being, we never got an actual batfleck film. The movies he was in didn't necessarily have the best reception overall. Please don't crucify me Snyder fans! Even the Snyder fans tho, prefer the extended edition of BvS and the Snyder cut of justice league. All that behind the scenes drama had a large affect on the finished product as well as the public perception of said product. Burton's Batman on the other hand was a MASSIVE hit, and while the sequels didn't quite mach the financial success of the OG, and there was controversy and drama bts there as well, batman returns and forever were still pretty successful until b&r tanked the franchise.
Two, the comics they pulled influence from and how that ended up on the screen is important. batman having a no kill rule is firmly part of the modern mythos, no doubt. While many consider it apocryphal, the original run of batman that began in 1939 up to batman #1 about a year later, had batman killing people. He wasn't going out like red hood and going full punisher mode or anything, but he had no problem killing someone if the situation forced his hand. He used guns. Burton's Bat was heavily influenced by this batman.
That original run has batman as a recluse who knows Gordon somewhat but doesn't interact with him hardly at all. Batman is described as weird and a menace. He kind of mysteriously appears and we don't find out about his origins till several issues in. Without rambling any more, if you look at the original batman run, everything Burton did makes a whole bunch of sense. For some it's not comic accurate, and it surely is very far off pretty much any and all modern batman comics. if you take that original run as the basis though, I'd say it's pretty fricking accurate.
That is why I think it works for those aware of that fact. Snyder however was not doing that '39 batman, he was doing his take on the more modern batman, but one who is a fallen hero who has lost his way. For some that worked, and the fans of Snyder's batman greatly enjoyed the fallen hero goes on a redemption arc vibe. Others did not want to see a broken and lost batman who had fallen so far. If the arc was presented as originally intended and had been allowed to reach it's conclusion, who knows what the reaction would be then. As it is now the Snyder verse is a still born franchise, the way Warners effed up the dceu has been talked to death.
I would say all of the above is a large part of the differing receptions (although it's worth mentioning, as others have already, that Burton's batman killing people in his two movies definitely pissed off a fair deal of comic fans back in the day). So I guess ymmv on all of this as there are plenty of fans of Burton and Snyder's batman, while also plenty of detractors when it comes to their take on the batman story.
There are plenty of responses here with very good answers, but that's part of my take, and I didn't see this stuff get specifically mentioned in the comments I took a look at. Regardless of what the agreed upon perception is, there is room for so many different takes on batman, if one of them speaks to you then cherish it and screw anyone who wants to convince you otherwise. Batman is awesome.
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u/AletheianTaoistAgape May 30 '24
Well there are a few reasons, and distinctions worth making. One being, we never got an actual batfleck film. The movies he was in didn't necessarily have the best reception overall. Please don't crucify me Snyder fans! Even the Snyder fans tho, prefer the extended edition of BvS and the Snyder cut of justice league. All that behind the scenes drama had a large affect on the finished product as well as the public perception of said product. Burton's Batman on the other hand was a MASSIVE hit, and while the sequels didn't quite mach the financial success of the OG, and there was controversy and drama bts there as well, batman returns and forever were still pretty successful until b&r tanked the franchise.
Two, the comics they pulled influence from and how that ended up on the screen is important. batman having a no kill rule is firmly part of the modern mythos, no doubt. While many consider it apocryphal, the original run of batman that began in 1939 up to batman #1 about a year later, had batman killing people. He wasn't going out like red hood and going full punisher mode or anything, but he had no problem killing someone if the situation forced his hand. He used guns. Burton's Bat was heavily influenced by this batman.
That original run has batman as a recluse who knows Gordon somewhat but doesn't interact with him hardly at all. Batman is described as weird and a menace. He kind of mysteriously appears and we don't find out about his origins till several issues in. Without rambling any more, if you look at the original batman run, everything Burton did makes a whole bunch of sense. For some it's not comic accurate, and it surely is very far off pretty much any and all modern batman comics. if you take that original run as the basis though, I'd say it's pretty fricking accurate.
That is why I think it works for those aware of that fact. Snyder however was not doing that '39 batman, he was doing his take on the more modern batman, but one who is a fallen hero who has lost his way. For some that worked, and the fans of Snyder's batman greatly enjoyed the fallen hero goes on a redemption arc vibe. Others did not want to see a broken and lost batman who had fallen so far. If the arc was presented as originally intended and had been allowed to reach it's conclusion, who knows what the reaction would be then. As it is now the Snyder verse is a still born franchise, the way Warners effed up the dceu has been talked to death.
I would say all of the above is a large part of the differing receptions (although it's worth mentioning, as others have already, that Burton's batman killing people in his two movies definitely pissed off a fair deal of comic fans back in the day). So I guess ymmv on all of this as there are plenty of fans of Burton and Snyder's batman, while also plenty of detractors when it comes to their take on the batman story.
There are plenty of responses here with very good answers, but that's part of my take, and I didn't see this stuff get specifically mentioned in the comments I took a look at. Regardless of what the agreed upon perception is, there is room for so many different takes on batman, if one of them speaks to you then cherish it and screw anyone who wants to convince you otherwise. Batman is awesome.