Credit: DC / Warner Bros.Batman has endured for 87 years. That’s nearly an entire century. Gotham City’s Dark Knight will always be a leading figure in pop culture, and he will also continue to be reimagined across all forms of media. Comics, games, TV, movies, and more.
But while the crime-fighter has been beating criminals of all shapes and sizes to a pulp since he first appeared in “Detective Comics” #27 in 1939, sometimes he’s outmatched. And not by the likes of Killer Croc, Bane, and The Joker, but by his most formidable opponent: studios.
In recent months, several Batman-related projects have been canceled. Some were shelved a long time ago and have only just come to light, but some are fairly recent. Here are four Caped Crusader-led installments that have been locked away in the Batcave to gather dust.
The Batman GCPD/Arkham TV Series
While Matt Reeves’ Batman Epic Crime Saga will continue with The Batman — Part II in October 2027, which will see Robert Pattinson back in the cape and cowl, the self-contained universe missed a huge opportunity to expand with an untitled TV series set in Arkham.
Initially, the project was said to center on the GCPD, but now it’s no longer active. Last year, DC Studios’ co-CEO James Gunn told BobaTalks (via IGN) that the spinoff series was indeed dead; however, elements were integrated into the HBO series The Penguin.
The Dark Knight Open-World Video Game
Recently, new storyboard images surfaced on Reddit (via Vice) for a long‑lost video game that was in development during the mid‑2000s. The project was an open‑world game tied to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, intended to launch alongside the movie in 2008.
The game was canceled months before its planned release, and developer Pandemic Studios Brisbane eventually shut down, marking a quiet end to an ambitious tie‑in that might have changed Batman gaming while also expanding The Dark Knight trilogy in surprising ways.
Related: James Gunn’s DCU Falls Apart as Zack Snyder Confirms That Henry Cavill Is Still Superman
Batman: Arkham VR Sequel
One of the most popular series of games is Batman: Arkham, which includes titles like Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Knight. In 2024, the series got a virtual reality (VR) entry with Batman: Arkham Shadow, released exclusively for the Meta Quest 3.
However, despite the VR title being a critically acclaimed hit upon release, a planned sequel to that game was recently scrapped, with Aftermath citing Meta’s closure of multiple VR studios and layoffs within its Reality Labs division as the main reason.
Separate Dark Knight-Licensed Game
Details of another game tied to The Dark Knight trilogy have also surfaced. Footage from Project Apollo (presumably a working title) was recovered online from once-deleted internal game files from 2009–2010 by archivist MrTalida and uploaded to the Internet Archive.
Monolith Productions’ project was first revealed in 2019. Reports claim that the game had been in the works for 18 months before reportedly being canceled as a result of Christopher Nolan not giving publisher Warner Bros. Games his approval for a game tied to his films.
Batman Projects That Are Still Happening
There are plenty of upcoming Batman projects that haven’t wound up on the scrapheap.
In fact, this year will see the arrival of two fairly ambitious ones, with the first being the third-person action-adventure video game LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.
Developed by TT Games, the open-world game is heavily inspired by decades of Batman media and features a huge roster of various character iterations. It’s scheduled for release on May 29, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, with a later Nintendo Switch 2 version.
Batman’s crusade against Gotham City villains on the big screen is also set to continue. A Batman: Knightfall animated film series , based on one of the character’s most famous comic arcs, is expected to arrive sometime this year.
Matt Reeves’ The Batman — Part II is slated for release on October 1, 2027, while the DC Universe reboot The Brave and the Bold, which will form part of DC Studios’ shared universe, is currently in development, although its casting and release date are unknown.
Are you disappointed about any of these canceled Batman projects? And what are you most looking forward to with the upcoming games and films? Let us know in the comments below!