Ben Wan
- Jun 6, 2022
- 3 min read

The Unmade Batman Treatment (1985) Co-Written by Tim Burton

We cover the unmade 1985 Batman treatment by Julie Hickson and Tim Burton, along with the rare concept art by Burton for this version of the story. Learn how it foreshadowed several Batman films and comics as well as what actually made it into Batman 1989.

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If you like this treatment, check out the audio drama by our friends at Neuverse Creative here:

Some of the images presented in the video come from Neuverse Creative's promotion for their Batman '85 audio.

Big thanks to Derek O. for sending this treatment to us,

CHAPTERS

0:00 Introduction- Did Tim Burton Read Comics and Who Is Julie Hickson?

We previously discussed this treatment in this episode on the different scripts that led up to Batman 1989:

The details were based off of Ben's notes that were published in this article for Batman Online:

https://www.batman-online.com/features/2010/7/25/analysis-of-the-1985-burton-hickson-treatment

The treatments that were written after this one were previously covered by our show. Last year, we had the exclusive on Steve Englehart's two treatments:

And in 2019, we covered Bob Kane's The Return of Batman:

10:34 The Batman Treatment- Act One- Loss (The Deaths of The Waynes)

26:17 Act Two Preparation Transformation (Batman Begins)

Some of the Tim Burton concept art we showed here was featured in our concept art episode:

And some came from this tweet: https://twitter.com/weirdlandtales/status/1226370302252326912

46:59 BREAK

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53:10 Return From Break: Act Two Part Two (Batman Vs Joker)

Some of the concept art we show was also displayed in the Danny Elfman concert that Ben cites in the episode:

Rupert Thorne and Silver St. Cloud were previously in Tom Mankiewicz's draft The Batman and carried over into this (with Silver also being in Steve Englehart's treatments). These characters were introduced in the comic arc Strange Apparitions, with writer Steve Englehart claiming that Thorne became Carl Grissom and elements of Silver got transferred to Vicki Vale.

We covered the influences of Strange Apparitions on the development of Batman 1989 in this episode:

And in the follow-up, we covered the sequel Dark Detective which featured Joker's "Vote For Me Or I'll Kill You" campaign poster:

1:14:33 Act Three Retribution Family (The Origin of the Dynamic Duo)

The original fan art by Eiko Chan can be seen here:

https://fyeahdickgrayson.tumblr.com/post/135862479021/yellowcape-batfamily-christmas-by-eiko-chan

Dan Photoshopped it to make Selina look like Silver and for Robin to be Dick Grayson.

The image of the Penguin duck in the post-credits scene come from this tweet:

https://twitter.com/BatmanAnthology/status/1519164339046944769

Though a quick correction- the ride was at WB Movie World, not Six Flags.

Neal Adams comparing Ra's Al Ghul to Jack Palance comes from here:

https://www.cbr.com/batman-ras-al-ghul-secret-origins/

The article about how Christopher Lee was almost Ra's in Batman: The Animated Series comes from here:

https://screenrant.com/batman-animated-series-christopher-lee-ras-al-ghul-rejection/

1:38:45 Fan Comments

1:46:23 Closing: Fan Shout outs and Social Media Promotion

Big thanks to our research assistant Dan Yamat for providing the visuals for this YouTube experience, as well as the usual QC, chapter time codes, and the thumbnail.

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