The critical and box office success of Matt Reeves' The Batman pretty much proves that the Dark Knight will always be one of those characters fans won't ever get tired of watching, despite already having seen multiple live-action iterations of the character the last decade alone.
While the reinforced DC Studios spells good news for the future of Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader, with the latest rumors suggesting he'll be the main Batman of the DCU, the March blockbuster is currently mired in controversy.
Last August, former DC writer and artist Chris Wozniak called out Reeves for allegedly stealing his creative ideas for The Batman. For the uninitiated, Wozniak claims that a story he wrote for the Dark Knight in 1990 was used and later tweaked in the film without his knowledge.
Now, Wozniak is suing Warner Bros. for copyright infringement. Per Wozniak’s attorney, R. Terry Parker's statement (via New York Post), the similarities between Wozniak's story and the sequence featured in the film are just too uncanny to be deemed unintentional.
A statement posted on Wozniak's Indiegogo page reads: "There’s no disputing my plot pre-dates their screenplay, that the people who made this film were in possession of my plot, and that the Riddler’s storyline in the film was directly derived from my plot. Now, before Executive Producer Michael Uslan and Warner Bros. Pictures used my plot in the film, they were supposed to negotiate a contract first to make sure I was fairly compensated."
Additionally, Wozniak claims he was never given any credit or even paid for the story he came up with. He added: "I was NOT credited anywhere. I was NOT paid anything. And In case you’re wondering, that’s NOT supposed to happen. So here I am, asking BATMAN FANS AROUND THE WORLD to stop Hollywood from steamrolling yet another Comic Creator. I got ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. That is not JUSTICE. It would be nice if some of the more famous faces would shine a little light on this situation because it would go a long way towards making this right."
Also Read: Matt Reeves Faces Allegations of Stealing Creative Ideas for The Batman
As it stands, WB Discovery has yet to release an official statement regarding the matter. But with the company rebuilding the DCU from the ground up, it's certainly a bad look for the franchise.
Matt Reeves' The Batman is streaming on HBO Max.
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