The time is right for Batman to return to TV

So I was watching the first episode of Gotham. I didn’t love it, but I enjoyed it. I think Ben McKenzie is excellent as a young Detective James Gordon, and Robin Lord Taylor was amazing as Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin. It’ll be fun watching these versions of iconic Batman characters grow into what we know them to be.

But the whole time I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that we won’t be seeing Batman kick butt in Gotham. There’s plenty of shows where I can watch a cool detective tackle a city’s toughest criminals, but there’s only one Batman. And in Gotham he’s a kid.

So what we need is a Batman TV show with Batman doing the law keeping. The time is right for it.

Arrow is excellent. The Flash is about to premier, and Supergirl will be getting her own TV series. The Green Arrow and Flash tie into one another, and we don’t know who will be appearing the CBS’ Supergirl, but it’s fair to say that Batman won’t appear in any of them. DC Comics’ most popular hero, while being reborn by Ben Affleck and Zack Snyder in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, has his only representation on TV as a little kid that just watched his parents get shot.

What we need is Batman to return to television. Not since the 1966-68 run of the Batman TV series has the caped crusader had his own show where he wasn’t animated. It could be along the same lines as Arrow and Flash. It doesn’t have to be an origin story — afterall, we know how Batman begins. Or you could start right after he dons the cowl. Leave the really dark Batman stories to the films, since they can tackle the quality needed to pull those stories off so much better. But give us cool riddles he’s solving, strong villains to take down, and show his genius in everything he does.

As for who could play Batman on TV? There’s far too many actors out there that I don’t know. You’re not going to get anyone of superstardom to play him on TV, so the likes of Ryan Gosling and probably Joseph Gordon Levitt are out. But sticking straight with people I know have already done TV series, I could see Matt Bomer, Jon Hamm, Taylor Kitsch or Idris Elba playing Bruce Wayne/Batman — depending on the type of Batman you want to portray.

What do you think? Do you want to see the Dark Knight return to TV?

You can follow Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ.