Batman Forever: The Ultimate Fan Cut (2022)

After two years of community feedback and some of my own personal thoughts/changes, I have re-edited and now present the updated and final edition of Batman Forever: The Ultimate Fan Cut (2022 Edition).

As always, the goal of this edit is to bring Joel Schumacher’s original vision of Batman Forever to life. In order to do so, I have used publicly available deleted scenes, I have used Akiva Goldsman’s final draft of Batman Forever as a reference, and I have used an abundance of interviews from both Schumacher and Goldsman to get a better idea of what the film’s original 2h 50m cut was like. Given all of this, my edit is a longer, darker, and more gripping story of the Dark Knight. The final runtime is 2h 12m, which is 11 minutes longer than the theatrical cut’s 2h 1m runtime.

Summarized Changes:

  1. I rearranged scenes from the film to fit Batman Forever’s original script by Akiva Goldsman. For example, my edit opens with a deleted scene from Arkham Asylum, rather than the bank robbery in the theatrical cut.

  2. I inserted all of the Batman Forever deleted scenes that are available to the public, such as the Arkham Asylum one mentioned earlier, which in return creates a darker film that explores Bruce Wayne’s torment and guilt.

  3. I deleted many campy and over the top lines that seemed out of place and brought down Schumacher’s intended tone and quality for the film. Examples include: “I’ll get drive through,” “Oh no! It’s boiling acid,” “spank me,” “joygasm,” etc...

  4. In addition, I also rescored the end credits with the unused Batman Forever End Titles track composed by Elliot Goldenthal. I believe this track was abandoned in post-production to be replaced by “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” and “Kiss from a Rose.”

Full Changes:

  1. Film opens with disclaimer (must own copy of DVD/Blu-ray/Digital to watch the edit)

  2. Opening titles cut to deleted Arkham Asylum scene

  3. Deleted Arkham Asylum scene transitions to exterior of Wayne Enterprises and then the Wayne Enterprises scene

  4. Bruce travels underground to suit up and stop Two-Face’s bank robbery, rather than meeting up with Chase at the Bat-Signal

  5. Cut Batman and Alfred’s drive-thru conversation

  6. Cut bank security guard’s awkward “Oh no!”

  7. Cut bank security guard’s awkward and overdramatic “Oh no! It’s boiling acid!”

  8. Batman and Two-Face helicopter sequence is extended with a deleted scene

  9. Shot of Lady Gotham cuts to Nygma’s experimentation and murder scene at Wayne Enterprises

  10. After Bruce Wayne looks at the signal after talking to Alfred at Wayne Manor, then it cuts to the batmobile driving and the Batman/Chase Bat-Signal scene

  11. Bat-Signal scene cuts to the Dick and Alfred scene in Wayne Manor

  12. After Riddler and Two-Face’s jewelry store heist, it cuts to a deleted Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne training/discussion scene, which replaces the laundry karate scene

  13. The previous scene then cuts to the Riddler and Two-Face casino/punching cops scene

  14. The Riddler and Two-Face driving scene cuts to the deleted scene where Riddler hacks Batman’s GPS to send him to a beauty salon

  15. That scene then transitions into the scene of Bruce watching the news

  16. Inserted the deleted Bruce and Alfred batcave scene, which explores the public opinion on Batman and Bruce’s thoughts regarding Batman being his enemy

  17. Cut out the awkward and out-of-place Riddler and Two-Face hug and “Happy Halloween” line

  18. Cut out Riddler’s “spank me” line

  19. Cut out Riddler’s campy baseball mockery scene

  20. Cut out Riddler’s “joygasm” line

  21. Inserted the deleted scene where Bruce reads his father’s journal, makes peace with himself, and embraces the identity of both Bruce Wayne and Batman

  22. Cut out the notoriously out-of-place bat-butt shot

  23. Cut out Riddler’s “bummer” line that he says before he drops Chase and Robin

  24. Added a “Batman Forever: The Ultimate Fan Cut” title card

  25. Rescored the end credits with an unused Batman Forever end credits track composed by Elliot Goldenthal

  26. Added a Chase and Alfred deleted scene as a post-credits scene

  27. A “special thanks” title card to YouTubers Quezy-Quez and Josh Jensen for their contributions to Batman Forever: The Ultimate Fan Cut

Based on community feedback and some of my own personal choices, here are the changes I made from Batman Forever: The Ultimate Fan Cut (2020 Edition):

  1. I now extended the Batman and Two-Face helicopter sequence by adding in a deleted scene (more footage from Schumacher’s original 2h 50m cut)

  2. I restored the previously deleted “I’m Batman!” line from Bruce Wayne at the circus (for character and story purposes)

  3. I restored the previously deleted shot of Batman smiling after speaking with Chase at her apartment (for character and story purposes)

  4. I now deleted Riddler’s goofy and out of place “bummer” line that he says before he presses the button to drop Chase and Robin to their death (the line disrupts the tone of the moment, and it was not present in the original screenplay)

  5. I now made changes to the previous edit’s transitions between theatrical footage and deleted footage in order to make them smoother and more natural in this edit

  6. I now changed the aspect ratio of the film from 4:3 back to its intended 16:9 (per the 1997 Batman Forever DVD release) in order to have a consistent aspect ratio, as all the deleted scenes are formatted 16:9

The MEGA link to the 2020 Edition of Batman Forever: The Ultimate Fan Cut will no longer be available, but if you are interested in viewing the 2022 Edition of the edit, please comment down below and I will privately message you the MEGA link. Thank you!