This is a list of unmade and unreleased projects by DC Comics. Some of these productions were, or still are, in "development hell" in other media.

Batman Fleischer Studios' Batman Following the success of the Fleischer Superman cartoons, Fleischer Studios communicated with DC Comics over the possibility of adapting Batman. The communication got to the point of budget discussions as illustrated in a letter dated January 25, 1942, and reproduced in longtime Batman executive producer, Michael E. Uslan's 2011 memoir, The Boy Who Loved Batman. It is, however, unknown how far the production of this project went before being abandoned.

CBS' Mike Henry Batman Before the 1966 juggernaut that was the Adam West/Burt Ward Batman series, CBS attempted to launch a live-action children's program based on the character. Former Rams linebacker and Tarzan actor Mike Henry was soon approached to appear as the character and even took publicity stills. The project went into limbo, and after a long stagnation, producers attempted to sell it to NBC; they passed on the project in 1965.

Batman vs. Godzilla The original idea for this seemingly mismatched crossover between Batman and Godzilla comes from the hand of series writer Shinichi Sekizawa, who submitted a manuscript of the proposal in November 1965. Sekizawa's concept featured several characters from the Batman universe, including Robin and Commissioner James Gordon. To battle Godzilla, Batman and his sidekicks would have utilized several vehicles to engage in combat, including the Batmobile, the Batcopter, and the Batcycle. The concept also featured the introduction of a weather control apparatus, an idea which would later be used for Son of Godzilla (1967). It was also going to have another device to control Godzilla himself, which would possibly indicate another antagonist pitting the two characters against each other. In terms of Sekizawa's motivation, his reasoning seems clear in these drafts: to try and repeat the mammoth international success that the crossover film King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) enjoyed. This is made apparent in allusions to the earlier 1962 film, as even this extremely early take at the concept included mention of Godzilla's battle with King Kong, which was noted as being included with stock footage of the two titans fighting. The concept never got far enough for a full-fledged script to have been created. There are many questions related to the proposal still unknown, such as whether DC Comics was ever actually approached with the idea or not. It is also not known to what degree the then-recent Batman TV series, which debuted two months after Sekizawa proposed this idea, might have played, if any. Also, references to "Batgirl" are made in the concept, which would predate the Barbara Gordon version of the character that would later become synonymous with the name in 1966.

Tim Burton Batman III During the early development of the canceled Catwoman spin-off, Tim Burton expressed his interest in directing the third installment of the Batman film series that began with Batman in 1989. Robin Williams was attached to star as the Riddler, the film's main antagonist. Also, Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face was supposed to occur in the film, with Billy Dee Williams reprising his role as Dent from the first film, after turning down the offer to appear in Batman Returns. Along with these, Michelle Pfeiffer was attached to return as Catwoman, Marlon Wayans was attached to star as Robin, and Rene Russo was attached to star as Chase Meridian. When Warner Bros. observed that the script was just as gloomy as the previous film, they decided to put Joel Schumacher as the director of the third installment, leading to the release of Batman Forever, in which Burton served as producer, without being able to contribute ideas.

Joel Schumacher's Batman Unchained

Batman: DarKnight

Batman: Year One live action film

Batman: Assault on Arkham 2 In a 2016 interview, Jay Oliva mentioned that he had plans to make a sequel to Batman: Assault on Arkham, but following his departure from Warner Bros. Animation, the project was dropped.

Batman: The Musical In 2002, Burton, Jim Steinman, and David Ives had worked on a theater production called Batman: The Musical. Steinman has revealed five songs from the musical. The first is the opening theme for "Gotham City" and the entry of Batman with his tortured solo "The Graveyard Shift"; followed by "The Joker's Song (Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?)", "The Catwoman's Song (I Need All The Love I Can Get)", "We're Still the Children We Once Were" (the climactic sequence) and "In the Land of the Pig, the Butcher is King", sung by the corrupt bloodsuckers ruling Gotham; the last song mentioned here was covered on the Meat Loaf album Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose. After production was canceled, these songs were released on the Batman: The Musical memorial site.Dark Knight of the Soul

Bruce Wayne

Gotham High An animated series that reimagined Batman characters as high school students was in development in the late 2000s and early 2010s. A similar idea was used for the DC Super Hero Girls shorts and animated series.

Batman: No Man's Land

Both in the mid and late 2000s, an animated TV show based on the "No Man's Land" storyline was put in development by producer James Tucker. Character designer Coran Stone worked on the project and made designs for the first version, but the project was ultimately scrapped for being "too dark", which led to Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network focusing on Batman: The Brave and the Bold instead. Another attempt was made, and some artwork was made as well, but the project was also canceled, like the first attempt.

Batman: Arkham After the success of Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero, Warner Bros. greenlit a third installment, entitled Batman: Arkham. Boyd Kirkland, the director of this film, was attached to write and direct. The film would have Batman and Robin facing off against a collection of Arkham Asylum escapees, in addition to Batman finding himself falling in love with a new love interest, planned to be voiced by Angie Harmon. The main cast of Batman: The Animated Series was attached to reprise their roles. Steven E. Gordon also drew some art concepts for the film. The film was ultimately canceled in favor of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, while Batman: Arkham eventually became a successful video game series.

The Batman vs. Hush A second film of The Batman titled The Batman vs. Hush that featured Hush as the main villain along with the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, Catwoman and Clayface was planned for a long time. The film ended up being scrapped. Before its cancellation, producer Alan Burnett had hopes of making one or two more DTV films based on The Batman. A similar film based on Batman: Hush ultimately came out in 2019 as part of the DC Animated Movie Universe.

Batman R.I.P. film In 2015, Bruce Timm expressed interest in an animated adaptation of the Batman R.I.P. storyline.

Batman: Going Sane film Writer J. M. DeMatteis was interested in adaptation of his Batman story arc Going Sane set in the DC Animated Movie Universe.

Arkham Asylum film In 2015, director Jay Oliva expressed an interest in making an animated film adaptation of Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, but Oliva departed from Warner Bros. Animation in 2017 before such adaptation could be made.

Batman Beyond Batman Beyond live action film

Untitled Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker sequel A second Batman Beyond film was planned for release but was finally scrapped due to the dark tones and controversies of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker in 2001.

Untitled Batman Beyond animated film Timm has mentioned that a Batman Beyond film is a possibility, and in August 2017, Tucker said that discussions about a possible Batman Beyond film occurred several times at the studio.

DCEU Batman film

Ben Affleck, who was cast as Bruce Wayne / Batman and appeared in several DCEU projects, was in negotiations to direct, produce, star in, and co-write (with Geoff Johns) a Batman film in 2015 and was subsequently confirmed to direct it. His film would have been set after the events of Justice League and would have featured Slade Wilson / Deathstroke as a primary antagonist. Affleck stepped down as director in January 2017, and Matt Reeves was hired to direct and co-produce the film the next month. Under Reeves, the film shifted focus towards a younger, more inexperienced iteration of the character while drawing more from the comics' roots in noir and detective fiction. Affleck eventually left the project altogether and was replaced by Robert Pattinson as Batman, allowing the film to drop its connections to the DCEU, establishing it in a new standalone universe.

In the Batman Family Batgirl A spin-off of the 1966 Batman show was noted in 1967 but did not go past a seven-minute presentation.

Batgirl: Year One Batman: Year Ones executive producer Bruce Timm and co-director Lauren Montgomery expressed interest in producing an animated film based on Batgirl: Year One, but DC canceled all plans for an adaptation.

DCEU Batgirl film

Robin A spin-off to Batman & Robin based on Robin was in the works but was canceled due to the critical and box office failure of the 1997 film.

CW's The Graysons TV series By November 2008, a television prequel series centered around Dick Grayson, with Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson writing and executive producing along with McG and Phil Johnson, was nixed by Jeff Robinov, who decided to develop other projects instead.

Nightwing: The Animated Series An animated series featuring Nightwing was in development from Ki Hyun Ryu of The Boondocks and The Legend of Korra fame, but was rejected in favor for Young Justice.

DCEU Nightwing film By February 2017, a film centered around Dick Grayson / Nightwing was in development, with Chris McKay and Bill Dubuque signed on as director and screenwriter, respectively. Although the script was nearing its final draft, McKay said in 2021 that the project was delayed due to DC having "other priorities", but also reaffirmed his intentions to still make the film. He also said that the film could possibly be reworked to remove its connections to the DCEU continuity. The project was ultimately canceled in August 2023.

Catwoman: The Animated Series Following the success of Batman: The Animated Series, Fox Kids approached Bruce Timm on making a spin-off based on Catwoman, but it was scrapped in favor of Superman: The Animated Series.

Tim Burton's Catwoman spin-off

Batman Returns would be the last film in the Warner Bros. Batman film series that featured Burton and Michael Keaton as director and leading actor. With Batman Forever, Warner Bros. decided to go in a "lighter" direction to be more mainstream in the process of a family film. Burton had no interest in returning to direct a sequel but was credited as producer.Tim Burton, Michael Keaton, Joel Schumacher, The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight: Reinventing a Hero, 2005, Warner Home Video With Warner Bros. moving on development for Batman Forever in June 1993, a Catwoman spin-off was announced. Michelle Pfeiffer was to reprise her role, with the character not to appear in Forever because of her own spin-off.