In 1965, a manuscript for an unusual crossover between the caped crusader and the king of the monsters was submitted to Toho Co. Godzilla series screenwriter, Shinichi Sekizawa, was looking for ideas that can make Godzilla a box office hit again. The motivation for this screenplay was Sekizawa looking back at how well King Kong vs Godzilla made in the box office.
By this time, Sekizawa would have wrote many scripts for Godzilla and other monster movies for Toho Co. He wrote the scripts for Gojira, Godzilla Raids Again, King Kong vs Godzilla, Mothra vs Godzilla, Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster, and Godzilla vs Monster Zero. He would go on to write many other monster movies all the way up to the 1989 film, Godzilla vs Biollante.
During the process, there was another manuscript that was an American treatment of the film that was called Batman Meets Godzilla. While there is no information about what was in Sekizawa's manuscript, the details for the American version would have introduced a brand new villain that would control Godzilla to threaten Japan. However, the manuscript was scrapped and Toho Co. went with Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (aka Godzilla vs the Sea Monster) instead.
The Script:
The story begins with Barbara and her father, Commissioner Gordon, on a boat sailing across the far East when Barbara comes across her friend, Reiko Hamamoto. Suddenly, a tidal wave capsizes the boat that was seemingly caused by Klaus Finster, a German meteorologist, that had been held up in Argentina for 20 years and moved to a secret lair underneath Mount Fuji. The mad scientist claims he has made a device that controlled the weather and threatens to destroy Japan unless he was given $20 million worth of gold. After hearing this, Gordon decides to call Batman and Robin to help deal with the matter.
What the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder don't know is that there is no device that controls weather. What the device really does is that it allows Finster to control Godzilla and he uses it to make the King of the Monsters head for Tokyo. After battling with copies of their robotic ally, Count Draidl, Batman and Robin meet with Gordon and the Japanese Police where he has suspicions of Godzilla's involvement and watches footage of the giant lizard fighting King Kong to make sure he is right.
While they waited, the gang watch a kabuki show that suddenly turns into a sword fight revealing Reiko to be Finster's robot spy after an accidental decapitation. Batman and Robin chase after Finster when the Dynamic Duo are lead to a trap. The trap turned out to be a gas chamber disguised as a taxi cab. Barbara, now in her Batgirl attire, saves Batman and Robin with a pocket sized blowtorch. They continue the chase in the Batcopter to a Japanese bathhouse where they finally come face to face with Godzilla.
The mission makes Batman feeling nervous and agitated and decide to take the bullet train to Osaka when they receive word that the city is Finster's next target. They come up with a plan to lure Godzilla with a fake mating call and knock out the monster with explosives. After this, he surveys the Japanese people, who unanimously vote to send Godzilla to space.
With the plan in place and the final fight with Klaus Finster ending with him falling to his death, Batman, Robin, and Batgirl take on the King of the Monsters with their vehicles. However, Batgirl is grabbed by the monster during the fight. Batman uses the mating call, which lead to Godzilla throwing Batgirl away and her landing at the Daibutsu Buddha. Batman climbs up Godzilla's neck and plants the bombs with Batrope before he moves to safety and detonates it, knocking down the monster.
Japanese scientists build a rocket around Godzilla while he is unconscious and launched the rocket into orbit above the Earth's surface, with Godzilla contained forever.
Interestingly enough, the Adam West Batman movie was released July 30, 1966 by 20th Century Fox and a sprinkle of ideas from Batman vs Godzilla was worked into this movie such as holding the world ransom with the help of a secret invention. Instead of using a mind-control device to control Godzilla, it was a device that dehydrates people. The idea of a weather controlling device was brought back to be used in Son of Godzilla, which the movie released in 1967. So it is really interesting to see where some of these ideas started and how it turned out in the end.
With King Kong vs Godzilla being cheesy and tried to be more of a parody on the kaiju genre, it would be no surprise that Batman vs Godzilla would try to capture the same amount of cheesiness. Especially with Adam West playing the role of Batman, at the time, I can see this movie not being the sort of hit that Sekizawa and Toho Co. would have wanted it to be. At the same time, it would have gained a lot of attention from both Godzilla and Batman fans in the future with internet memes and considered a great comedy film. Adam West as Batman fighting Godzilla? How could it not be considered comedy gold?
What are your thoughts on Batman vs Godzilla? Do you think it would have been a movie remembered for years or are you glad it was scrapped? Leave a comment in the comments section of your thoughts on what you think this movie may have turned out. Make sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Minds, MeWe, and Gab to stay up to date for more news, reviews, and discussions.
Am glad it was scrapped, I do not want to see that.