We nearly got to see Adam West's Batman duking it out with Godzilla in a Batman Meets Godzilla movie

Do they make Godzilla Repellant for that utility belt?

Holy kaiju crossover, Batman!

In the Sixties, Bat-mania reached new heights. The 1966 TV series, Batman, kicked off a new era of fandom frenzy for the classic comics character. With Adam West as the caped crusader and Burt Ward as the boy wonder, it seemed like they could take over any part of pop culture with a BANG! POW! SHARK REPELLANT!

Between the first and second seasons, the heroes hit the big screen with the 1966 theatrical Batman. Audiences couldn't get enough of the dynamic duo.

At that time, there was another monster hit captivating moviegoers: Godzilla. By then, the franchise had a new movie coming out almost every year. The movies had made a shift from the original, more somber tone of the original, to a more playful, campy take where Godzilla was more sympathetic. Movies released around that time like Destroy All Monsters involved eleven different monsters being mind-controlled by aliens known as Kilaaks.

So really, it isn't so far-fetched to imagine Adam West going bat-toe to toe with Godzilla.

William Dozier, who created the Batman TV series, worked on a treatment for a movie meant to be released between the second and third seasons. The movie would feature Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, who first appeared in the season three premiere. 

The plot for the proposed movie follows Barbara and her father, Commissioner Gordon, traveling to Japan when their boat capsized. The culprit is revealed to be a German scientist named Finster, who claims to have a weather machine that he will use to destroy Japan if he is not paid a ransom. Of course, it turns out that the "weather machine" is actually controlling Godzilla. Commissioner Gordon convinces the Japanese authorities that Batman is the man for the job.

As the dynamic duo attempts to take down the threat, they face a variety of classic Batman obstacles from Finster's agents, like a poison taxicab, ninjas disguised as geishas, evil sumo wrestlers, and robots. 

The climax involves a love-struck Godzilla clutching Batgirl like a scaly King Kong, while Batman tries to figure out what to do with the beast. Eventually, he neutralizes Godzilla with a bomb by the head and launches him into space in a rocket ship, never to return... at least until the sequel.

When Batgirl failed to revive flagging interest in the show and the threat of cancellation crept closer, Dozier abandoned the project. What do you think? Would you have watched West's Batman to see what anti-Godzilla gadgets he could pull out of his utility belt?

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21 Comments

MichaelVegas 7 months ago
You know this sounds like a GREAT movie and i would go and see it now, lets make this people
BradBeall 7 months ago
I was a total Batman NUT when I was a kid, and I still kinda am to this day... and I've also always been a huge Godzilla fan! So yeah, this mash-up of Batman & Godzilla could've worked. It certainly couldn't have been any worse that some of the other Godzilla movies being made back then, but folks still loved them, and now we're watching them with our grandchildren! I still collect Batman (1960's TV version only) memorabilia, and my grandson who is now 11 collects Godzilla (and other monsters) memorabilia.
MadMat2102 7 months ago
Given how campy Batman and some of the Godzilla movies made during that time were, I could see something like this being proposed.
djw1120 7 months ago
What did Little Orphan Annie say when she saw Godzilla jumping up and down?
"Leaping Lizards!!!"
What would Robin say if he saw Godzilla?
"Holy...."
Reply to this post and let me know.
BobbyTony djw1120 7 months ago
Holy Tyrannosaurus Wrecks!
Holy Tokyo!
Holy Man In A Rubber Suit!
etc
djw1120 BobbyTony 7 months ago
I think your first answer would be a good one.
The others seem to me just too generic.
Besides, how would Robin know that Godzilla was really just a man in a rubber suit.
George58 7 months ago
No way can Batman destroy Godzilla. Unless he has an Oxygen Destroyer in his belt.
Avie 7 months ago
What the above describes really wasn't "Batman versus Godzilla," but Batman versus Finster -- which wouldn't have looked as good on theater marquees.
kb7rky 7 months ago
Now THAT would have been awesome!
MichaelAllenGates 7 months ago
I have had a copy of that treatment for years. Someone actually made part of it into a very well-made fan comic book that is free on the Internet. http://batmanmeetsgodzilla.com
Stoney 7 months ago
That would have been epic, and I wish it had been made!
healingmindn 7 months ago
I would have loved to see a 60's Super Friends Ep. with DC Super Heroes joining forces against a super fiend like Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins.
Barnbaby 7 months ago
Godzilla turned into a good guy later on in the series of movies. He even battled evil aliens who were attempting to conquer Earth. So I can't really see how Batman, or anyone for that matter, could get Godzilla into a rocket and blast him into space. He is a giant, after all.
WilliamJorns 7 months ago
I think that plot outline is a little far-fetched, even for the campy 60's television series. However, I really shouldn't criticize, considering some of the way-out storylines seen on today's soap opera shows. One I actually viewed involved a couple of children in the present day waving a magic shillaleigh (sp?) over a campfire in order to rescue their grandparents from the past, where they were about to be tried and executed as witches!
Another I read about involved an actress who wanted off a certain soap opera, so the producers had her character killed off in the storyline. Seven years later, that actress wanted to rejoin the cast of that soap, so the writers arranged for her return as her character's CLONE - grown from test tube to adulthood in just seven years, by a mad scientist on a remote island in the South Pacific!
(So help me, I am NOT making this up.)
Bapa1 7 months ago
.......and would he use his Anti-Godzilla repellant from his utility belt?
CaptainDunsel 7 months ago
I would have watched that, especially if they had cast Marty Ingels as the villain. (Yeah, yeah - I know - different spelling.)
Rick 7 months ago
If I had a hundred million dollars I would greenlight this project today.
Runeshaper 7 months ago
I probably would have watched it, but I'm not a fan of the end of the story, tbh.
McGillahooala 7 months ago
I would have watched that. It would have been on Svengoolie for sure.
NickG 7 months ago
Im Sorry that didn’t get made. Might have been lots of fun.
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