The long list of things that don't necessarily need to happen but always eventually do just got a bit longer today with the announcement that Adam West and Burt Ward will step back into the Batcave for one last hoorah. West and Ward announced the news during a Batman panel at the Mad Monster Party this past weekend.
Though it's easy to discount West and Ward as campy relics of a Batman universe swiftly eradicated by Christopher Nolan, their contributions to the evolution of these characters is certainly noteworthy. The hokey but quite charming misadventures of the comfortably dressed duo in the 1960s series (and one TV movie) unfortunately inspired the admittedly awful George Clooney misstep Batman & Robin. To some extent, the slightly better Val Kilmer predecessor Batman Forever was also noticeably inspired by the spirit of West and Ward's caked-in-camp appeal. For what it's worth (it's worth a lot), the only true Batman — Michael Keaton — said that both "sucked." The problem with both of those Joel Schumacher-helmed films, of course, is the seeming lack of awareness or irony or anything else that makes such campy detachment actually work.
According to their announcement, West and Ward will lend their voices to a 90-minute animated film to be released in 2016 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the original series. As you are surely remembering this very moment, 2016 will also gift us with the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, an entirely Joel Schumacherless production.
