LEGO Batman took a surprising turn in its third act by overshadowing DC villains with iconic villains from various ends of the pop culture universe.
Warner Bros. managed to jam-pack The LEGO Batman Movie with both an emotional narrative and over the top action sequences. From the very beginning, Warner Bros. and LEGO sought to establish that Batman A) struggled with his oftentimes distant and reticent outlook on life and B) found chasing the Joker around Gotham not as fulfilling as it used to be.
From this startling realization, the Joker sets out to remind Batman just how special their relationship really is. Then, for the rest of the movie, hilarity and chaos ensue.
By the end of the film, a whole army of villains escapes from their prison (I’m not going to say where because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. Let’s just say that LEGO Batman is very much ingratiated with the rest of the DC Universe.). This army includes Daleks, Gremlins and even King Kong!
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, The LEGO Batman Movie‘s director Chris McKay gave us a few ideas as to how it all came together. While explaining which characters made the cut and which ones didn’t, McKay boiled it down to the audience: “At a certain point, though, you have to weigh what characters the kids going to get. In LEGO, it’s sometimes hard to get a really quick interpretation of something.”
Additionally, McKay needed a wide range of villains to appease himself (and also us). “I wanted characters from all over the world. I wanted Daleks. And I wanted stuff that has a history and is time-tested, like the Wicked Witch.”
Sitting in the theater watching The LEGO Batman Movie, I called out every villain I recognized to the person sitting next to me (who did not care). Basically, it’s just a fun thing to see. Especially when you’re a fan of Batman and you see all those ’60s throwbacks and Calendar Man appear out of nowhere.
Related Story: The New Synopsis for Justice League Reveals Nothing
And as to where the film is going next? Well, McKay promises that the whole LEGO franchise ties together and will remain as meta as possible. “There’s no mandate necessarily to do that, but we are very actively working to find all of the rules and develop that relationship between the real world and the LEGO world.”
The LEGO Batman Movie is now playing in theaters everywhere.