Why the heck was Coolio in Batman & Robin? Granted, this isn’t the only pressing question the widely-agreed-upon nadir of superhero cinema presents us, but it is a baffling one. The answer, it turns out, was that Joel Schumacher was setting up a wider universe with his planned Batman Triumphant: one where Coolio would be the Scarecrow.
Granted, it’s not explained how, exactly, a street racer turns into a nebbishy college professor who hoses everybody with fear gas, but according to the video up top, shot for the Burleson Star to promote Coolio’s booking a gig in North Texas, that was the plan. In Batman Triumphant, his street racer would presumably have a wacky accident that made him spread fear everywhere he went. You know, because that’s not potentially a hugely unfortunate metaphor, to have a Black man running around spreading fear.
As we all know, it was not to be. Batman & Robin forced Warner Bros. to reconsider the campy direction of the Bat franchise, and the studio ultimately decided a more serious Bats was the way to go. Still, we can always wonder what was been, or just watch the fan movies that tried to fill in the blanks on Schumacher’s vision. And it’s not like Coolio didn’t enjoy cinematic success elsewhere:
https://twitter.com/coolio/status/472059780677128192
(via Screen Rant)
