The original
idea for this, seemingly, mismatched crossover comes
from the hand of series writer Shinichi Sekizawa, who
submitted a manuscript of the proposal on November of
1965. Sekizawa's concept featured several characters
from the Batman universe, including Robin and Commissioner
Gordon. To actually battle the King of the Monsters,
Batman and his sidekicks would have utilized several
vehicles to engage in combat, including the Batmobile,
the Batcopter and the Batcycle. Interesting to note,
the concept also featured the introduction of a weather
control apparatus, an idea which would later be worked
into the Son
of Godzilla (1967) script. It also was going to have another device
to control Godzilla himself, which would possibly indicate
another antagonist being behind pitting the two characters
against each other.
In terms of Sekizawa's motivation, his reasoning seems
clear in these drafts: to try and repeat the mammoth
international success that the King
Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) crossover enjoyed.
This is made apparant in allusions to the earlier 1962
film, as even this extremely early take at the concept
included mention of Godzilla's battle with King Kong,
which was noted as being included with stock footage
of the two titans fighting.
Not surprinsgly, though, the concept never got far
enough for a full fledged script to have been created.
There are many questions related to the proposal still
unknown as well, such as if DC comics was ever actually
approached with the idea or not. It's also not known
to what degree the then recent Batman TV series,
which debuted two months after Sekizawa proposed this
idea, might have played, if any. It's also interesting
to note that references to "Batgirl" are made
in the concept, which would predate the Barbara Gordon
version of the character that would later become synopsis
with the name in 1966.
Note: the Batman pictured above is from
Collora Studios' Batman: Dead End feature.
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