Tim Burton pioneered the comic book blockbuster at the start of his career, directing Michael Keaton in both “ Batman ” and “ Batman Returns ” for Warner Bros. However, the filmmaker says he’s not interested in returning to superhero films in today’s industry, with its focus on long-term continuity and cinematic universes.

“At the moment, I would say no,” Burton tells Variety in a new interview . “I come at things from different points of view, so I would never say never to anything. But, at the moment, it’s not something I’d be interested in.”

The filmmaker, promoting his new sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” shares that he was afforded a certain creative freedom and faced relatively modest studio supervision during the 1988 production of “Batman” in England.

“I was fortunate because at that time, the term ‘franchise’ didn’t exist,” Burton states. “‘Batman’ felt somewhat experimental at the time. … It differed from what the common perception [of a superhero movie] might be. So you didn’t hear that kind of studio feedback, and being in England, it was even further removed. We really just got to focus on the film and not really think about those things that now they think about even before you do it.”

Burton also reveals that he initially lacked strong interest in creating a sequel to the original “Batman,” but changed his mind after being captivated by the villains Penguin and Catwoman. Burton and Keaton both returned for “Batman Returns” in 1992, which also featured Danny DeVito and Michelle Pfeiffer as the iconic comic book villains. However, neither Burton nor Keaton returned for Warner Bros.’ subsequent film “Batman Forever”: that 1995 movie saw Joel Schumacher take over directing duties and Val Kilmer portraying Gotham’s caped crusader.

“I got re-energized by the whole thing,” Burton says. “And that was when we started hearing the term franchise and where the studio started going, ‘What’s the black stuff coming out of the Penguin’s mouth?’ It was the first time the cold wind of that kind of thing hit me.””

Beyond the “Batman” franchise, Burton was also once developing a “Superman” film, with Nicolas Cage slated to star. While that project never materialized, last year’s DC Comics feature “The Flash” paid homage to it by featuring a CGI version of Cage fighting a giant spider in a multiverse-traversing sequence.

Reflecting on his unfulfilled Superman film, Burton says that, “There’s always this ‘Jason and the Argonauts’-style journey that everyone goes through to make a movie. I’ve worked on a couple movies that never came to fruition after spending years on them, and those are quite difficult to deal with. I just try to focus on things that I feel strongly about and ignore all the outside noise surrounding them.”

Burton’s 20th feature film, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” is set to premiere in theaters on Sept. 6.