Calling himself 'The Joker', he kills Grissom and usurps his criminal empire, killing off two of the latter's loyal partners in the process. Already erratic, the trauma has apparently driven him completely insane. Napier, in the meantime, is not dead but horribly disfigured, with chalk white skin, emerald green hair, and a permanent ruby red grin (after a botched reconstructive surgery attempt). At a fund-raising party, Bruce meets and falls for famous photojournalist Vicki Vale, recently arrived in town to cover the 'Bat-Man phenomenon.' īatman, as we discover, is actually billionaire industrialist Bruce Wayne, an orphan who lives alone in the large mansion Wayne Manor, with only his butler Alfred in attendance. ' Where does he get those wonderful toys?' ―The Joker. Although surrounded by the police, Batman escapes the scene. Napier falls over a railing into a vat of toxic chemicals. The latter deflects his shot, sending shrapnel into the former's face. Batman vanishes, and in the confusion, Napier shoots and kills Eckhardt, then attempts to shoot a re-emerged Batman. Batman captures Napier, but releases him when Bob holds Gordon hostage at gunpoint. The plot is foiled by the arrival of Commissioner Gordon, who wants Napier taken alive, and Batman. Grissom, on discovering that his mistress is involved with Napier, sets him up to be killed by Eckhardt in a raid on Axis Chemicals. After stonewalling Knox, Eckhardt is shown taking a payoff from Grissom's second in command, Jack Napier. Max Eckhardt, one of many police officers on the take from Grissom. Newspaper reporter Alexander Knox is attempting to investigate, but his questions are deflected by skeptical cops, including Lt. Meanwhile, a dark vigilante dressed as a bat has attracted the attention of both the police and the local media. Dent, in turn, targets mob boss Carl Grissom, who sponsors much of the criminal activity within Gotham and has paid off a significant segment of the police force. Gotham's Mayor Borg orders District Attorney Harvey Dent to make the city safe again, in hopes of revitalizing local business. I want you to tell all your friends about me.'Īpproaching its 200th Anniversary, Gotham City's leaders fear that the high level of criminal activity will deter citizens from attending the celebrations. The look of the city as well as Batman's new paraphernalia would also impact DC's mainstream comic continuity. The film also served as an inspiration for Batman: The Animated Series, because of its dark nature and Academy Award winning production design. Inspired by the earliest issues of Detective Comics as well as the grittier Batman comics of the 1980s (including the work of Frank Miller and Alan Moore), the film moved the franchise back toward Batman's dark roots and away from the comedic, child-oriented interpretation of the character previously seen in mass media. Released a month after Batman's 50th anniversary of his comic debut, directed by Tim Burton and the first to star Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman. īatman is the first installment of the Warner Brothers Batman Film Franchise based on the DC Comics character of the same name. It was the Batman.' ―Excerpt from end of the film's novelization. Long ago, it was believed that gargoyles could protect a place from evil. And overhead, the gargoyles watched silently from the old Gotham Cathedral. Down on the streets, music played, people laughed, life went on. ' They turned off the Bat-Signal as the Sun set over Gotham City.

Batman forever movie 1989