Batman Returns revisited: the most anti-franchise franchise movie ever made

“Who let Vicki Vale into the Batcave? I’m sitting there working and I turn around, there she is. ‘Oh hi, Vick, come on in.’” This bit of dialogue between Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) and Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough) in 1992’s Batman Returns pokes fun at one of the most infamous plot points in the franchise’s previous movie. 1989 Batman, Alfred reveals Batman’s true identity and secret hideout to Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger), all so Bruce can finally get a second date. It’s the kind of puzzling narrative choice that’s meant to streamline a film’s emotional arc, even if it makes no sense. We can now move on, knowing his secrets. It was great to have that cleared up!

Such script elements with blunt plot lines and popcorn-y plot lines led Tim Burton not to accept these elements. Batman following the film’s release. He found the movie “boring,” a far cry from his passionate, disheveled embrace of his other films. His disappointment over Warner Bros’ control of the film, complete with behind-the-scenes drama about the decisions made behind his back, threatened to swallow any passion he had for the Dark Knight.

Burton initially didn’t want to revisit Gotham City. He only returned for a sequel after he was guaranteed more creative freedom (“What if the second movie is really just a Tim Burton movie?” Warner execs allegedly asked him.) Burton’s best films, especially early ones like BeetlejuiceAnd Edward ScissorhandsThey combine fairytale logic and satire with some gruesomeness. These images show the rebellious nature of the creator, who empathizes with his lonely outcasts. You can watch the entire series with Batman ReturnsHe was granted the right to perform even more with the help of a well-known character around the globe.

You can’t. Batman Returns even be called a sequel to Burton’s Batman? Burton clearly believed that he had nothing to do the original. He had the power to make it work. Batman ReturnsIt has evolved to be perhaps the anti-franchise film franchise of all time. This is a refutation to the notion that huge superhero films and other movies of this scale should follow a fan-friendly expansion strategy.

There is no return to the standard

Warner Bros.

Burton distances Batman ReturnsIt is a recurring theme in the film, having been borrowed so many times from its predecessor. Daniel Waters as screenwriter (with Wesley Strick punching-ups and doing doctoring) clearly feels free from the constraints of what was in place for the film. This wasn’t great news for Sam Hamm, the screenwriter of the original, who took a preliminary stab at Returns’ Document with an engaging story. Batman and the comics’ version of Catwoman and Penguin. The original was thrown away Batman Returns Where 1989 left off, script was picked up Batman left off, an approach we expect as an inherent staple in today’s superhero blockbusters.

Penguin (Danny DeVito) and Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) were always meant to be the film’s villains. Warner Bros. made this immovable decision early on, running down Batman’s rogues’ gallery and picking the names they considered most popular after Joker. Hamm also introduced Robin in his script, continued Bruce’s romance with Vicki Vale (with Bruce eventually proposing to her), and brought back comic-relief reporter Alexander Knox (Robert Wuhl). Harvey Bullock, his favorite lieutenant and longtime friend of the Commissioner Gordon (Pat Hingle), would have joined him. All of these plans were abandoned by Burton. Hamm had a better idea and he was ready to move in that direction.

The script Burton and Waters wrote to replace Hamm’s version overhauled Batman’s universe and refuted the comics’ version of his world. In this movie, Penguin isn’t a deformed mobster — he’s the orphan prince of the sewers. Catwoman isn’t a slick thief, she’s a lowly secretary turned femme fatale after being pushed out a window by her misogynistic boss and then mystically revived by stray cats.

Robin was eventually cut (for the second time, after having his debut cut from the first film as well), and Bruce Wayne’s circle dwindled instead of expanding. The first film depicts Bruce playing aloof socialite at his mansion parties. Returns He becomes more moody and withdrawn. He sits and contemplates his empty office. He uses an iron maiden to get to the Batcave. Batman ignores Gordon’s attempts to talk about recent crime with him.

Batman’s most common arc sees him leave the shadows to learn the benefits of teamwork. Returns seems like a step back from the traditions of his story’s progression. Batman movies aren’t the only superhero films that follow this template for The Richard Donner story is not without its sequels. It’s all about acceptance and discovery from the outside, as well as the love of those you care for. Superman films, which build to Lois Lane finding out Clark Kent’s secret and loving him regardless.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s structure revolves around characters colliding and ultimately cooperating with other heroes and allies. This allows the MCU to be more closely reflected in comic books. Each new film adds another piece to the puzzle, with the end goal looking like those big “library of heroes” posters that have countless characters filling the frame, as if posing for a group photo.

Even Harvey Dent/Two-Face, one of DC Comics’ most notable supporting characters, is nowhere to be found in Batman ReturnsEven though BatmanAs a obvious follow-up hook, he was invited in. Instead, Gotham’s shining light is in Returns Max Shreck, a vicious capitalist and thief who wants to drain the city of its wealth is played by Christopher Walken. He doesn’t have any fantastical villain identity or comics history; he’s an unscrupulous robber baron invented for the film, a man whose malice catalyzes Penguin’s fall from grace and Catwoman’s fall from a really high window. He’s the true antagonist of the movie, leading the audience to better sympathize with the perverted Penguin and untamable Catwoman, both rejected by Gotham’s upper class.

Gotham Beyond redemption

Warner Bros.

Christopher Nolan and Matt Reeves’ later incarnations of Batman portray Gotham City as increasingly worth saving, in spite of the trickle-down effect it has regarding villains. Every climax in Nolan’s films, from the Joker’s boat-exploding scheme to Bane’s “return Gotham to the people” diatribe, is based around the manipulation of the poor and a war between classes, a thematic lay-up that Nolan never really puts in the basket. BatmanAlso, the article contrasts the riches with those who exploit them. However it concludes with the notion that there is hope for the city more than heroes. Batman Returns, with its looming metropolis based on a blend of spooky German Expressionism and fascist architecture, and its city officials ranging from clumsy to absolutely corrupt with nothing in between, seems like it’s asking why Batman even tries.

Burton and his collaborators obviously don’t much believe in the efficacy of Batman’s heroism — a step away from the majestic end of the first film, which has Batman being tacitly deputized via the shining glow of the Bat-Signal. Batman: Returns It seems that he is always working towards something. His escapades don’t feel like derring-do attempts to rid the city of the evil that stole his parents, nor do they ever unfold in that direction, like we see in Batman — they’re more like pressure-valve releases for a disturbed individual.

Bruce Wayne is in Batman Returns actually want to help the people of Gotham, or does he simply like the way a crook’s jaw cracks against his gloved fist? It says a lot about his smug smile as he attaches the dynamite to a clown strongman and throws him down a hole to his death. Nearly three decades earlier, Adam West’s chaste version of Batman scrambled to rescue people from harm, lamenting, “Some days, you just can’t get rid of a bomb!” In Batman Returns, Keaton’s horny, homicidal Batman found a solution: You just stick it on the closest bad guy.

Burton and company have similarly little faith in Bruce Wayne’s humanity. Talking to Selina Kyle, Bruce reveals that he broke up with Vicki because she couldn’t handle his dual identities: “She had trouble reconciling them because I had trouble reconciling them.” Selina makes fun of Vale’s name (“Ice skater or stewardess?” she laughs), another seeming potshot at the conventions of the comics. They end up passionately making out after Bruce compares himself to a “Norman Bates, Ted Bundy type.”

But even this reveal of a “better” partner for Batman is undone by the end, further dismissing the idea that the main point of a superhero sequel is to see heroes working to solve their problems. “You’re just jealous because I’m a genuine freak, and you have to wear a mask!” Penguin taunts Batman, who admits, “You might be right.” His ambivalence about his own crusade calls into question the potency of Batman’s scene where Bruce fully accepts his role as Gotham’s savior — another case where the sequel undercuts the original in order to focus more fully on Batman as more freak than hero.

There is no happy ending for Batman in this movie, no grand display of strength or inner resolve that tells the audience that he’s grown as a person and will emerge in the next film as a better version of himself. When he tries to offer Selina understanding and a return to normalcy, she rebukes him for his “fairy-tale” fantasy with a swiping claw to the face. Shreck casually shot them both when he tried to stop him from killing Shreck. Shortly after, Selina murders Shreck after all, disgusted with Batman’s choices. In however, Returns’ single bit of franchise-forward thinking, Catwoman survives being toasted alive with Shreck (due to a studio note out of Burton’s control, according to the film’s editor; her return isn’t in the shooting script).

It is a disappointment that Batman doesn’t get the final blow against Shreck the man manipulator of all Bruce’s misery, denying us the classic gallant climax. (The last time we see Bruce in costume, he’s simply observing the Penguin’s little funeral procession.) Long before Batman, Batman Returns commented on Bruce’s hypocritical status among the other wealthy blue bloods. He can angst as much as he wants, but he will always be different from those who rose from Gotham’s sewers or alleys. The end of the film even shows him in those same alleys… being driven around by his loyal butler, instead of standing as Gotham’s aspirational symbol.

The (less dark) Knight

Warner Bros.

Review of Batman ReturnsThese were better than those from 1989 Batman. Burton’s trademark gothic playfulness was fully on display in the 1992 film, which made for a more freewheeling story. But the public’s reactions were different. Warner Bros., confused about how to market Burton’s radical vision of its biggest property, was disappointed when the film grossed almost $100 million less domestically than its predecessor. McDonald’s, the biggest tie-in licensee for the movie, tried to course-correct after the cultural conversation around Returns turned to “Why is this movie scaring so many children?” Years later, McDonald’s demanded to review the sequel’s script before signing on for any partnerships. Before it promoted another film about a penguin-man vomiting and making sexual innuendos on himself, the company needed to be notified.

Batman Returns It sent shockwaves through the franchise, which are still felt today. This led to a lighter-hearted series that ended with Batman & RobinThe movie “The Marketability of Yetic Camp” is an example of a film which combines toyetic camp with marketability. But, it was too comical and people were reacting. Batman & RobinWarner Bros. decided to discontinue the Batman series after the 2005 reboot. Batman Begins. That film joined 2002’s Spider-ManIn establishing the comic-book and sequel-friendly format and main focus for most of the new blockbuster superhero movies. Few superhero movie directors, other than Burton, have discussed their disinterest in comics and approached fandom with humor. After Keaton had left the stage, Keaton realized that playing comic book characters was something that was mythologically significant enough for him to pursue, and not just a side job to an acting career.

Tim Burton left the franchise following his departure. Batman Returns. He produced the sequel, but also openly decried it: “I always hated those titles like Batman Forever. That sounds like a tattoo that somebody would get when they’re on drugs or something. Or something some kid would write in the yearbook.” Keaton left the series as well, unsatisfied with the sequel’s direction for Batman Forever, reportedly unsatisfied with the money, and telling the press that he didn’t find playing Batman very important to him at the time. Val Kilmer was his replacement. Batman Forever with a moment of sober self-actualization, telling his foes that he is “both Bruce Wayne and Batman,” and removing any of the gray areas that characterized Batman Returns.

The great scheme of Batman films can usually be broken down into light and darkness, the duality Bruce Wayne/Batman and the duality that blockbuster movies adapt him. On the lighter side are the Adam West TV series and movie, the Joel Schumacher films, Lego Batman, and Joss Whedon’s bantery reshoots for Justice League. On the other, you have Tim Burton’s films, Nolan’s trilogy, the animated movie Mask of Phantasm, and Zack Snyder’s aborted DC universe. In the middle lies Matt Reeves’ Batman, which eventually treats Batman’s quest with optimism: It ends with Batman comforting a child!

Batman Returns It is still a rare exception in the franchise. Often deemed “too dark” by the media, it was designed to fit into the portfolio of a director who obviously saw these damaged characters with poignant empathy. The film fades to credits on the shining Bat-Signal, just like the other three entries in the original film tetralogy, but rather than treating it like a big ol’ flashlight of hope, it just acknowledges that Batman will be around again, probably as miserable as ever. Burton and his crew took a stab at Batman’s comic book world without the burden of loyal replication, instead seeing the sequel as a permission slip to play around and be free from industry expectations. As the Penguin says, “The liberation of Gotham has begun!”