Where would superhero movies be without Tim Burton’s “Batman?” Well, for one thing, we wouldn’t have the memory of witnessing Michael Keaton’s Batman being shoehorned into the superheroic bomb that was 2022’s “The Flash.” More seriously, Burton’s 1989 mega-hit not only directly influenced the trajectory of superhero movie evolution, it changed the way studios marketed their blockbusters and re-established Batman in the public consciousness as the dark avenger first introduced in 1939’s “Detective Comics” #27.
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The fact the movie exists in the first place is nothing short of miraculous. “Batman” was a major risk in 1989. Aside from the fact the Christopher Reeve-led “Superman” films had gone out with a whimper in 1987 with “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace,” the Dark Knight just wasn’t a reliable blockbuster IP at that stage. Still very much seen by the public as the clownish figure from Adam West’s 1960s TV series, Batman was by no means a guaranteed box office success for Warner Bros., which was only made worse by the fact the relatively inexperienced Burton was directing. Having only made “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” and “Beetlejuice” by the time he was put in charge of Warners’ $35 million comic book movie (a significant budget for the time), Burton and his idiosyncratic style added to the overall risk factor — even while Warners were confident they had the right man. Then, there was Keaton himself, whose casting caused such a backlash that Burton had to fight for his star.
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With all that in mind, it’s kind of wild to think that “Batman” ended up making $412 million worldwide and became nothing short of a cultural phenomenon in the summer of ’89. Fans simply couldn’t get enough of Burton’s darkly alluring Gotham, and 36 years later, that remains the case. “Batman” is still hugely popular among nostalgic fans, which is why it was exciting for us super-fans to discover that the comic book adaptation of the movie actually includes several scenes that never made it into the original film.