Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is a 1993 American animated superhero filmfeaturing the DC Comics character Batman. Directed by Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm, it is a cinematic stand-alone continuation of Batman: The Animated Series and the first original theatrical film produced by Warner Bros. Animation.

The film was written by Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Martin Pasko, and Michael Reaves. Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Bob Hastings and Robert Costanzo reprise their roles from The Animated Series, joined by Dana Delany, Hart Bochner, Stacy Keach, John P. Ryan, Dick Miller and Abe Vigoda. Its story follows Batman as he reconciles with a former lover, Andrea Beaumont, and faces a mysterious vigilante who is murdering Gotham City's crime bosses. The plot was inspired by Mike W. Barr's Batman: Year Two comic book story arc, but features an original antagonist, the Phantasm, in place of the Reaper.

Originally planned for a direct-to-videorelease, Warner Bros. gave Mask of the Phantasm a theatrical release, condensing its production into a strenuous eight-month schedule. The film was released through the studio's Family Entertainment division on December 25, 1993, to positive reviews from critics, who praised the stylized animation, voice performances, story, and music.

Due to the decision to release it in theaters on short notice, Mask of the Phantasm failed at the box office. After its release on home video, it became financially successful. Its success led to two direct-to-video standalone sequels, Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero in 1998 and Mystery of the Batwoman in 2003. Until the limited release of Batman: The Killing Joke in 2016, Mask of the Phantasm was the only animated Batman film to be given a theatrical release.

Plot
A young Bruce Wayne meets Andrea Beaumont while visiting his parents' grave, and they form a deep mutual attraction. That night, in one of his first crime-fighting attempts, Bruce foils an armored car robbery, but is discouraged because the criminals did not fear him. Bruce decides against avenging his parents, feeling he should do what they wanted had they lived to see him as an adult, and proposes marriage to Andrea, who accepts. However, Andrea mysteriously leaves Gotham with her father, businessman Carl Beaumont, ending her engagement in a "Dear John" letter. Believing he has lost his last chance of having a normal life, Bruce becomes Batman.

Ten years later in the present, Batman confronts a group of Gotham City crime bosses led by Chuckie Sol, who are intending to launder millions of counterfeit dollars in a casino. As Sol escapes to his car, a cloaked figure attacks him; Sol is killed when the figure causes him to drive out the side of a parking garage and crash into a neighboring building. Batman is seen immediately afterwards, and is blamed for killing Sol. Councilman Arthur Reeves tells the media Batman is a menace (despite Commissioner Gordon's protests). Attending a party at Wayne Manor, Reeves teases Bruce for allowing Andrea to leave him.

The cloaked figure murders another gangster, Buzz Bronski, in the same cemetery Bruce met Andrea. Buzz's bodyguards see the same mysterious figure flee the scene and presume it is Batman. Batman investigates Bronski's death and wanders to his parents' tombstone. He finds Andrea talking at her mother's grave, just as she had been when he first met her. She is startled by Batman's appearance and he flees, causing her to realize who he is. Batman finds evidence linking Carl Beaumont with Sol, Bronski and a third gangster: Salvatore Valestra. He breaks into Valestra's home and finds a picture of Bronski, Valestra, Sol and Beaumont seated at a table. When he visits Andrea to try to get more answers she rebuffs him, intimating she now knows his identity. Meanwhile, Valestra, believing Batman killed the others and will come for him, turns to Reeves, who rebuffs him, figuring he is a now an aged, powerless gangster. Valestra then contacts the Joker for help.

The figure arrives at Valestra's house but finds the gangster dead by Joker's hands, and through a camera strapped to Valestra's corpse, Joker sees the murderer is not Batman. The figure escapes as the house explodes. Batman pursues and fights the killer, but is interrupted by the police and rescued from arrest by Andrea. Andrea later explains she and her father had been hiding in Europe from Valestra's mob, from whom he had embezzled money; her father repaid everything, but they put out a hit for his death anyway. Bruce now believes that her father is the killer. Bruce ponders resuming his relationship with Andrea and giving up Batman. Looking at the photo of Bronski, Valestra, Sol and Beaumont, he sees Valestra's chauffeur in the background; Bruce realizes the chauffeur is actually the man who would become the Joker. Joker visits Reeves to press him for information about the killer; Reeves insists the killer is Batman, but Joker, believing Reeves is the killer, states Reeves needs to protect his own reputation and poisons him. Reeves is taken to the hospital where Batman later breaks in and interrogates him. Reeves confesses he helped the Beaumonts escape, but later told Valestra's mob Carl's location when Carl declined to help fund his first election campaign, leading Batman to realize who the killer truly is.

The cloaked figure tracks Joker to his hideout and, as Joker has also deduced, is revealed to be Andrea, intent on avenging her father's death by killing every last surviving member of Valestra's mob: with all the others dead, Joker is the last one alive, and is the one who had carried out the hit on her father. Joker fights her, but before he can kill Andrea, Batman arrives and begs Andrea to give up her quest. She refuses and disappears. After Batman and the Joker battle to a stalemate, with the amusement park about to be blown up, Andrea returns and seizes Joker, bidding Batman goodbye before vanishing with the maniacally laughing clown, and Batman barely escapes the explosions. Alfred later consoles Bruce, telling him no one could have helped Andrea. Bruce finds her locket, containing a picture of himself and Andrea, in the Batcave. Meanwhile, Andrea departs from Gotham on an ocean liner, feeling completely lost. Batman stands on top of a Gotham building when the Bat-Signal appears in the sky, and swings off into the night to continue his war on crime.

Cast

 * Mark Hamill as The Joker
 * Kevin Conroy as Batman
 * Dana Delany as Andrea Beaumont
 * Hart Bochner as Arthur Reeves
 * Abe Vigoda as Salvatore Valestra
 * Stacy Keach as Carl Beaumont/The Phantasm
 * Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Alfred Pennyworth
 * Bob Hastings as Commissioner Jim Gordon