Warning: Spoilers for Batman ’89 #4!
In the comic continuation of Tim Burton’s Batman series titled Batman ’89, DC Comics reveals one quality missing from Michael Keaton’s Batman! Being a fleeting shadow in the night might be great for scaring bad guys, but it does absolutely nothing to instill something greater in the city Batman calls home.
Brought to fans’ attention in Batman ’89 #4, by Sam Hamm and Joe Quinones, calling out the one thing that Michael Keaton didn’t have while first portraying the Dark Knight is a detail that fans of the movies might have initially overlooked. Taking place years after the conclusion of Batman Returns, this limited series picks up with an older Bruce Wayne contending with the rise of Two-Face and the return of Catwoman, even adding Drake Winston into the mix in the form of the still in progress vigilante that will eventually become Robin.
Arriving at Wayne Manor, Drake is escorted by Alfred to talk to Bruce about several topics that concern him, surprising the billionaire by immediately revealing he knows about Bruce’s nighttime escapades. Unbelieving at first that Drake has deduced that he is Batman, Bruce puts together that the other vigilante who’s been hitting the streets of Gotham is none other than Drake! Inviting Drake to stay for dinner to further discuss matters with him, Bruce — and by extension, Micheal Keaton — is called out by his new guest on a quality of Batman’s that’s missing from his entire bat-shtick!
Saying, “See, terrorizing bad guys…it’s fine, I get it, but it’s a dead-end,” Drake follows this up with an acute observation about Batman that fans of Keaton’s movies should take note of. Explaining that, “You gotta inspire people to stand up on their own…to make the kind of world they want to live in,” Drake succinctly gives this version of Batman an entirely fair critique that mostly wasn’t part of his previous Hollywood adventures.
Acting more like a shadowy unknown force that stalks the streets of Gotham, both Batman and Batman Returns painted Keaton’s Batman as a myth or legend, known by few and believed to be real by even less. And even after saving the city, installing a signal to call him when needed, and taking to the streets nightly, Batman’s presence always instilled a sense of fear or uneasy calm in the people of his city — criminal or otherwise — especially during the events of Batman Returns, where the idea of Batman inspiring people pretty much went out the window after Penguin turned the city against him en masse.
So while Keaton’s incarnation of the character had a lot of things going for him when Batman was first released, one integral element not seen was his ability to inspire the people of Gotham to become something better, rather than him just acting as an imposing guardian of justice. Michael Keaton is set to reprise his role as Batman in the upcoming The Flash movie as well as the final two issues of Batman ’89, so there’s still more than enough time to see if he can fill in this tiny gap in his heroic legacy.