Batman Returns
Summary
It was n’t until 2013 thatDCwent all - in on the idea of a cinematic population when Zack Snyder’sMan of Steelwas released to launchthe DCEU timeline- but a missedBatman Returnsreference technically begin the cognitive process far earlier . Long before the DCEU or MCU , an ironclad contender to be named the laughable book company ’s regretful live - action adaptation ever tied itself directly to a classic Batman movie , despite extend no indications it use up the same continuity . It was hardly a subtle Easter Egg , either , despite the fact it marked the only character reference made to the Dark Knight ’s big screen back catalogue .
The share timeline - or lack thereof - of the initial film serial , which begin with Tim Burton ’s 1989Batmanand finish with Joel Schumacher’sBatman & Robineight years later , has been a unvarying source of discussion and debate , and yet it almost always goes unmentioned that a ill-famed box bureau dud is also part of the conversation . It ’s long since been swing under the carpet following the Second Coming of the DCEU and now James Gunn’supcoming DC Universeoverhaul , but it yet serves to extend more questions than reply .
Batman 1989 is no longer useable to stream , and this precipitous remotion is nominate Michael Keaton ’s cut DCEU plans after The Flash even worse .
Halle Barry’s Catwoman Sees A Picture Of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Version In Catwoman (2004)
Despite its position as a box office flop that failed to recuperate its $ 100 million budget from theaters , Halle Berry’sCatwomanprovided one of the earlier examples of how a superhero enfranchisement could associate its releases through less entirely open manner . In a scene that focalize on Berry ’s Patience Phillips discovering she ’s the late in a long line of women to attain feline - attune abilities , Frances Conroy ’s Ophelia Powers explains that Patience is the latest person choose to be a messenger of the Egyptian deity Bast following a dear - end experience .
When coming to terms with her newfound status , a photo of Michelle Pfeiffer ’s Catwoman is clearly seeable on the ground in front of Patience , strongly suggesting that Burton’sBatman Returnsunfolds in the same timelineasBerry ’s four - time Razzie - winning bust . It ’s never outwardly tell which city the 2004 movie takes place in , but the check that Pfeiffer ’s Selina Kyle live somewhere in Patience ’s creation explicitly argue the Gotham City patrolled by Michael Keaton over a decade previously is part ofCatwoman ’s universe . Regardless of whether that ’s the positioning where Berry ’s version resides , the connection is there .
Why Burton’s Batman Movies Have Such A Complicated Timeline
Catwomanfirst entered development asa direct spinoff toBatman Returnsthat was supposed to have Pfeiffer reprising her use , but it spent a ten survive through constant rewrites and revisions before Berry ’s loop hit the openhanded screen in 2004 . Warner Bros. and DC never right away or indirectly acknowledged Berry’sCatwomanas part of the pre - Batman Beginstimeline , but the abbreviated glimpse of Pfeiffer nodded towards both films being part of the same interconnected enfranchisement . As a result , it only served to muddy the waters of the Burton and Schumacher eras .
Michael Gough and Pat Hingle playing Alfred Pennyworth and Commissioner Gordon in the first four movies make the belief that the quartet unfold linearly , but it was never confirmed . InBatman Returns , Keaton ’s Bruce Wayne references Alfred allow Vicki Vale into the Batcave in the previous entry , while inBatman & Robin , the costumes fag by the Riddler and Two - Face are distinguish in memory at Arkham Asylum . Each director referenced their own work , but there ’s no connective tissue paper that definitively get together Burton and Schumacher together other than Gough and Hingle .
Keaton ’s return inThe Flashwould seem to negate the opening that the first fourBatmanmovies are connected , too , with his presence in an alternating timeline highlighting how he go along as the dress up superhero . moreover , George Clooney ’s cameo heighten the opinion that he exist in his own existence , pull a clear distinction between the Burton duology and what came after . Pfeiffer ’s ocular cameo inCatwomanonly creates more confusion , with the photograph in effect confirming her existence in Berry ’s world to bind it toBatman Returns , even though it ’s the sole reference to any otherBatmanmovie made throughout .
