Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) on Netflix
PG19931h 16mActionAdventureAnimation
A masked vigilante kills Gotham's mob bosses, and witnesses blame Batman. Hunted by the police, Bruce Wayne works to clear his name as Andrea Beaumont returns to the city.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.8/1064,971 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
Trailer
Plot summary
Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City after years of training abroad, set on fighting crime to honor his murdered parents. He meets Andrea Beaumont at the cemetery where she visits her mother's grave, and the two grow close. When she leaves the city with her father, the businessman Carl Beaumont, a letter ends the engagement, and Bruce turns fully to his vigilante life. In the present, mobster Chuckie Sol dies during a confrontation with a masked figure in a Grim Reaper guise, and onlookers identify Batman. Councilman Arthur Reeves pledges to have Batman arrested. Buzz Bronski is the next mobster killed. Batman's inquiries link Sol, Bronski and Salvatore Valestra to financing from Carl Beaumont, and Andrea has returned to Gotham.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
- Thom Pintoas Additional Voices (voice)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Writer Barr believed the film's similarities to his "Batman: Year Two" were intentional, and after bringing up the matter of financial compensation with Paul Levitz at DC Comics he was given a portion of the film's earnings and money for the creation of the Phantasm.
- Mask of the Phantasm was headed for a direct-to-video release until Warner Bros. decided early in production to put it in theaters instead, leaving less than a year for production when most animated features take well over two years from finished story to final release.
- The first idea for the film had Batman captured by his enemies at Arkham Asylum and tried in a kangaroo court by the villains for making them what they are; it was dropped as "too brainy" and used later in the episode "Trial".
- To keep the Joker a solo threat, Bruce Timm and Burnett persuaded frequent Animated Series writer Dini to leave Harley Quinn out of the film, though Arleen Sorkin still voiced a minor character.
- Composer Shirley Walker said the "Latin" lyrics heard in the main title were actually the names of key Warner Bros. staff read backwards.
- The Phantasm's design went through 20 versions before one convinced the crew; Burnett said it was like the Grim Reaper with a cape but was meant to resemble the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come from Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
- Sequence director Kevin Altieri set the film's climax inside a miniature automated model of Gotham City, where Batman and the Joker are giants, as an homage to Dick Sprang-era comics that showed the hero fighting against gigantic props.
- Until the limited release of Batman: The Killing Joke in 2016, Mask of the Phantasm was the only animated Batman film given a theatrical release, and the only one with a full theatrical release until The Lego Batman Movie in 2017.
