It’s impossible to imagine a time when superhero movies and television series were not a staple of American culture. More than a decade of comic book content graced big screens thanks to the growth of cinematic-style movies and the rise of the DCU. Following that, in the 2000s, creative minds like Christopher Nolan and Sam Raimi showed up, bringing their own visions and innovative thinking to the movie theaters.
Comic book adaptations are more popular and dominant now than they were decades ago. However, the classics will always be considered classics. For instance, while Richard Donner’s Superman introduced the magnificent red-caped hero played by Christopher Reeve in 1978, Tim Burton’s Batman had a one-of-a-kind impact a decade later, in 1989.
Batman premiere in 1989 brought all the Hollywood A-listers under one roof
In the history of the superhero movie genre, many heroes have come and gone, but only a few have managed to completely capture the hearts of the viewers. The most important movie on this list is the Caped Crusader Batman. While numerous movies have been made on the primary protagonist Bruce Wayne, none can compare to the original, which starred Michael Keaton. Further, the sheer amount of Hollywood A-listers that attended the 1989 Batman premiere is the most obvious evidence of this.
Fans relived the memories and emotions yet again when Smooth Radio shared an Instagram video showcasing the celebrities that attended the premiere in their full glam avatars. Hollywood biggies such as Jack Nicholson, Robert Downey Jr., Sarah Jessica Parker, Winona Ryder, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Eddie Murphy, and Sylvester Stallone, to name a few, marked their attendance on the red carpet.
The video was also captioned “What a night this must have been,” wonderfully capturing the genuine spirit of the video, which takes the audience almost 4 decades back.
Batman (1989) laid the foundation for the titular character and the slew of movies that came after that. Further, it had an impact on the entire superhero genre and what fans and enthusiasts expected from a superhero movie.
Batman’s influence on superhero movies
Today, the superhero genre has expanded into a wide range of other genres, including humor, horror, and depictions of darker themes on screen. If one looks back and examines every film ever created, it is simple to conclude that the genre has experienced a succession of transformations, pushing boundaries to new heights. Interestingly, the majority of these boundaries and ground-breaking evolutions have been attained by Batman, who has reinvented what a superhero film should be.
While Batman wasn’t always the coolest character on the block, everything changed when the 1986 DC comic ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ reinvented the character and made it fairly popular among the audience, and Burton’s movie provided the final push it needed to bring the Caped Crusader back to life. However, despite being a box-office success, the film was not without controversy.
The most critical was the casting of Michael Keaton in the lead role. Trolling the lead in any movie is nothing new, as Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson have both experienced it. In Keaton’s case, he was largely recognized for his comedic appearances in films like Mr. Mom and Gung Ho, to mention a few. So, his casting received a lot of criticism, but as history shows, the actor not only played the character but also did it justice.
Batman (1989) currently streaming on Max.
