The new Batman 1989 sequel admits to a huge plot hole in Tim Burton’s original and finally fixes it

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Batman: Resurrection

The smart thing about new Batman (1989) sequel Batman: Resurrection Is that writer John Jackson Miller sought to use existing holes in the original plot to build a story. In doing so, Miller manages to write two of the most famous Batman villains to never appear in a live-action DC movie, as well as centering the story around the very popular figure of Jack Nicholson’s Joker. It’s a brave thing to do, because Tim Burton’s Batman movies are beloved, but Resurrection is a resounding success.

The novel not only introduces Clayface as a natural continuation of Joker’s story, but also poses a question that many Batman fans have been asking since 1989: Is Joker really dead? It was always so final, and the quality of the character was so strong that his sudden end made the desire to see more of him in the irresistibly nagging question. It’s the same anxious question Batman faces, as a new villain weapons Bruce Wayne’s own troubled psyche against him to give the Joker new life in DC’s movie timeline.

That it all comes back to Miller’s own fandom and the question of a couple of long discussed Batman ’89 plot holes make this whole effort more impressive. And to enjoy both how it’s done, and how the plot holes are resolved, you have to start where they do.

Batman 1989’s Big Plot Holes Explained

Production pressure leaves one of the Dark Knight’s most enduring headscratchers

Batman ’89s end saw Jack Nicholson’s Joker fall from a helicopter off the edge of Gotham City’s towering cathedral. He fell in some style, opposite the street, which became his grave, with his laughing box he initially announced a nourishing injury of his eternal life, even after his death. Back a little though, and you come to One major plot hole and one very confusing one.

Let’s deal with the latter first: Faced with the man responsible for the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents, Batman wrestles with his need for revenge:

Batman: I’m going to kill you!

The Joker: You idiot! You made me. Remember?

You dropped me in the vat of chemicals. This was not easy to get over, and do not think that I did not try.

Batman: I know you did… you killed my parents.

The Joker: what? what? what are you talking about

Batman: I made you, you made me first.

The Joker: Hey, bat-brain, I mean, I was a kid when I killed your parents. I mean, I say “I made you” you have to say “You made me.” I mean, how childish can one get?

That “I was a kid when I killed your parents” line never made sense, Because Joker never knew Bruce Wayne was Batman. To accept him has created too many other plot holes, and there is just no hint of it in the rest of the movie.

The other issue came a little earlier when Batman chases Joker up to the roof of the cathedral, with both somehow emerging in preposterously quick time up the winding staircase. Joker radios to say that he is heading there to convene with his escape helicopter, but when Batman goes up to the roof, some of the Joker’s men are already there. The goons include Lawrence, the boombox carrying henchman who returns the resurrection As a key figure as the martial artist and the boxer.

But Their appearance on the roof is impossible: They didn’t know Joker was headed in that direction with enough time to get there, and they weren’t with Joker and Vicky Vale when they entered the cathedral. That plot hole was never resolved, and became the catalyst for Miller’s sequel in a clever way.

The whole issue was created thanks to the interference of producer Jon Peters (the same person who tried to get a giant spider to fight Superman), who changed the finale, moved it to the top of the cathedral, added Vicki Vale and the fight , and forced the creation of a 40-foot miniature model of the cathedral that pushed the bloated budget up by another $100,000.

Batman Resurrection finally admits Tim Burton’s plot hole exists

35 years later, it is no longer a dirty secret

The history of Batman: Resurrection Centers on the return of the Joker, seemingly from the dead, with Bruce Wayne chasing shadows to determine whether Napier actually died. Cleverly, the handlers being on the cathedral roof becomes part of his investigation – as well as part of his repeated nightmares about the night Joker died. Combined with some carefully placed evidence (like the Joker’s corpse being swapped with an imposter in his grave) by the real villain pulling the strings, it’s an impressive exercise in gaslighting Batman.

The question of how Joker knew who the Waynes were and their connection to Batman also plays part in the deception, as the Dark Knight tries to work his way back to how this could even be possible. It’s not even that the answers that come are particularly complicated or changeable Batman ’89 In many ways: the impressive thing is how Miller crafts a story around uncertainty. He uses them to unveil a plot by an iconic DC villain – Revealed to be a secret accomplice to the Joker and the key to the creation of the Smilex chemical weapon – Who traps Batman in a web of deception that almost unravels him.

How Batman Resurrection fixes the Joker plot hole

Sometimes the simplest answer is the best

Batman: Resurrection Addresses the plot holes right at the end very precisely, revealing that after his arrest, Lawrence the bartender spilled the information about how the bartenders are on the roof. By this point, in a near-death experience, Batman is also told the answer by the Joker himself in what initially appears to be a fantasy sequence, but which Chillingly seems to be a genuine glimpse into the afterlife.

It was finally revealed by Lawrence’s confession that, as Joker told Batman in his vision, the henchmen were stationed on the roof as lookouts, anticipating the arrival of the Feds to break up Joker’s attack on Gotham. This explains why so few of them are there – to the point that they are no real threat to Batman. It’s a simple solution that also explains why Joker chooses to make the climb for his rescue, even if it’s a bit contrived.

“All the questions I had about Jack Napier last night have been resolved. Gordon found a prison snitch who said Lawrence admitted that the Joker had sent him and the other two guys up to the cathedral earlier to stand watch.”

Joker’s vision also reveals that his comment of being a “kid” when he killed the vines was empty bluster. Bruce tells Vicki Vale how much she’s about to leave Gotham for good:

“And the Joker said he was a child when he killed your parents?”

“He didn’t know I was Batman when he said that. It was just a blur on his part. He kept bringing it up. The fact that it’s accurate was a coincidence.”

“A stopped clock is right twice a day.”

“Or a broken one. My mistake was taking any of it seriously.”

There you have it, two plot holes talked into one in a way that actually helps improve Batman (1989) thanks to VI the resurrection Build its compelling story. It’s just a shame we won’t get to see everything in live-action.

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