As a grim , obsessed loner dedicate to fighting crime in all its contour , Batman is supposed to have no time for sexual love , yet somehow nearly all his bouncy - natural action picture show have had a tokenish sexual love sake . However , the animated Mask of the Phantasm roll around the idea that Bruce Wayne had a fleeting yet meaningful chance at romantic happiness when he was at his most vulnerable — and its passing is what at long last send him down on his tragic way of life .
Batman : Mask of the Phantasm grapple a feat that very few comics storyline ( and no other motion picture adaptation ) has accomplished : it piddle you trust that Batman is — or was — capable of desiring a romantic relationship . The 1993 movie , recently liberate on Blu - ray , combines component from several influential comics report , like Batman : Year One and Batman : Year Three . It ’s the close that the Batman : The Animated Series squad ever catch to bear witness the main character ’s inception — and the best Batman love level ever separate .
The plot ’s main concerns are with Batman trying to compute out the identity of the Phantasm , a mystic new vigilante kill family boss in Gotham . Meanwhile , Bruce Wayne is reacquaint himself with long - lose former concubine Andrea Beaumont , back in Gotham after spend prison term afield . Spoiler : Andrea Beaumont is the Phantasm and she ’s kill the old mafiosos as retaliation for their involvement in her father ’s death , which drove her from Gotham and away from Bruce .
Early on , we see Bruce Wayne late into his playboy schtik , fending off the advances of multiple women . He gets asked if he ’s ever think of marriage but another woman discarded by Bruce tender a acrimonious solution , punctuated by flip a glass of wine in his human face . This succession return into the familiar thematic use of romanticism - as - feint in Batman history but then veers out from familiarity . We next see Bruce reminisce about lost love Andrea , which in and of itself is a rare occurrence in the Bat - mythos .
As the pic moves back and forth between past and present , we see a youthful version of Bruce , having just hark back to Gotham after his training , quick to begin his mission to crusade crime , but incertain how to do it . On a sojourn to the cemetery , he first meets Andrea at the graves of their parents , and forthwith feels a kinship . Soon they ’re function out on appointment , and being playful with each other .
set a first - sexual love storyline in Bruce ’s shaping adult years is a brainy move . Pre - Batsuit Bruce is still assay to honor his childhood vow to fight crime , and he wonder whether he can engage both love and “ The Plan ” at the same time . That dubiousness shows how the relationship intensify the danger and stakes of Bruce ’s mission , but more significantly , it gives him a glimpse of a life story that he could never have ideate as a heartbreak - stricken youngster . It ’s an important windowpane into how love can change our lives and how we think of them . Mask of the Phantasm ’s most powerful setting happens in front of the Waynes ’ Stephanie Graf when Bruce begin overwhelmed by the competing desire for love and jurist .
The rift of that romance act as a net thrust toward his becoming Batman , which make his conclusion to commit his integral life to being a masked vigilante even more tragic .
Most painful of all is the miniscule glimmer of hope that hovers over the movie ’s last third . Batman and Andrea have a acrid - then - angelical reunion , and you could almost imagine the hoagie pulling her aside from the darkness that made her become the Phantasm .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuPTm-cnxy8
But she ’s too completely committed to her own version of “ The Plan , ” having made the option that Bruce made years ago for the exact same reason . It ’s well-defined that their honey for each other still exists but it ’s not enough to carry through their damage souls .
None of the resilient - action Batman movies have ever handle to employ romantic drama this well . Most of them have had love interests who ’ve feel perfunctory and cosmetic . In the comics , the most celebrated elision to the overall disfunction of Batman ’s sexual love life have been Catwoman , Silver St. Cloud , and Talia al Ghul . There ’ve been other women in Bruce ’s life , like Julie Madison or Vicki Vale , but those aforementioned three have most impacted his life . His entanglement with Talia al Ghul made him a father , while his current go - round with Catwoman has had him suggest to her .
The relationship between Andrea Beaumont and Bruce Wayne reminds me most of the one Bruce had with Silver St. Cloud in the classic Steve Englehart / Marshall Rogers footrace . ash gray figures out that Batman and Bruce are the same soul and eventually leaves Gotham of her own volition , because of the emphasis of what she knew and what it mean . She effectively dumps Bruce , not unlike how Andrea leaves him after he proposes in Mask of the Phantasm . Somehow , it ’s sadder when the cold - hearted Batman is the one that gets walked away from .
Bruce Wayne created the Batman identity from a home of pain , deciding to sacrifice his own personal felicity and well - being for the greater good . There ’s an constituent of love in that formula but not one that could stop him from feeling lonesome . Mask of the Phantasm loosen the audience with the opening of a love affair with someone who knows his secrets and shares a parallel driveway for vengeance — then cruelly snap it aside , adding another layer of poignancy to the Dark Knight ’s existence .
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