Tim Burton's Batman is one quarter of a century old this monday, June the 23rd!

We sometimes forget how much of a desert was the superhero movie genre in the 80ies. Superman has been tremendously succesful already thanks to the 1978 and 1980 movies. But in spite of them, since Superman 2, you could begin to see parodic elements due to the direction of Richard Lester. The fall was hard with Superman 3 and 4, without even mentioning Supergirl. The few seriousness that was featured, thanks to Richard Donner and his writer Tom Mankiewitz, had already left the genre as soon as it was introduced. And meanwhile, Marvel was ridiculing itself on tv: a "Hulk" tv show that owed much of The Fugitive than to Marvel, a completely laughable Spider-Man tv show, without speaking about the two Captain America tv movies, and this Doctor Strange everybody is trying to forget...

Icing on the cake, the director of "Beetlejuice" was about to handle Batman... With the funny guy, Beetlejuice himself, as Batman... That was all, folks, everybody was expecting a turkey.

Batman ultimately was a turning point, for both good and bad reasons.

Good reasons because the movie was spectacular, and treated on a non-parodic mode. Anton Furst's art direction was flawless, Gotham was a real character in the movie, and given an awesome mood. The batmobile was amazingly beautiful. Nicholson was impressive with madness in the Joker part. Danny Elfman's score was furious and epic. The opening credits were astounding. And at least finally, the genre was taken seriously again. And it paved the way to one of the greatest animated tv series of the 20th century!

Bad reasons because the movie enforced the idea that superheroes were better in black leather, a misconception that went into polluting even 2000's X-Men. It also imposed a picture of Batman almost opposite to the one in the comics, namely a character dressed with an almost ompletely rigid armor (Michael Keaton couldn't even look on the sides, it was only fixed in Batman Begins!). It also imposed an unique interpretation of Batman, a dark and tortured soul, where the comic books offered way more nuanced portrayals, and also correct.

In shot, 1989's Batman is still a great date in the history of superheroes in the movies. It was the first movie I saw twice in the theater! A quarter of a century ago...

The creature and its creator, Bob Kane!