Christmas approaches in Gotham City, but peace is shattered when a grotesque, sewer-dwelling figure known as the Penguin emerges with a sinister plan to locate his birth parents and seize political power. Complicating matters for the Dark Knight is the arrival of Catwoman, a mysterious and seductive vigilante with her own vendetta against a corrupt business tycoon. Batman must navigate a deadly game of cat and mouse to protect the city from a triple threat of chaos, corruption, and madness.
Information |
|
|---|---|
Language |
English |
Country |
United States United Kingdom |
Premiere date |
June 19, 1992 |
Running time |
126 minutes |
Genre |
Action Crime Fantasy Superhero Universe |
Budget |
$80,000,000 |
Box Office |
$266,822,354 |
Crew |
|
Directed by |
Tim Burton |
Produced by |
Denise Di Novi Tim Burton |
Written by |
Daniel Waters |
Music by |
Danny Elfman |
Cinematography |
Stefan Czapsky |
Edited by |
Chris Lebenzon |
Production Co. |
Warner Bros. Pictures PolyGram Filmed Entertainment |
Distributed by |
Warner Bros. Pictures |
Top Cast |
|
|
|
Official Trailer |
|
Movie Collection |
Movie Order: #02 in Batman Collection
|
The Plot
The Abandoned Heir of the Cobblepots
The story begins thirty-three years ago on a snowy Christmas night in the heart of Gotham City. In a lavish, gothic mansion, the wealthy and aristocratic Cobblepot family celebrates the birth of their firstborn son. However, the joy is short-lived as the parents gaze into the cradle and see something inherently wrong—a deformed, bird-like infant with a dark, predatory nature. The horror peaks when the newborn brutally attacks the family's pet cat, dragging the creature into his cage. Horrified and fearing for their social standing, the Cobblepots decide to discard their child. Under the cover of darkness, they carry the baby’s basket to a bridge and cast it into the freezing waters of the sewer. The basket drifts through the dark tunnels of Gotham’s underbelly, eventually coming to a halt at the feet of a colony of Emperor Penguins within the abandoned zoo.
Chaos at the Lighting of the Tree
Thirty-three years later, Gotham is once again gripped by the Christmas spirit. Max Shreck, the city’s most powerful and ruthless business tycoon, stands before a massive crowd to give a speech at the annual tree-lighting ceremony. The festivities are violently interrupted by the "Red Triangle Gang," a chaotic group of criminal circus performers who terrorize the citizens. While Batman arrives in the Batmobile to battle the looters and restore a semblance of order, Max Shreck is snatched amidst the confusion. He is dragged down into the sewers and brought before the gang's master: a short, pale, and grotesque man known only as the Penguin. The Penguin reveals that he has watched Shreck from the shadows and knows of his many illegal dealings. He blackmails Shreck, demanding the tycoon's help to re-enter Gotham’s high society and discover his true identity.
The Rise of Oswald Cobblepot
Max Shreck orchestrates a public relations masterclass to "rehabilitate" the Penguin's image. He stages a fake kidnapping of the Mayor's infant son, allowing the Penguin to emerge from the sewers as a "hero" who saves the child. The plan is a resounding success, and the Penguin becomes a media sensation. While the city cheers, Bruce Wayne remains deeply suspicious of the newcomer's sudden appearance. The Penguin requests access to the Gotham Hall of Records, ostensibly to find his parents. He eventually reveals his birth name—Oswald Cobblepot—and discovers that his parents were wealthy aristocrats who died years earlier. In a melodramatic display at their gravesite, he publicly "forgives" them. Seeing an opportunity to bypass environmental regulations for his new power plant, Shreck persuades Oswald to run for Mayor, appealing to his desire for the status his parents denied him. Oswald, initially uninterested, is seduced by the promise of ruling the city that once rejected him.
The Birth of Catwoman
While Oswald rises in the polls, tragedy strikes Shreck’s office. His timid and overlooked secretary, Selina Kyle, accidentally discovers the truth about Shreck’s "power plant"—it is actually a massive capacitor designed to drain Gotham’s electricity and grant Shreck a total monopoly. Caught in the act, Shreck pushes Selina out of a high-rise window. She falls through several canvas awnings, which slow her descent but do not prevent a traumatic impact. As she lies unconscious in an alleyway, she is swarmed and probed by a group of alley cats, including her own pet, Miss Kitty. Selina returns home in a dissociative, manic state. Triggered by a perfume advertisement, she suffers a mental break, trashing her pink, doll-filled apartment and stitching together a sleek, black vinyl catsuit. Adopting the persona of "Catwoman," she sets out to exact vengeance on Shreck and the city that ignored her.
An Unholy Alliance
The paths of the Bat, the Cat, and the Penguin soon collide. Catwoman begins a campaign of sabotage, blowing up Shreck’s department store as the Red Triangle Gang causes riots in the streets. After a brief but intense rooftop battle with Batman, where she stabs him in a weak point in his armor, she falls into a truck of sand and survives, further cementing her belief that she has "nine lives." Seeking common ground, she approaches the Penguin. The two outcasts form an alliance to destroy Batman’s reputation. Catwoman proposes framing the hero for murder, rather than just killing him. During their meeting, the tension is palpable as they playfully threaten each other’s pets, but they ultimately agree to a plan to sabotage the Batmobile, turning the Dark Knight’s own vehicle against him.
The Fall of the Candidate
The alliance's plan is executed with precision. Batman is framed for the kidnapping and murder of a local beauty queen, and Penguin takes remote control of the Batmobile, sending Batman on a destructive rampage through the city. Though Batman barely survives, the Penguin’s popularity reaches its peak. However, the alliance between the villains fractures when Catwoman rejects the Penguin’s crude sexual advances. Spurned and enraged, the Penguin attempts to kill her, but she escapes. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne retaliates by hacking the audio system at a major campaign rally for Oswald. He plays back a recording of the Penguin’s own voice, captured during the Batmobile chase, where he mocks the "shallow" citizens of Gotham. The crowd turns on him instantly, pelting him with food and debris. Oswald, snarling "I was their number one son, but they treated me like number two!", flees back into the sewers, renouncing his humanity once and for all.
The Final Plan: The Firstborn Sons
Driven by a lifetime of resentment, the Penguin reveals his ultimate endgame: he intends to kidnap and kill the firstborn sons of Gotham’s elite by drowning them in the toxic waste from Shreck’s textile plant—a horrific reflection of his own abandonment. During a high-society Masquerade Ball, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle meet as themselves and begin to realize each other’s secret identities while dancing. The moment is shattered when the Penguin crashes the party. He attempts to kidnap Max Shreck’s son, Chip, but Max heroically offers himself in his son’s place. The Penguin takes Shreck to his lair, while Batman intervenes to stop the Red Triangle Gang from abducting the city’s children. Reeling from the failure of his kidnapping plot, the Penguin initiates his "backup" plan: an army of penguins armed with surface-to-air missiles, launched toward Gotham Plaza.
A Cold Ending in the Toxic Depths
Batman uses his technology to jam the penguins' control signals, turning the birds back toward the Penguin’s lair. The resulting explosions tear through the underground hideout. Batman confronts the Penguin, swarming him with a cloud of bats that causes the villain to fall through a skylight and into the toxic, freezing water below. Amidst the wreckage, Batman finds Selina Kyle preparing to kill Max Shreck. Bruce unmasks himself, pleading with Selina to stop and let the law handle Shreck, so they can start a life together. "Bruce, I would love to live with you in your castle forever, just like in a fairy tale," she laments, "but I just couldn't live with myself." Shreck pulls a hidden gun, shooting Batman once and hitting Selina four times. Despite her wounds, Selina approaches Shreck, holding a high-voltage stun gun. She kisses him—a "kiss of death"—while grabbing a live power cable. The resulting electrical explosion incinerates Shreck and levels the area.
The Penguin's Funeral and a Shadow in the Night
When the smoke clears, Batman finds only the charred remains of Max Shreck; Selina is nowhere to be found. A mortally wounded Oswald Cobblepot emerges from the water, gasping for breath. He reaches for one of his deadly umbrella weapons to kill the Dark Knight, but in his dying confusion, he pulls out a harmless "cute" umbrella that merely spins. He collapses and dies on the cold stone. In a final show of loyalty, his penguin followers emerge from the shadows and gently slide his body into the water, performing a makeshift burial at sea. Sometime later, on Christmas night, Bruce Wayne is driven through the city by Alfred. He spots a shadow that resembles Catwoman and finds Miss Kitty in an alley. He takes the cat with him, a memento of the woman he lost. As the Bat-signal shines brightly against the clouds, the silhouette of Catwoman is seen standing on a rooftop, watching the city from above.
