1989 superhero film directed by Tim Burton — starring Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as the Joker — the film that defined the dark, expressionistic aesthetic of the modern superhero blockbuster — the first major studio superhero film of the blockbuster era.
Creates the template for the modern dark superhero film — Tim Burton's Batman (Gothic Expressionist production design by Anton Furst, Prince soundtrack, Nicholson's larger-than-life Joker) established that superhero films could be dark, stylized, and adult; this template shaped every subsequent iteration of Batman and influenced the entire superhero genre.
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