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Batnerd: Greetings fanboys, fangirls, comic nerds and sci-fi geeks, and welcome to another installment of Batnerd: Presents. You know...there's plenty of batman movies that people considers the "Best" Batman movie. Some will say that "The Dark Knight" is the best Batman movie. Others disagrees and would say Batman 89. And heck, some even considers "Batman and Robin" to be the best one, because its so bad its good. Each to their own opinion I suppose.

But...there is one movie that some considers the best one, and even if people don't think of it as "The best" it still ranks pretty high. This was the very first animated Batman movie to get a theatrical release, and its part of the DC animated universe. Batman: Mask of the phantasm.

Yeah, many people think of this movie as the ultimate batman movie. Partially inspired by the Year 2 storyline, it sees a new murderous vigilante arriving in Gotham called "The phantasm" Who comes to kill of members of the Valestra mob.

And..SPOILER ALERT in case you haven't seen the movie, so turn back now.

You still here?

You absolutely sure?

No turn backs?

Not even one?

Okay then.

As it turns out, the Phantasm is revealed to be Andrea Beaumont. The FIRTS woman that Bruce actually loved. He was even willing to give up his crusade and never be Batman so that he could marry her, the only thing that made him become batman after that was when Andrea and her father had to leave the country.

Many people considers the Phantasm to be a great character, and the surprise is that through the years after the movie was released, the character never appeared in comic book canon. This was a big surprise since characters from the DCAU, such as Harley Quinn, Lock-up, and Livewire all made transitions from animation into the main comic book continuity. But no, the only comic stuff the Phantasm appeared in was spin-off comics that took place in the same continuity as the DCAU.

However, that has recently changed now. A few months ago, it was revealed that the Phantasm will make her debut in the main DC comic continuity at last, and fans have rejoiced! .....however...there is one catch....she will make her debut...in the upcoming Batman/Catwoman comic written by.....Tom...King...

Yeah...you already know how I feel about his writing...but usually he has written mini-series which has been well recieved...with the expection of Heroes in Crisis...so I have seen that some people are optimistic. Me? Im a bit cautious, but I decided to keep up with this since its the Phantasm's DC Comics debut. And...one thing we have learned now is that...Tom King intends to make the animated movie canon. Minus the Joker origin stuff. screenrant.com/batman-mask-pha…

As I look at this...I end up asking...can that story and that version of Andrea Beaumont even work IN DC canon?

Okay, so we don't fully know all the details regarding what King means when he says that they considers the events of the animated movie canon. Does he mean all the entire movie as a whole, or does he simply mean Andrea's origin and her relationship with Bruce? Cause I honestly see some problems with both...

First of all...once again, King shows that he has NO clue about continuity with this. If he plans to make the flashbacks of the movie canon to the comics...it doesn't work, especially considering what he himself has written. In his writing, the events of Batman year one is canon. And if thats the case, then the flashbacks from the movie CAN'T be canon, because those contradicts much of the things that happens in Batman Year one, and vice versa. But sure. Maybe its just the first meeting between Batman and Catwoman that are canon. But even so, this still doesn't work. Because, ALSO according to HIS OWN writing, Batman: Zero year is ALSO canon, and that story REALLY contradicts the events of the Flashbacks from Phantasm.

You can't just take EVERY Batman origins and make ALL the details canon. It just doesn't work that way. It contradicts things and make a mess of it all.

And if he means that EVERYTHING in the animated movie is canon, then it doesn't work either. Why is that? Because of THE JOKER. The Joker had a big role in the movie, and it was tied WITH the origin of the Phantasm. Because The Joker KILLED her father. Or...to be precise...the person the joker was BEFORE the chemicals killed her father. And King says they are removing all the Joker origin stuff here? It simply doesn't work.

Here's the thing about Andrea...she is a twisted mirror reflection of Bruce. They both lost their parents, both get fueled by Vengeance, both take on a image of fear, but the difference is that Andrea begins to Kill. Heck, before details were changed, their fathers were actually KILLED By the same person.

This is something not many people know, but during the course of Batman: TAS, the man who murdered Bruce's parents was actually JACK NAPIER, just like in the 1989 Batman movie. the man who would become the Joker. This makes sense as a LOT of stuff from the Burton movies made its way into the animated series. But before the series ever confirmed this, they changed it so that the killer was Joe Chill, like in DC canon. But even so, in the movie, Andrea's father is still killed by Jack Napier. The Man who would become the Joker.

Im not against the idea of Making Phantasm part of the main DC Canon. but you need to change a lot more details then just removing Joker origin stuff in order to make it work in the main DC canon. Especially with how much stuff that contradicts one another.

One other thing to take into account too is that..well...phantasm. When the movie was made, that characters was partially based on an already existing Batman villain. The Reaper. If you look here, you can actually see some similarities between them. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia…
img.purch.com/o/aHR0cDovL3d3dy…

Both were murderous vigilantes with a sort of Grim Reaper look to them. Both were a symbol of death. Heck, much of their history is similar too, the difference is that...well...With Reaper, its the father who is the Reaper, with Phantasm, its the daughter who is the phantasm. But thats a very simple explanation. I recommend reading Year 2 or the new detective comics annual by Tomasi. If you read those and compare with the Mask of the Phantasm movie, you'll see many similarities.

But yeah...point is, The Reaper already exists in DC canon. And if ALL of the Mask of the Phantasm Movie is canon, won't that just make things more weird? That Batman had a relationship with two people, whom he proposed and both of those women are linked with a murderous vigilante with a grim reaper and death motive?

Im not saying its impossible for the Phantasm to work in comics. Im just saying there has to be some changes in details for her to work in the Main DCU timeline.

But...aside from who the writer is, what do you guys think? You look forward to have the Phantasm become part of the main DCU timeline? Or do you think she would be better off with just being in the DCAU?

Batman and related characters belongs to DC comics.

Description
Batnerd: Greetings fanboys, fangirls, comic nerds and sci-fi geeks, and welcome to another installment of Batnerd: Presents. You know...there's plenty of batman movies that people considers the "Best" Batman movie. Some will say that "The Dark Knight" is the best Batman movie. Others disagrees and would say Batman 89. And heck, some even considers "Batman and Robin" to be the best one, because its so bad its good. Each to their own opinion I suppose.

But...there is one movie that some considers the best one, and even if people don't think of it as "The best" it still ranks pretty high. This was the very first animated Batman movie to get a theatrical release, and its part of the DC animated universe. Batman: Mask of the phantasm.

Yeah, many people think of this movie as the ultimate batman movie. Partially inspired by the Year 2 storyline, it sees a new murderous vigilante arriving in Gotham called "The phantasm" Who comes to kill of members of the Valestra mob.

And..SPOILER ALERT in case you haven't seen the movie, so turn back now.

You still here?

You absolutely sure?

No turn backs?

Not even one?

Okay then.

As it turns out, the Phantasm is revealed to be Andrea Beaumont. The FIRTS woman that Bruce actually loved. He was even willing to give up his crusade and never be Batman so that he could marry her, the only thing that made him become batman after that was when Andrea and her father had to leave the country.

Many people considers the Phantasm to be a great character, and the surprise is that through the years after the movie was released, the character never appeared in comic book canon. This was a big surprise since characters from the DCAU, such as Harley Quinn, Lock-up, and Livewire all made transitions from animation into the main comic book continuity. But no, the only comic stuff the Phantasm appeared in was spin-off comics that took place in the same continuity as the DCAU.

However, that has recently changed now. A few months ago, it was revealed that the Phantasm will make her debut in the main DC comic continuity at last, and fans have rejoiced! .....however...there is one catch....she will make her debut...in the upcoming Batman/Catwoman comic written by.....Tom...King...

Yeah...you already know how I feel about his writing...but usually he has written mini-series which has been well recieved...with the expection of Heroes in Crisis...so I have seen that some people are optimistic. Me? Im a bit cautious, but I decided to keep up with this since its the Phantasm's DC Comics debut. And...one thing we have learned now is that...Tom King intends to make the animated movie canon. Minus the Joker origin stuff. screenrant.com/batman-mask-pha…

As I look at this...I end up asking...can that story and that version of Andrea Beaumont even work IN DC canon?

Okay, so we don't fully know all the details regarding what King means when he says that they considers the events of the animated movie canon. Does he mean all the entire movie as a whole, or does he simply mean Andrea's origin and her relationship with Bruce? Cause I honestly see some problems with both...

First of all...once again, King shows that he has NO clue about continuity with this. If he plans to make the flashbacks of the movie canon to the comics...it doesn't work, especially considering what he himself has written. In his writing, the events of Batman year one is canon. And if thats the case, then the flashbacks from the movie CAN'T be canon, because those contradicts much of the things that happens in Batman Year one, and vice versa. But sure. Maybe its just the first meeting between Batman and Catwoman that are canon. But even so, this still doesn't work. Because, ALSO according to HIS OWN writing, Batman: Zero year is ALSO canon, and that story REALLY contradicts the events of the Flashbacks from Phantasm.

You can't just take EVERY Batman origins and make ALL the details canon. It just doesn't work that way. It contradicts things and make a mess of it all.

And if he means that EVERYTHING in the animated movie is canon, then it doesn't work either. Why is that? Because of THE JOKER. The Joker had a big role in the movie, and it was tied WITH the origin of the Phantasm. Because The Joker KILLED her father. Or...to be precise...the person the joker was BEFORE the chemicals killed her father. And King says they are removing all the Joker origin stuff here? It simply doesn't work.

Here's the thing about Andrea...she is a twisted mirror reflection of Bruce. They both lost their parents, both get fueled by Vengeance, both take on a image of fear, but the difference is that Andrea begins to Kill. Heck, before details were changed, their fathers were actually KILLED By the same person.

This is something not many people know, but during the course of Batman: TAS, the man who murdered Bruce's parents was actually JACK NAPIER, just like in the 1989 Batman movie. the man who would become the Joker. This makes sense as a LOT of stuff from the Burton movies made its way into the animated series. But before the series ever confirmed this, they changed it so that the killer was Joe Chill, like in DC canon. But even so, in the movie, Andrea's father is still killed by Jack Napier. The Man who would become the Joker.

Im not against the idea of Making Phantasm part of the main DC Canon. but you need to change a lot more details then just removing Joker origin stuff in order to make it work in the main DC canon. Especially with how much stuff that contradicts one another.

One other thing to take into account too is that..well...phantasm. When the movie was made, that characters was partially based on an already existing Batman villain. The Reaper. If you look here, you can actually see some similarities between them. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia…
img.purch.com/o/aHR0cDovL3d3dy…

Both were murderous vigilantes with a sort of Grim Reaper look to them. Both were a symbol of death. Heck, much of their history is similar too, the difference is that...well...With Reaper, its the father who is the Reaper, with Phantasm, its the daughter who is the phantasm. But thats a very simple explanation. I recommend reading Year 2 or the new detective comics annual by Tomasi. If you read those and compare with the Mask of the Phantasm movie, you'll see many similarities.

But yeah...point is, The Reaper already exists in DC canon. And if ALL of the Mask of the Phantasm Movie is canon, won't that just make things more weird? That Batman had a relationship with two people, whom he proposed and both of those women are linked with a murderous vigilante with a grim reaper and death motive?

Im not saying its impossible for the Phantasm to work in comics. Im just saying there has to be some changes in details for her to work in the Main DCU timeline.

But...aside from who the writer is, what do you guys think? You look forward to have the Phantasm become part of the main DCU timeline? Or do you think she would be better off with just being in the DCAU?

Batman and related characters belongs to DC comics.