It was directed by Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm, and written by Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Martin Pasko, and Michael Reaves.

Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Bob Hastings and Robert Costanzo reprise their voice roles from Batman: The Animated Series, joined by Dana Delany, Hart Bochner, Stacy Keach Jr., Abe Vigoda, Dick Miller and John P. Ryan.

Produced between the first and second seasons of the series, the film follows Batman as he reconciles with a former lover, Andrea Beaumont, and faces a mysterious vigilante, the titular Phantasm, who is murdering Gotham City's crime bosses.

Due to the decision to release it in theaters on short notice, Mask of the Phantasm failed at the box office.

However, she abruptly leaves Gotham with her father, businessman Carl Beaumont, ending the engagement in a Dear John letter.

Heartbroken, Bruce assumes the mantle of Batman after caving a large cavern nested with bats under Wayne Manor that he uses as the Batcave.

Ten years later, Chuckie Sol proposes flooding Gotham with counterfeit money but is thwarted by Batman.

Upon further investigation, he finds a photograph that links Beaumont's involvement with a mob triad that includes Sol, Bronski, their leader Salvatore Valestra, and an unnamed enforcer.

In Wayne Manor, Andrea reveals to Bruce that her father embezzled money from Valestra and was forced to flee to Europe when he could not repay them.

However, when he ran out of money during his election campaign and Carl declined to help him, he betrayed his former employer by selling his location to Valestra.

With this information, Batman deduces that Beaumont has been dead for years and the Phantasm is Andrea, who wants to avenge her father's death.

The original idea for the film was to have Batman being captured by his enemies at Arkham Asylum and face a kangaroo court in which the villains try him for making them what they are.

[3] Although the Joker does play a pivotal role in the film, it was Burnett's intention to tell a story far removed from the television series' regular rogues gallery.

Aiding Burnett in writing the script were Martin Pasko, who handled most of the flashback segments; Reaves, who wrote the climax; and Dini, who states he "filled in holes here and there".

[4] Orson Welles' 1941 classic Citizen Kane served as an influence for the flashbacks, a story about loss and the passage of time.

[4] As a visual joke, sequence director Kevin Altieri set the climax of the film inside a miniature automated model of Gotham City, where Batman and the Joker are giants.

The film's plot heavily resembles the 1987 miniseries Batman: Year Two, written by Mike W. Barr and illustrated by Alan Davis, Paul Neary, Alfredo Alcala, Mark Farmer and Todd McFarlane.

That was when I first became aware of their use of Year Two [for the film]," with the early designs of the Phantasm in particular convincing him to bring up the matter of financial compensation to Paul Levitz at DC Comics.

After telling Levitz, "I really want to keep this in the family," Barr was given a portion of the film's earnings, as well as money for the creation of the Phantasm herself.

[7] Paul Dini intended each of the flashbacks into Batman's love life to "have a tendency to get worse, when you hope things will get better."

[17] Richard Corliss of Time felt this scene paralleled Andrea's decision to avenge her own parents and reject love when she finds her own father murdered.

[19] In an interview with Cinemusic.com, Walker explained that the "Latin" lyrics used in the main title were actually names of key Warner Bros. staff read backwards.

[33] The film was released as part of the Warner Archive Collection on Blu-ray on July 25, 2017, featuring new high definition transfers in 16:9 and open matte 4:3 presentations.

[34] The film was also included in the Blu-ray release of the Batman: The Complete Animated Series box set in late 2018.

[2] The filmmakers blamed Warner Bros. for the unsuccessful marketing campaign, which is commonly attributed to the rushed production schedule due to the studio's last-minute decision to release the film theatrically.

"[38] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

In addition the film's climax and Batman's escape from the Gotham City Police Department were considered to be elaborate action sequences.

[41] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post agreed with overall aspects that included the animation, design, dialogue and storyline, as well as Shirley Walker's film score.

[43] However, Chris Hicks of the Deseret News felt "the picture didn't come alive until the third act" feeling that the animators sacrificed the visuals for the storyline.

[57] Alongside The Lion King and The Nightmare Before Christmas, Mask of the Phantasm was nominated for an Annie Award in the category of Best Animated Feature, but lost to the former.