Publicly, Wayne poses as an eccentric playboy, throwing lavish fundraisers for the city and collecting rare art from around the world.

The next day, a member of the gang kidnaps the mayor's infant son, but the child is saved by the Penguin (Danny DeVito), a deformed mystery man who has lived in the sewers ever since his parents threw him into Gotham's reservoir.

Meanwhile, Wayne meets with Shreck, who had been blackmailed into helping Oswald return to the surface, to contest his plans to build a new power plant.

Soon afterward, Wayne and Kyle discover that Cobblepot attempted to frame Batman by kidnapping the Ice Princess (Cristi Conaway), who was to relight the tree, and leaving behind a batarang.

While Batman investigates the kidnapping, the Red Triangle Gang sabotages the Batmobile to allow the Penguin remote control access.

Batman finds the Ice Princess standing on the edge of a rooftop, but the Penguin arrives and startles the girl by opening one of his trick umbrellas and releasing a swarm of bats, which knocks her off the roof to her death.

With Alfred's help, Batman hacks into the Gotham Plaza's speakers during one of the Penguin's speeches and plays a recording of the villain bragging about having manipulated the entire city, causing a backlash from the crowd.

At that moment, the Penguin crashes through the floor of the room, announcing his plans to kill all of the first-born sons of Gotham and take Shreck hostage.

After the GCPD seizes the Penguin's destroyed lair, Wayne finds Kyle's black cat, Miss Kitty, in an alleyway, as a very much alive Catwoman watches him from a rooftop while the Bat Signal shines in the sky.

Batman is called to stop the gangster Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) from robbing the Second Bank of Gotham, with help from Gordon and psychologist Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman), who becomes instantly attracted to him.

Two-Face was once Gotham's District Attorney, Harvey Dent, before a criminal scarred half of his face with acid, for which he blames Batman.

During a charity circus performance, Wayne witnesses Two-Face attack and murder a family of acrobats dubbed the Flying Graysons, leaving their youngest son, Dick (Chris O'Donnell), an orphan.

Two-Face and the Riddler take Meridian and Robin hostage, setting a trap that would force Batman to choose between saving one life or the other.

In his prior research, Fries accidentally fell backwards into a tank of modified liquid nitrogen, rendering him unable to survive outside of a subzero environment.

Wayne and Grayson become acquainted with Dr. Pamela Isley, who is secretly the metahuman ecoterrorist Poison Ivy, and who seduces Robin and allies with Freeze, breaking him out of Arkham Asylum.

Freeze provides him with the cure and returns to Arkham to torment Ivy, his new cellmate, while Pennyworth makes a full recovery and reunites with Wayne, Grayson, and Barbara.

In 2023, Barry Allen / The Flash (Ezra Miller) travels back in time to prevent the murder of his mother, and accidentally lands in an alternate 2013, where various events prior to the date of his mother's murder have changed, and an older Wayne (Keaton) has retired as Batman and lives as a recluse in Wayne Manor, after having stopped "all crime" in Gotham.

After returning to his original timeline, the older Barry's father is proven innocent of the murder of his wife, and that reality's Bruce Wayne calls Allen to congratulate him.

When he arrives to the courthouse, Wayne (Clooney) looks different than the one Allen knows (Ben Affleck), as he slightly altered the timeline on his way back to create evidence that proved his father's innocence.

Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner, Charlie Sheen, Tom Selleck, Harrison Ford, Pierce Brosnan, Ray Liotta, Willem Dafoe, Alec Baldwin, Kurt Russell, Patrick Swayze, John Travolta, Richard Gere, Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Biehn, Dennis Quaid, Bruce Willis, Steven Seagal, and Jean-Claude Van Damme were all considered for the role.

[11] Over 50,000 recorded protest letters were sent to Warner Bros. offices, and the casting was questioned by screenwriter Sam Hamm, producer Michael Uslan and even Batman co-creator Bob Kane.

Ringwood stated that designing the Batsuit was difficult, claiming "the image of Batman in the comics is this huge, big six-foot-four hunk with a dimpled chin.

"[20] Producer Jon Peters had requested for the Batsuit to feature a Nike product-placement, but was shot down by Burton and Ringwood, feeling that it would not be intimidating.

Due to the second costume's much thinner cowl with increased flexibility, a greater range of head-turning was allowed but could still leave gaps folding away from the cheek.

The infamous "Bat-Turn" movement became an iconic part of the character's body language despite not truly needing to depend upon it, contrary to speculation from contemporary pundits.

The wardrobe department spent seven weeks sculpting Batman Forever costumes on his body cast, preceding under the assumption that he would be returning.

[28][29] In the crossover, Bruce Wayne / Batman is mentioned as having captured the Joker (despite his apparent death) and married Selina Kyle / Catwoman.

The story was once again adapted by Dennis O' Neil, with pencils provided by Steve Erwin and inked embellishments by José Luis García-López.

[39] Keaton's grim, monosyllabic persona in-costume has been paid tribute to throughout multiple adaptations of the character, including video game appearances and homages.

This adaptation of the character was also seen as the first to change their voice while in costume as Batman, something which future actors Kevin Conroy, Ben Affleck and Christian Bale would also add to their interpretations.