Tim Burton directs this big screen outing for the caped crusader. The streets of Gotham City are no longer safe for criminals, who are being picked off by a masked vigilante in a rubber suit - dubbed 'Batman' by the press. Reporter Alexander Knox (Robert Wuhl) teams with photographer Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) in an attempt to discover Batman's true identity - an investigation which leads them to the door of mysterious millionaire Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton). Meanwhile, crime boss Carl Grissom's (Jack Palance) attempt to rid himself of untrustworthy henchman Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson) does not go according to plan, and after emerging physically - and mentally - disfigured from a vat of chemicals, Napier reinvents himself as the psychotic Joker...