History WesternAnimation / BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm

*** Adding to the foreshadowing, there's also the car scene between Arthur and [[spoiler:Valestra when the latter tries to get his help again Batman. It shows the two men know each other well and have had dealings. But as the earlier flashback shows, Valestra's interactions were with Beaumont himself and not his staff (and even if the Valestra and Arthur had met during that time period, there's clearly more than a passing acquaintance at work here). This sets up the reveal that Arthur sold out Beaumont to Valestra in orders to fund his political campaign.]]

-->'''Alfred:''' Vengeance blackens the soul, Bruce. I've always feared that you would become that which you fought against. You walk the edge of that abyss every night, but you haven't fallen in, and I thank heaven for that.

'''Joker:''' (''suddenly at Reeves' door'') Tsk tsk. And to think our tax dollars go to pay those creeps.

'''Joker:''' Tsk tsk. And to think our tax dollars go to pay those creeps.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Despite the police believing that Batman has become a murderer and sending SWAT teams after him, Batman never clears his name with the authorities. Though tie-in comics reveal that Batman was cleared of the murder charges, [[spoiler:especially when Arthur's criminal past was revealed.]] The end of the film has Batman responding to the Bat-Signal, implying that somehow the cops discovered he didn't do it. (Sal's grinning corpse was probably a big clue, or would be if it hadn't been blown to pieces.)

* CatchPhrase: The Phantasm's is "Your Angel of Death awaits."

** The socialite who throws wine in Bruce's face is a recycled design (and possibly the same person) as his date in "Joker's Wild".

* TheCameo: Mayor Hamilton Hill is in one of the photos kept on display by Sal Valestra.

* DeusExMachina: Subverted. It seems like this when Andrea's car shows up in the nick of time to rescue Batman from the police pursuing him. [[spoiler:She was already in the area as the Phantasm and changed her clothes.]]

----

*** Adding to the foreshadowing, there's also the car scene between Arthur and [[spoiler:Valestra when the latter tries to get his help again Batman. It shows the two men know each other well and have had dealings. But as the earlier flashback shows, Valestra's interactions were with Beaumont himself and not his staff (and even if the two men had met, there's clearly more than a passing acuqiantence here). This sets up the reveal that Arthur sold out Beaumont to Valestra in orders to fund his poltical campaign.]]

* EntertaininglyWrong: [[spoiler:Joker believes Batman's responsible for the murders (albeit partly out of an egoistical hope his antics have finaly driven Batsy bats). When he discovers it's ''not'' Batman, he concedes the joke's on him -- not that it stops him from being delighted he has somebody new to play with.]]

** As Bruce leaves Andrea at her house, he briefly glance at the hitman standing by the door and his eyes are filled a sense of subconscious anger and hatred only seen in the future Batman. [[spoiler:That's because the hitman will become the Joker, Batman's greatest and most hated ArchEnemy of his RoguesGallery]].

* InkSuitActor: Salvatore Valestra and his gang bears some resemblances to their voice actors, Valestra is a frailer version of Creator/AbeVigoda, Buzz is a FatBastard version of Creator/JohnPRyan, and Chuckie Sol looks a lot like Creator/DickMiller.

** During a flashback, a bat is briefly seeing outside Bruce's window and flies away. However, Bruce doesn't see it, as he was preoccupied with designing his new vigilante costume. In the comics, the original reason he chose the form of a bat was because one crashed through his study window and Bruce recalled the sudden fear he had; later versions had him falling into the bat cave as a child and being startled by a swarm of bats. The movie does its own version of events as Bruce and Andrea are walking the Wayne Manor grounds at sunset and a swarm of bats emerge from a nearby crevice (also leading him to explore the cave later on).

* SavedByCanon: PlayedWith. While the film does not show The Joker’s fate, the fact that this takes place in the ''DC Animated Universe,'' leaves no ambiguity to his survival.

** One man against four precincts of cops, a SWAT team, and a police chopper isn’t really going to be able to evade them easily. It’s only the timely arrival of Andrea that Bruce isn’t either captured or killed.

** A slight version occurs when Sal Valestra tries to convince the Joker to take out Batman. The Joker pokes fun at the old man and seems to ignore him the entire time. Then we find out he's murdered the old guy and propped him up in a chair to lure the Phantasm into a trap.
--->'''Joker:''' ''[to Sal]'' That's it! That's what I like to see! A ''nice big smile''.
** In that whole scene he goes through some.

* WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: It's never explained how [[spoiler:Andrea]] got the technology to build the Phantasm suit.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fd888cf2_5740_4371_adcb_6539051991ac.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:And you thought ''ComicBook/TheJoker'' was scary...]]

* RightForTheWrongReasons: [[spoiler:When Andrea calls Arthur right when Joker was accusing him of being connected to the Phantasm, he immediately believes Andrea was the Phantasm. He was right, however, Arthur was not in league with her actions]].

* DemotedToExtra: Commissioner Gordon has a few lines in the first half where he argues that Batman wouldn't be killing mobsters, and after the second murder tells Arthur Reeves to direct the Batman manhunt himself, as Gordon isn't going to be part of it. He isn't seen for the rest of the movie.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The GCPD try to shoot Batman when he is in a cloud of tear gas, and he is high above them. In real life, law enforcement are not allowed to shoot at a target if they can't see them, or if they don't know if there is a potential hazard (and indeed there is, as a bullet detonates all the explosive tanks on the construction site). Though to be fair, Bullock ''does'' yell at one of the cops in question when he does so.

* RashPromise: Bruce Wayne cries at his parent's grave begging them to forget the vow he made to avenge their death. The swelling of the music and [[DramaticThunder Dramatic Lightning]] makes it clear that his oath still must be honored.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: The Joker's murder of Sal Valestra and later poisoning Arthur Reeves with some of his laughing gas.

%%* CentralTheme: The Future gets invoked a lot.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The GCPD try to shoot Batman when he is in a cloud of tear gas, and he is high above them. In real life, law enforcement are not allowed to shoot at a target if they can't see them, or if they don't know if there is a potential hazard (and indeed there is, as a bullet detonates all the explosive tanks on the construction site). Though to be fair, Bullock ''does'' yell at one of the cop in question when he does so.