History ComicBook / Batman89

* DestructiveSaviour: Batman stops the criminals from stealing the armored cars and saved $31 Million dollars...but ended up causing ''$26 Million'' in damages, as Harvey Dent points out. Also, a security guard inside one of the armored cars was killed in the fall and another is in stable condition with a skull fracture.

* DestructiveSaviour: Batman stops the criminals from stealing the armored cars and saved 31 millions dollars...but ended up causing ''26 million dollars'' in damages, as Harvey Dent points out. Also, a security guard inside one of the armored cars was killed in the fall and another is in stable condition with a skull fracture.

** Harvey Dent [[spoiler:becomes Two-Face after half his face is corroded by car battery acid while he's passed out on the floor of a burning building, which is incredibly similar to how he became Two-Face in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. The scarred half of his face is even portrayed in a similarly realistic manner as in that film (though his hair is still retains the white of his classic portrayals).]] His damaged side eventually turns blue, just like in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.

* BluffTheImpostor: Drake approaches Bruce and straight-up threatens to throw acid in his face, so Bruce fights him. Said "acid" turned out to just be water, as Drake just wanted to catch Bruce defending himself so that he couldn't deny being Batman.

** Harvey Dent [[spoiler:becomes Two-Face after half his face is corroded by car battery acid while he's passed out on the floor of a burning building, which is incredibly similar to how he became Two-Face in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. The scarred half of his face is even portrayed in a similarly realistic manner as in that film (though his hair is still retains the white of his classic portrayals).]]

** In Harvey's HopeSpot mentioned above, [[spoiler:Barbara presents him with confirmation that "Batman" is actually a group of black ops mercenaries, including pictures of four of the "Batmen" -- who are all drawn to resemble [[Film/TheBatman2022 Robert Pattinson]], [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy Christian Bale]], [[Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse Ben Affleck]], and [[Film/BatmanForever Val Kilmer]].]]

* TakeThat: A subtle one to the ''ComicBook/Batgirl2011'' volume which featured Burnside as a trendy hipster section of Gotham. Since this comic is set in 1989 and shows Burnside is both one of the poorer sections of Gotham and has a predominantly Black community, it subtly implies Burnside in the modern era comics only got "trendy" thanks to white gentrification.

It is some time after [[Film/BatmanReturns the Penguin's rampage]], and Gotham remains on a knife-edge. Crime remains out of control, and gangs of vigilantes have taken to wearing Batman's symbol and acting in his name to restore order -- but in addition to lacking his skill, many of them also lack his interest in justice and seem more interested in provoking the African-American residents of the Burnside district. Racial tensions are at a high, and District Attorney Harvey Dent, with one eye on helping his old neighborhood and another on advancing his political career, has decided that enough is enough; the city can no longer tolerate Batman acting outside the law with impunity. Together with his girlfriend, GCPD Sergeant Barbara Gordon -- the estranged daughter of Commissioner Gordon -- Dent decides that Batman needs to be taken down. Between being targeted by Dent and the National Guard, the return of an old love, the rise of a young challenger in a mask, a city about to explode and his own qualms about how to best fulfil his pledge to protect Gotham, Batman quickly finds himself with his hands full -- but Dent has demons of his own bubbling away just under the surface, and a unfortunate twist of luck will leave the fate of Gotham hanging on the flip of a coin...

It is some time after [[Film/BatmanReturns the Penguin's rampage]], and Gotham remains on a knife-edge. Crime remains out of control, and gangs of vigilantes have taken to wearing Batman's symbol and acting in his name to restore order -- but in addition to lacking his skill, many of them also lack his interest in justice and seem more interested in provoking the African-American residents of the Burnside district. Racial tensions are at a high, and District Attorney Harvey Dent, with one eye on helping his old neighborhood and another on advancing his political career, has decided that enough is enough; the city can no longer tolerate Batman acting outside the law with impunity. Together with his girlfriend, GCPD Sergeant Barbara Gordon -- the estranged daughter of Commissioner Gordon -- Dent decides that Batman needs to be taken down. Between being targeted by Dent and the National Guard, the return of an old love, the rise of a young challenger in a mask, a city on the edge and his own qualms about how to best fulfil his pledge to protect Gotham, Batman quickly finds himself with his hands full -- but Dent has demons of his own bubbling away just under the surface, and a unfortunate twist of luck will leave the fate of Gotham hanging on the flip of a coin...

It's Halloween night and District Attorney Harvey Dent is all set to propose to his girlfriend, Sergeant Barbara Gordon, Commissioner Gordon's daughter. They are interrupted by a riot caused by a team of criminals in clown makeup pulling off an armored car heist -- one that is swiftly and violently stopped by Batman.

Dent thinks Batman is out of control and needs to be stopped. After trying to recruit billionaire Bruce Wayne to his side, he authorizes a sting operation to get bring Batman in -- alive or otherwise. But that's not the only problem that Batman is having. After trailing a criminal back to his apartment and finding that he made a mistake, he's attacked by a person in another costume. And now, caught off guard, he finds himself surrounded by the National Guard.

Which means it's time to ''get nuts''.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Issue 3 features, [[spoiler:Hrvey's alternate "Ideal" self visiting him in his dream while in the hospital. It's not clear from this exchange if he's truly an alternate self of Harvey or just a product of his mind. This particular universe has been confirmed as as part of the multiverse during the Arrowverse special Crisis on Infinite Earths and the dream Harvey produces a newspaper featuring Wayne's heroism that the Main Harvey could not have possibly seen at the time. However the world that Harvey dreams about at the start has Batman as multiple people and Bruce Wayne as a mere backer, something that Harvey incorrectly believes, giving evidence that his ideal self is a hallucination.]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Issue 3 features,[[spoiler:features Harvey's alternate "Ideal" self visiting him in his dream while in the hospital. It's not clear from this exchange if he's truly an alternate self of Harvey or just a product of his mind. This particular universe has been confirmed as as part of the multiverse during the Arrowverse special Crisis on Infinite Earths and the dream Harvey produces a newspaper featuring Wayne's heroism that the Main Harvey could not have possibly seen at the time. However the world that Harvey dreams about at the start has Batman as multiple people and Bruce Wayne as a mere backer, something that Harvey incorrectly believes, giving evidence that his ideal self is a hallucination.]]

* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:Issue #3 begins with Dent, in defiance of his typical origin story, carrying Drake out of the arsonist fire unscathed, becoming a celebrated national hero, and winning an almost-uncontested race for Governor. He's just about to [[TooGoodToBeTrue take down the group of mercenaries he always suspected were posing as "The Batman" with the help of Barbara, the new GCPD Commissioner,]] when Jerome appears to bring him back to reality; as his fantasy begins to dissolve around him, [[YankTheDogsChain Harvey wakes up to Bruce and Drake dragging his badly scarred body out of the fire instead]]. From then on, he's haunted by the what-if of that perfect outcome, and the causality that led him here instead of there.]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Issue 3 features,[[spoiler:features Harvey's alternate "Ideal" self visiting him in his dream while in the hospital. It's not clear from this exchange if he's truly an alternate self of Harvey or just a product of his mind. This particular universe has been confirmed as as part of the multiverse during the Arrowverse special Crisis on infinite earths and the dream Harvey produces a newspaper featuring Wayne's heroism that the Main Harvey could not have possibly seen at the time. However the world that Harvey dreams about at the start has Batman as multiple people and Bruce Wayne as a mere backer, something that Harvey incorrectly believes, giving evidence that his ideal self is a hallucination.]]

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: While trying to shoot and capture Batman, the National Guard accidentally hits and kills an African-American youth who had, unbeknownst to them, stolen baby food and diapers from a neighborhood store [[JustifiedCriminal to provide for his infant daughter]]; as a result, the African-American community of Burnside believes the shooting was racially-motivated and develops a deep distrust of the Gotham Police Department (and police in general). While the whole scenario is highly evocative of the George Floyd incident and the amplified Black Lives Matter movement that followed, the time period and Gotham's status as a racial powderkeg make it more of an analogue for the 1992 L.A. riots]].

* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:Issue #3 begins with Dent, in defiance of his typical origin story, carrying Drake out of the arsonist fire unscathed, becoming a celebrated national hero, and winning an almost-uncontested race for Governor. He's just about to [[TooGoodToBeTrue take down the group of mercenaries he always suspected were posing as "The Batman"]] when Jerome appears to bring him back to reality, and the fantasy dissolves away to [[YankTheDogsChain Harvey waking up to Bruce and Drake dragging his badly burned body out of the fire instead]]. From then on, he's haunted by the what-if of that perfect outcome, and the causality that led him here instead of there.]]

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: While trying to shoot and capture Batman, the National Guard accidentally hits and kills an African-American youth who had, unbeknownst to them, stolen baby food and diapers from a neighborhood store [[JustifiedCriminal to provide for his infant daughter]]; as a result, the African-American community of Burnside believes the shooting was racially-motivated and develops a deep distrust of the Gotham Police Department (and police in general). While the whole scenario is highly evocative of the George Floyd incident and the amplified Black Lives Matter movement that followed, [[OlderThanTheyThink the time period and Gotham's status as a racial powderkeg makes it more of an analogue for the 1992 L.A. riots]].

* YourDaysAreNumbered: A particularly cruel and realistic version -- both Bruce and the EMTs point out [[spoiler:on the night of the Royal garage fire]] that [[spoiler:even if Harvey survives the night, the sulfuric acid fumes he potentially inhaled could rot away his throat and lungs, killing him by respiratory failure within six months]].

* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:Issue #3 begins with Dent carrying Drake out of the arsonist fire unscathed defying his origin story for now, he ends up becoming a celebrated hero becoming Governor. However it turns out to be a fantasy of his as it cuts to Bruce and Drake dragging a burned Dent out of the fire.]]
* JustifiedCriminal: Batman sees a criminal running from the proprietor of a shop he robbed and follows him back to his apartment...only to find that the criminal didn't steal any money, just baby food and diapers (which the proprietor ''shot'') for his baby. All Batman can do is ask where the criminal's mother is before he's distracted.

** Harvey Dent was previously opposed to Batman on principle in WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: While trying to shoot and capture Batman, the National Guard accidentally hits and kills an African-American youth who had, unbeknownst to them, stolen baby food and diapers from a neighborhood store [[JustifiedCriminal to provide for his infant daughter]]. As a result, the African-American community of Burnside believes the shooting was racially-motivated and develops a deep distrust of the Gotham Police Department (and police in general). The whole scenario is highly evocative of the George Floyd incident and the amplified Black Lives Matter movement that followed.

** In Harvey's HopeSpot mentioned above, [[spoiler:Barbara presents him with confirmation that "Batman" is actually a group of black ops mercenaries, including pictures of four of the "Batmen" -- who are all drawn to resemble [[Film/TheBatman2022 Robert Pattinson]], [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy Christian Bale]], [[Film/DCExtendedUniverse Ben Affleck]], and [[Film/BatmanForever Val Kilmer]].]]

*** In issue #3, when he's informed that Bruce Wayne [[spoiler:dragged him out of a burning building while he was unconscious]], Harvey Dent sardonically replies "The WhiteKnight returns."

* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Everyone from the movies is drawn to look like the actors, from Creator/MichaelKeaton as Bruce Wayne, Creator/BillyDeeWilliams as Harvey Dent, Creator/PatHingle as Commissioner Gordon, Creator/MichaelGough as Alfred Pennyworth, and [[spoiler:Creator/MichellePfeiffer as Catwoman]]. For the new characters (not in ''Batman'' and ''Batman Returns''), Barbara Gordon is apparently modeled after Creator/WinonaRyder at the time, and true to the original plans for the character, "Drake"/Robin is modeled after Marlon Wayans.

* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:Issue #3 begins with Dent carrying Drake out of the arsonist fire unscathed defying his origin story for now, he ends up becoming a celebrated hero becoming Governor. However it turns out to be a fantasy of his as it cuts to Bruce dragging a burned Dent out of the fire.]]

** Two of the Joker rioters from the first issue resemble the Dee Dee twins from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker''. There's also a gangster who's very much a Joker-themed Mutant from ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns''.

** Harvey Dent [[spoiler:becomes Two-Face after half his face is corroded by car battery acid while he's passed out on the floor of a burning building, which is incredibly similar to how he became Two-Face in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'']].
** Issue #2 features a group of young Batman-inspired vigilantes who dress in clothing featuring the Bat-Symbol, with one even calling himself "Batman", calling to mind the Sons of Batman from ''Comicbook/TheDarkKnightReturns''.
** Catwoman's new costume mixes elements from her original movie costume with her 90's Jim Balent design alongside elements from the ''Animated Series'' version as well.
* OnlyOneName: This universe's version of Robin has only been referred to thus far as "Drake". Whether or not that's a reference to ''Tim'' Drake is uncertain.

** True to the original plans for the character, Drake/Robin is African-American.

* TakeThat: A subtle one to the ''ComicBook/Batgirl2011'' volume which featured Burnside as a trendy hipster section of Gotham. Since this comic is set in 1989 and shows Burnside as one of the poorer sections of Gotham, it subtly implies Burnside in the modern era comics only got "trendy" thanks to gentrification.

** Harleen Quinzel, who wasn't created until ''after'' the Burton films, appears in this series as "Dr Q".

* CanonImmigrant: Harvey Bullock never appeared in the Burton films, though an {{Expy}} of him did appear in the form of Lt. Eckhardt. Here, he actually gets to make a proper appearance.

* CanonDiscontinuity: Since the series takes place after ''Film/BatmanReturns'', the [[Film/BatmanForever Schumacher]] [[Film/BatmanAndRobin films]] are retconned out of this universe's timeline. As a result, Creator/BillyDeeWilliams' Harvey Dent returns while new versions of Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson are introduced.