History Film / BatmanReturns

* AdultsAreUseless: The attendees of Max Schreck's Ball aren't exactly thrilled when the Penguin crashes the party and announces that his troops are fanning out across Gotham to kidnap their children, but their reaction is also fairly underwhelming given the circumstances (the overused [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=33&v=_gUWox6uYTs&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redditmedia.com%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&feature=emb_title audience gasp]] sound effect can even be heard) - and rather than rush out of the venue to get home to head the Red Triangle Gang off at the pass, most of them can be seen lingering to watch the Penguin and Max Schreck depart in the yellow duck (granted it's possible not all of the partygoers attending had children in danger of being taken, but the pronounced audience gasp suggests that there more than a few parents there).

!! ''Batman Returns'' provides examples of:

* BarrageOfBats: Penguin frames Batman for murder by unleashing a swarm of bats he had in an umbrella, which cause the woman he'd kidnapped to fall off a roof to her death. At the end of the film, Batman returns the favor by using a device to release a swarm of bats from the Batboat that attack The Penguin.

* MoodWhiplash: Done intentionally when Shreck corners Selina in his office when she accidentally discovers his power plant plans. He walks up to her menacingly and she stammers out "[[TemptingFate It's not like you can just kill me]]." He says "[[OhCrap Actually...it's]] ''[[OhCrap a lot]]'' [[OhCrap like that]]." Then, after a pregnant pause, he breaks a big smile and starts laughing, goading Selina into thinking he was playing around with a couple light-hearted utterances of "Eh?" Selina begins to laugh as well. Then [[ItWasHisSled he does it.]]

* PluckyOfficeGirl: [[ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} Selina Kyle]] is a Deconstruction of this trope. She's HollywoodHomely, has got a lot of ideas, and never gets noticed by her boss, due to her ShrinkingViolet tendencies. When she finally does get noticed snooping around the office, he tries to kill her, and her sanity takes a sharp jump off a cliff.

* PrecisionGuidenBoomerang: Subverted. Batman takes a Batarang, ''programs'' it to hit multiple targets, and lets it fly. A small dog catches it like a Frisbee before it can return so that it can be used to frame him later.

* MeaningfulName: Max Shreck, a man who plans to suck the life out of Gotham by draining the electricity and stockpiling it, shares his name with the first man to ever play a vampire on film, in ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}''.

* MinionWithAnFInEvil: The Fat Clown.

* MisplacedNamesPoster: See the page picture.

* {{Not So Harmless Villain}}s: Despite being clowns who once performed in a circus and kept their costumes, the Red Triangle Circus members are still menacing enough to serve as an effective terrorist gang for The Penguin.

* PlotHole: Just how does Penguin get his hands on the blueprints to the Batmobile?
* PluckyOfficeGirl: Selina, before her transformation.

* PragmaticVillainy: When Selina turns up alive after Shreck tries to kill her, he decides to leave her alone for the time being. However, he tells Chip that if Selina tries to blackmail him, he'll push her out of a higher window.

* ThereAreNoPolice: Well, there are, but in this movie [[PoliceAreUseless they seem to exist only to turn on the bat signal]]. The police also give chase to Batman after he's framed and The Penguin after he shoots into a crowd after a failed speech, but they don't get close to catching either one of them.

* WorldOfSnark: Every character has at least one snark moment except Commissioner Gordon.

* AdaptationalVillainy: The Penguin, big time. While he's a bad guy in the comics, he's typically portrayed as a [[AffablyEvil genial sort]] and the OnlySaneMan of Batman's RoguesGallery, although his level of sanity is debatable. ''This'' Penguin is -- to paraphrase the man himself -- a cold-blooded animal who commits heinous misdeeds that his mainstream comics counterpart [[EvenEvilHasStandards would be horrified at]], specifically the [[spoiler: mass-murder of children]]. Seriously, not even the Arkham Games version is this vulgar.
** Hell, even Oswald’s own MOTHER changed. She went from a sweet frail old lady in the comics to a cold-hearted bitch, where she, along with her husband, decide to abandon baby Oswald in the frigid winter sewers, which really should've guaranteed his sad, lonely death if not for unexpected happenstance saving him. This trope is kind of zigzagged here, since she is actually somewhat justified in abandoning baby Oswald because of his dangerous, inhuman behavior that causes her and her husband to be unable to take care of him, and it's implied she feels some bit of remorse for abandoning him, mainly because of the look on her face after she does what she had to do.
** Selina Kyle, AKA Catwoman, certainly counts to an extent. In the comics, she's a petty criminal whose crimes involve cat-burglary, though at the time she'd never been insane, and she'd never been actively involved in killing people. This version of her, however, is a borderline-psychotic, revenge-obsessed woman who wants to get back at Max Shreck for pushing her out of a window and almost killing her. She's also far more vicious towards Batman than usual, actively hurting him and trying to kill him for getting in her way.

** [[spoiler: [[BittersweetEnding Considering none of Gotham's first born sons are killed, Penguin and Max are killed, and the city is still standing, there's a bit to celebrate]].]]

** The guy that makes fun of the Penguin's appearance and gets his nose bitten for it (although he doesn't get killed, so it's more KickTheSonOfABitch). We’re pretty sure Penguin’s inky, radioactive saliva is toxic, though, and those pointy, malformed teeth of his certainly don’t help.

* BettyAndVeronica: An interesting case in that both archetypes are combined in the character of Selina Kyle.
** She's also something of a Veronica to Vicki Vale's Betty from the previous movie. She even makes a jab at the preppiness of Vicki's name.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Max might be a humble, easygoing, and charitable guy, but beneath the masquerade? We have a mean-spirited, egotistical, manipulative, and corrupt asshole, not to mention the fact that he doesn’t hesitate to murder anybody who gets in his way.
* BittersweetEnding: Although The Penguin and Shreck are defeated at the end, Batman fails to save Catwoman from herself, and his reputation is in a shaky state at best. This is lampshaded by her:

* BrickJoke: Batman unwittingly finds himself playing fetch with a circus poodle...but that's not the end of the story. (See under ChekhovsGun for more.)

*** Later, after his EngineeredPublicConfession:

* CallBack: At one point, Selina drops the line, "There'll be a hot time in the [[{{Pun}} cold]] town tonight." The Joker had used the original lyric ("There'll be a hot time in the ''old'' town tonight") in the previous film, albeit under more diabolical circumstances.
** Also related to the previous movie, [[spoiler: Max Shreck's horrifically charred face, after he is electrocuted by Catwoman, resembles that of Tony Rotelli's burnt corpse after the Joker gives him the above mentioned "hot time."]]

** Somewhat related is the deliberate emphasis shot on Catwoman landing on her feet during the scene of her destruction of Shreck's Department Store.

* ChildHater: [[spoiler: The Penguin plans to murder all of Gotham's first-born children to avenge his parental abandonment.]] Even worse, it's implied that the Penguin has been murdering children all his life (heavily implied by news clipping reports of children disappearances at the circus), and considering what he does to his parents’ cat...

** In the DVD Commentary, Tim Burton actually states that he disliked circuses as a child and that he had more of a fear of them than anything else. This experience is what drove his portrayal of the Red Triangle Gang, which was inspired by sketches he drew illustrating the Penguin's backstory. (It also at lesat partially explains why he passed on ''Film/BigTopPeeWee.'')
* ClothingDamage: Penguin’s long johns get progressively dirtier and more tattered. They’re meant to resemble his baby clothes since he’s been in the sewer for so long, but considering how fat he is now, it’s a bit weird.

** Perhaps something of a stretch, but when Penguin flees after being publicly disgraced, he loses his top hat.[[note]] He wears one when he crashes the masquerade ball, though.[[/note]] As he retreats back into the sewers and reverts to savagery, he begins to tear off his fancy clothes. By the movie's big climax, he has stripped down to his filthy long underwear again. Also, he only wears the monocle when he's looking up names in the public records office.

*** There's still a trace left in the film: after all, his response to Batman's unmasking is, [[ComicallyMissingThePoint "Bruce Wayne... Why are you dressed up like Batman?"]]

* ContinuityNod: Vicki Vale is mentioned on two occasions. Bruce tells Selina about her during their date, and a few scenes later, Bruce calls out Alfred for letting her into the Batcave (though to be fair, Vicki had figured it out beforehand).
** The Penguin may be making a very quick passing reference to The Joker in his speech to his campaign staff, though by "crazed clowns," he could be referring to his own CircusOfFear gang.

** Averted with Penguin's amusement park duckling car/boat.

* CrapsackWorld: Gotham City in this movie is an impossibly horrific CrapsackWorld where a white collar criminal fixes the political process, people can be killed at will with no consequence, the [[ApatheticCitizens citizenry is fickle and stupid,]] and the police (who are apparently [[PoliceAreUseless completely incompetent]]) rely on an elitist vigilante with plenty of issues of his own to brutally punish the criminals. Seriously, one is left with the impression that Heath Ledger's version of the Joker from ''The Dark Knight'' would be happier here than in that movie's world.

* DarkActionGirl: Catwoman.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Subverted. The Penguin passes himself off as this, but if anything he's actually several magnitudes ''more'' monstrous than he looks. Played straight with Batman as usual, though.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Although The Penguin plots murders only to further his agenda or for revenge, rather than "[[ForTheEvulz just for fun]]" in the case of the Joker, the movie still comes off as much more moody, depressing, violent, and cynical. The film portrays both superheroes and supervillains as tragic figures, tormented by loneliness and teetering on the brink of complete madness. The sexual imagery in the sequel is noticeably more kinky, even if nobody actually has intercourse compared to the first film, which has less sexual imagery but somebody does have intercourse. Furthermore, unlike its predecessor, this one wraps up with a BittersweetEnding (see above entry).

** Craig Shaw Gardner's novelization manages to be ''even darker'', especially in his description of the Gotham Plaza attack scene, with mental images of people getting killed when they are run over by the Red Triangle Gang's motorcycles or trampled by the panicked crowds. There's also a hint he drops several chapters later that [[spoiler: Oswald Cobblepot's parents are dead because [[SelfMadeOrphan he is the one who killed them,]] and his search for them and subsequent public forgiveness are just for show.]]
** Creator/JamesRolfe gave the film three ''Happy Meals wrapped in chains dripping blood with dead cats and penguins impaled on it with knives, with a killer bat on top,'' out of five.

* DeadpanSnarker: Catwoman and Penguin.

** Shreck's plan throughout the film is to set the wheels in motion in starting an electric company to run scams through. [[spoiler: Catwoman kills him by charring him with a very large electricity generator.]]
* DeathActivatedSuperpower: Apparently how Catwoman is "born."

* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler: Batman himself does not get to date Catwoman in the end, though she is just hiding right behind his back.]]
** Penguin’s marriage proposal to Catwoman being rejected. With a face like that, however, who WOULD want to bang him?

* DramaticUnmask

* DumbBlonde: The Ice Princess is not the brightest bulb on the tree. Even before her TooDumbToLive moment below, we see her in her dressing room mentally rehearsing for the tree relighting ceremony, apparently trying to wrap her mind around the invention of the light switch.

** Again, this is for a tree-''re''lighting ceremony: She's already done this once before!

* EasilySwayedPopulation: The city rallies behind Penguin's mayoral campaign despite his grotesque appearance and behavior and easily believes Batman is responsible for the Ice Princess's death; Batman quickly turns them against Penguin by simply playing a recording of him insulting them.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: While his Red Triangle carnies are kidnapping the rest of Gotham's first born sons, the Penguin crashes Max Shreck's party to personally kill Max's own son. Max protects Chip by pointing out to the Penguin that he was the one who played the Penguin for a sap, and that he's the one the Penguin should logically kill. The Penguin grudgingly admits Max has a point and takes him instead of Chip.
** It's covered more deeply in the novel, where Max repeatedly reflects on how much he loves his son and is proud of him. In the novel of the movie, Chip Shreck actually ''sees'' his father push Selina out of the window and helpfully suggests that she'd jumped.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: One of the Red Triangle Gang's clowns is shocked by the Penguin's plan to kill children:

** Max Shreck is also visibly disturbed by the idea.

*** This is sometimes TruthInTelevision, since it is the custom at certain festivals (Mardi Gras, especially) for "kings" and "queens" and whatnot to never have their identities revealed to anyone except for invited guests at the parade clubs' private banquets. The main exception is the Krewe of Bacchus, which every year since 1969 has invited a male celebrity to ride in their parade costumed as the Roman god of wine, and makes his name known to the public well in advance.

** It's more likely that those seen in the hideouts are the key members and lieutenants of Penguin, and those who appear whenever they commit crimes are the footsoldiers who live out their lives until they're called on for a job. At the end of the movie, the only ones left to abandon Penguin when Batman is coming are Poodle Lady, Thin Clown, and a handful of acrobats since Batman cleans up most of them during events prior.

* EvilMakeover: Selina Kyle's transformation into Catwoman, coupled with EvilIsSexy and EvilFeelsGood:

* FatBastard: Oswald "The Penguin" Cobblepot, and he steadily loses sympathy as time passes.

* FinalGirl: In a very rare villainess example, we have the Poodle Lady during the street-fight scene. Batman goes through thirteen of the Penguin's most dangerous henchpeople with relative ease, trouncing ten of them with his unarmed combat skills and knocking down three more with his computerized Batarang. The Poodle Lady is number fourteen, and the only woman (with the possible exception of [[ViewerGenderConfusion a long-haired, tomboyish clown who]] ''[[ViewerGenderConfusion might]]'' [[ViewerGenderConfusion be a woman]]), yet is the only one left standing - or, in one case, alive - when it is all over. The only two ways in which she doesn't fit the trope are 1) she doesn't kill Batman, simply running off instead, and 2) she isn't truly final since Batman defeats three more (male) thugs after she escapes.

** Worth noting is that while everyone else at the party is wearing a mask of some kind, they are not.

* GirlOfTheWeek: Selina Kyle.

** In Batman's defense, these Red Triangle gang members are actively harming and/or outright killing citizens; several people are seen engulfed in flames (obviously the work of the Fire Breather), and the Breather blew flames at Batman. It's safe to say these [[AssholeVictim creeps]] at least [[PayEvilUntoEvil get what's coming to them]].
* GoshDangItToHeck: When Selina realizes that Max has left his speech for the tree lighting ceremony up in his office, all she can think to say is [[DissonantSerenity a very calm "Oh, darn."]] Her language does get cruder as the film goes along.
** Similarly, after she tries to suggest something at the board meeting where she is introduced:

* GroinAttack: Catwoman kicks Batman down there with a heeled boot. [[{{Pun}} Meowch]]!
** BallsOfSteel: Considering that the Groin Attack is one of Catwoman's favorite attacks, she may realize that this attack isn't very effective against Batman, as he isn't showing much flinch from the effect of that attack. However, Batman should be wearing a protective cup at the time, and he's also been trained as a ninja and all.
* TheGrotesque: The Penguin's plan for revenge on Gotham involves appearing to be merely this.
** Alfred actually refers to The Penguin as a "ghastly grotesque" once his true nature is exposed.

** Shreck does mention to the mayor early in the film that he has enough signatures to force a recall election but doesn't have an issue or a candidate to justify one with. The Penguin provides both of these, by using his gang to make the mayor appear soft on crime and endearing himself to the people of Gotham.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Catwoman just can't decide whether she wants to be a villain or...well, if not quite a hero, at least a sympathetic AntiVillain. Michelle Pfeiffer herself said in an interview that [[ShrugOfGod she didn't know]] whether her character is "a good guy" or "a bad guy." It's this complete ambiguity that largely makes this movie feel darker and more adult and unsettling than even ''The Dark Knight.''

* HiddenDepths: It's interesting that even the most unsympathetic bad guy in the film, Max Shreck, occasionally has humanizing moments when his most secret impulses rise to the surface. There's his impromptu speech to the crowds at the Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, right after throwing gift-wrapped packages to some of the spectators, which is undoubtedly manipulative but still has some truth to it: "I'm just a poor schmoe. Got lucky. So sue me if I want to give some back." Later, when he is meeting with Bruce Wayne in his office and Bruce accuses him of riding the coattails of a "crime boss" (The Penguin): "Shows what you know, Mister To-The-Manor-Born-With-A-Silver-Spoon. Oswald Cobblepot is Gotham's new golden boy. If his parents hadn't eighty-sixed him, the two of you [[EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether might have been bunkies at prep school]]." There is clearly a trace of resentment and poignancy in Max, as he suspects that maybe if he'd had wealthy parents, too, he wouldn't have had to become a crook to get ahead.
** In an early draft of the script, Max was Penguin's older brother who emancipated from his family, thus likely losing his inheritance and has to make his own fortune the hard way.
** He and his son Chip risk their lives for each other at different points in the film. First, Chip holds off the Penguin's goons for Max, allowing him to run after a moment's hesitation. Later, Max pleads with Penguin to [[TakeMeInstead be taken instead of Chip]], successfully sparing his life.
* HighClassGloves: The Ice Princess's outfit is a sexy leotard, but otherwise it's made to look like something for a winter princess, which includes long, fur-trimmed gloves.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Penguin appears to have the Mayoral race in the bag until Bruce & Alfred broadcast his previous hateful rants over the loudspeakers.
** Later, [[spoiler:after his plot to kill all the first-born sons of Gotham is foiled, Penguin straps rockets to his hundreds of penguins in order to destroy the city. Alfred is able to jam the signal used to control them, sending them off to follow a new beacon. When Batman arrives at his underground lair, Penguin wields a sword-umbrella, only for Batman to simply pull out a small remote control with a blinking red button. His eyes shift from the control, to something on the opposite side of the screen. Penguin does likewise, and sees his penguin army. He snaps -- even further than he already had -- and is able to take the controller and press the button. The rockets launch, destroying what remains of the park, but also releasing a swarm of bats from the [[CoolBoat Batskiboat]], which immediately descends upon Penguin. He stumbles backward, through the ceiling glass, and into the icy, polluted water.]]
*** It's a ''double'' HoistByHisOwnPetard if you remember that [[spoiler:the Penguin used a similar swarm of bats released by an umbrella in order to send the Ice Princess off a building and kill her, framing Batman for the entire thing]].
*** "Triple", even, if you count the lagoon of toxic chemical waste Penguin has in his lair, intending to [[spoiler: lure the first born sons of Gotham into it]]. He himself [[spoiler: dies after plunging into the pool]].

* IcePalace: Arctic World. Literally.
* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: {{Discussed|Trope}} and then subverted, or at least {{defied|Trope}}. Selina presents a handgun to Bruce while they are dancing at the Christmas Eve party and makes clear that she wants to assassinate Max Shreck. Bruce frantically snatches the gun away from her, but before he can say anything, she [[LampshadeHanging lampshades this very trope]] by pointing out that it would be ''good'' for the city if Shreck were killed and that, despite his [[VillainWithGoodPublicity "Santa Claus" benefactor gimmick]], everyone secretly knows Shreck to be a DevilInPlainSight and wishes he were dead, but [[AtLeastIAdmitIt only Selina is willing to actually go through with the murder, or to at least threaten to do so]].
** Later explicitly suggested when Selina tears off her mask during her final confrontation with her former boss, revealing that her hair has become very wild and Shreck-like.

* IronButtMonkey: Sure, it's supposed to play up the whole "nine lives" thing, but Selina takes this to such extremes that she becomes [[IronWoobie heroic]]: pushed out a window to the street below; burned on the arm by a vial of napalm and sent plummeting down into a truck full of cat litter; nearly strangled by one of the Penguin's umbrellas and sent crashing through the roof of a glass greenhouse, which [[ClothingDamage rips her costume to shreds]]; finally, ''shot four consecutive times in the stomach''. However, all this just makes her angrier and crazier than before, to the point where (apparently) ''nothing can kill her'', and just to cap it off, she [[spoiler:murders Shreck]] by mouth-to-mouth action with a taser in the middle...[[spoiler:''and lives!'']]
* IronMaiden: Bruce Wayne steps into an iron maiden in Wayne Manor to enter the Batcave. The spikes retract, the front closes, and the trap door floor lets Bruce slide down a chute. FridgeBrilliance in that someone who learned Bruce's secret identity would think twice about trying to get into the Batcave this way, because if Batman has a safety feature to detect an imposter, the penalty would be painful indeed.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:"I am the light of this city!" Really? You should be careful what you wish for, Maxie!]]

* KickTheDog: When the Fat Clown objects to Penguin's crossing of the MoralEventHorizon, Penguin simply takes out a revolver umbrella and shoots him.

* LargeHam: Creator/DannyDeVito doesn’t pull any punches as The Penguin. It's also complete with EvilLaugh at times. Not to mention Creator/MichellePfeiffer, quite composed as Selina Kyle, goes over the top as Catwoman.
* LicensedGame: A number of video games all named for the movie were released concurrently across most major systems, many developed by different studios in different genres and styles. A {{platformer}} was released on Sega systems, BeatEmUp[=s=] similar to ''VideoGame/FinalFight'' and ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' came out on on SNES and NES as well as a third on the Atari Lynx, DOS got an AdventureGame, and a bug-riddled Amiga {{platformer}} was available, too.

* LoveCannotOvercome: Bruce Wayne mentions that Vicki Vale, his love interest from the first Creator/TimBurton movie, couldn't handle being Batman's girlfriend.
** Things don't work out well for Bruce and Selina's romance, either.
** Oswald also gets rejected, but it’s more because he’s completely abhorrent and disgusting inside and out.
* ManipulativeBastard: Max Shreck.

* MoodWhiplash: Done intentionally when Shreck corners Selina in his office when she accidentally discovers his power plant plans. He walks up to her menacingly and she stammers out "[[TemptingFate It's not like you can just kill me]]." He says "[[OhCrap Actually...it's]] ''[[OhCrap a lot]]'' [[OhCrap like that]]." Then, after a pregnant pause, he breaks a big smile and starts laughing, goading Selina into thinking he was playing around with a couple light-hearted utterances of "Eh?" Selina begins to laugh as well, thinking "LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt". Then [[ItWasHisSled he does it.]]

* MythologyGag: The Penguin running for mayor is directly taken from the [[Series/Batman1966 1966 TV series]]' two-part episode "Hizzoner the Penguin/Dizzoner the Penguin." Batman also uses a frequency-jamming device to stop the Penguin's missiles, just as he did in that series's [[Film/BatmanTheMovie spinoff film]].

* NobleDemon: Catwoman. She's a {{Magnificent B|astard}}itch, a [[CombatPragmatist coward who wins fights by cheating]], and can be [[HeWhoFightsMonsters just as mean as the men who have persecuted her]]. However, Selina [[EvenEvilHasStandards takes no pleasure]] from Penguin's callous murder of the Ice Princess, admits that she loves Bruce Wayne as he loves her, and shows Max Shreck who the ''real'' coward is by [[{{Determinator}} defiantly coming toward him as he cringes backward and fires bullet after bullet into her body]].
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Given his media-friendly gimmickry, outlandish hairstyle, and rough-and-tumble upbringing, it's little surprise that many viewers (both in 1992 and now) tend to interpret Max Shreck as a fictional UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump. In fact, Shreck's role as a political kingmaker in this movie eerily predicted what Trump would eventually become! In a HilariousInHindsight moment, Shreck even gets to bellow "You're fired!" at one point.

*** [[WordOfGod Cristi Conaway herself stated that The Ice Princess was "kind of like Marilyn Monroe, but kookier"]]; however, there are significant differences. In reality and contrary to her 'dumb blonde' persona, Monroe was very intelligent and well-read, whereas Conaway also said of The Ice Princess, "I don't think she's particularly well-read. But I think she's read every issue of ''[[FashionMagazine Vogue]]'' that was ever published." Additionally, Monroe came from a tragic background and was an extremely insecure and complex but kind-hearted woman, whereas [[WordOfGod Daniel Waters]] specifically created The Ice Princess to be a [[AssholeVictim shallow and unsympathetic character]] so that she'd be "somebody who you’re not going to mind so much getting killed."

* OutOfFocus: One of the common criticisms of the movie is that Batman actually takes the backseat to The Penguin and Catwoman. Justified by WordOfGod as Burton explains that Batman stories have always been more about the villains than Batman himself.
* PapaWolf: The Penguin goes ballistic after Batman has Alfred jam the frequency over which he is sending neurological commands to his pet penguins, which he seems to believe causes them great pain. ("MY BABIIIIES!")

* PetTheDog: Penguin makes it appear this way for himself by "rescuing" the Mayor's son, an event he stages to generate sympathy and attention.

*** However, it's up in the air as to how many of them are even originally circus performers and not hired muscle simply dressed up in the theme.

* PsychopathicManchild: From his [[DirtyOldMan juvenile sense of humor,]] to his [[AxCrazy adult-sized temper tantrums,]] [[BigBad The Penguin]] embodies this trope. For a good example, witness his [[NotGoodWithRejection murderous reaction to being turned down by Catwoman]].
** Furthermore, both physically and in other significant ways, he comes across as an overgrown baby. He wears pajamas and a bib, is constantly spitting up, has a mobile-like umbrella with pastel children's squeeze toys hanging from it, and travels around in a vehicle that's essentially nothing more than a giant, rubber-duck bath toy.
** [[FreudianExcuse He was abandoned as a baby]], after all, and grew up without any kind of parental figure (except for the penguins and maybe the circus handlers), so it makes a lot of sense that he would still have the mentality of a child.

** Selina shows some shades of this as well, from killing a guy by playing TabletopGame/TicTacToe on his face, to jump-roping her way through a store she's about to burn to the ground, to alluding to fairy tales and childish rhymes in the climatic showdown between her, Bruce, and Max. Not exactly unexpected from the kind of person who keeps cute cat sweaters and an army of stuffed animals in her pink pastel apartment and then experiences a trauma that sends her off the deep end.

* RedRightHand: Zigzagged with the Penguin himself. Although his pallor and build are probably due to his lifestyle, his pronounced nose and distorted hands (middle, ring, and pinky fingers fused into grotesque "flippers") fit the trope. In the first half of the film he tries to subvert it, using them to build sympathy as a poor soul who's been unfairly cast out of society because of his physical ugliness. It's then played straight when he turns out to be a murderous sociopath after all.

* SequelHook: [[spoiler:Catwoman is still alive]]. Ultimately subverted in that the later films in this continuity never get around to addressing this plot point, [[spoiler:and the ''Film/Catwoman2004'' film ended up undergoing so many changes as to have nothing whatsoever to do with any version of the DC canon]].

** Catwoman finally returns in the comic book sequel ''Comicbook/Batman89''.

** The children's adaptation, "[[http://www.1989batman.com/2014/05/merchandise-spotlight-batman-returns.html The Penguin's Plot]]," has Batman successfully free her. It should be noted that [[AdaptedOut neither Catwoman nor Shreck appear in the book]].
*** In the same book, The Penguin also survives. The book ends with him being run off the stage by the Gotham citizens after his EngineeredPublicConfession.

* [[GambitPileup Two-Xanatos Pileup]]: The Penguin and Max Shreck try to manipulate each other for their own ends, with Shreck hoping for a mayor he can keep in his pocket so he can build his power plant, and Penguin using Shreck to gain access to the list of Gotham's first born sons. Their schemes include using criminals to cause chaos in the streets to make the current mayor seem helpless to deal with the situation, exploiting the Penguin's origins as a TearJerker to get public support for him to run for mayor, and framing Batman as a kidnapper and murderer.
** The framing Batman part is Catwoman's idea since just killing Batman wouldn't be effective for their goal.

* VillainousBreakdown: Penguin has a multi-tiered one after the fallout of his campaign. First, he renounces his humanity and tries to kill all of Gotham's first-born sons. After Batman sends him a letter letting him know the children have been saved, he freaks out again and decides to blow Gotham square sky high with rocket-launching penguins. When Batman and Alfred jam the signal and his goons abandon him, he freaks out ''again'' and goes out to face Batman in the Duckmobile. He then uses the penguins to bomb his ''own'' base in the slim hope that he'll kill Batman along with himself.
** Special mention also goes to the one he has after Batman regains control of the Batmobile from him; he throws a fit more suited to a toddler than a man.

** The original script at least did account for the Batmobile sabotage. In Daniel Waters's original treatment, the initial attack on Gotham Plaza is a lot more elaborate, with the thugs invading ''before'' the tree-lighting ceremony begins and infiltrating Max Shreck's penthouse office, taking Max, Chip, the Mayor, and Selina hostage. Batman has to fight his way up to the penthouse level to save them, in the process leaving the Batmobile behind in an alley...but forgetting to put the shields up on the car. Even more of the Penguin's thugs then approach the exposed automobile and take photographs of it [[BellisariosMaxim (though how this would allow them to draw up a set of blueprints for the car which they could analyze for weak points, as shown in the movie and the comic adaptation, does not seem to be explained)]].
*** The novelization indicates the Penguin gets the plans from a disgruntled engineer who helped design it. Perhaps in this version of the franchise, [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy Lucius Fox]] isn't quite as loyal?

* WinterRoyalLady: The Ice Princess.

** The most striking (no pun intended) example of a subversion has to be the brutal kidnapping of the Ice Princess. The Penguin barges into her tent just as the girl has finished applying her makeup and manages to convince her that he is really a talent scout. Then, pretending to prepare to take the faux monarch's picture, he urges her to say "Cheese!" and then throws a stolen Batarang at her face so hard that it ''knocks her unconscious and causes her to bleed''. ([[GoryDiscretionShot We don't actually see the blood]], but we do see Commissioner Gordon appearing on the news and holding up the stolen Batarang, which he says had the girl's blood on it when the police found it.) So much for BeautyIsNeverTarnished.... (On the other hand, when we next see the Ice Princess, [[UnexplainedRecovery her gash has completely healed]].)

** A subversion is that Catwoman is more annoyed than upset by this. She simply didn't know. (Though it's still implied that she dislikes the idea of having the Ice Princess killed on principle.) It's also possible that she's remembering her own 'birth' which was very similar: getting thrown off a building.

[[caption-width-right:350:''The bat, the cat, the penguin.'']]

* KarmaHoudini: Penguin's parents never seem to pay for mistreating him as a baby, implicitly dying of unknown causes decades later. However, the even DarkerAndEdgier novelization implies this is eventually subverted sometime after the prologue when [[spoiler:he actually does get to reunite with them...[[SelfMadeOrphan and makes them regret it in the worst possible way]].]]

-->'''Selina:'''It's the so-called "normal" guys that always let you down. Sickos never scare me. At least they're [[BedlamHouse committed.]]

* FalseFlagOperation: Max and the Penguin decide the best angle for the latter's election campaign is to make him look like a better candidate than the current mayor during a crisis, specifically the allegedly chaotic and random violence of the Red Triangle gang who is actually following Penguin's orders.

** Would you believe that Michael Keaton was already ''forty'' at the time of filming? Didn't think so.

* AdaptationalVillainy: The Penguin, big time. While he's a bad guy in the comics, he's typically portrayed as a [[AffablyEvil genial sort]] and the OnlySaneMan of Batman's RoguesGallery, although his level of sanity is debatable. ''This'' Penguin is -- to paraphrase the man himself -- a cold-blooded animal who commits heinous misdeeds that his mainstream comics counterpart [[EvenEvilHasStandards would be horrified at]], specifically the [[spoiler: mass-murder of children]]. (That depends on the version, however, as he sells DRUGS to CHILDREN in one comic). Seriously, not even the Arkham Games version is this vulgar.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Early in his return to Gotham, the Penguin is seen at Gotham's Hall of Records rifling through birth certificates and listing name after name. At this point it's assumed (as he explains to Max) that he's trying to find ''himself'' among the records, although a lurking Batman remarks that he believes the Penguin ''already'' knows who his parents are; we subsequently see him visit a graveyard to visit his parents' grave. Later however, we see that he ''still'' has the list of names he took down, with Catwoman cannily regarding it as a list of enemies, and it's finally revealed after the Penguin's mayoral run crumbles that it's actually an extensive list of Gotham's first-born sons whom the Penguin plans to have the Red Triangle Gang abduct and drown.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Subverted. The Penguin seems to share a laugh with a campaign worker who jokes about his less-than-stellar looks, but it's really a ploy to get him to lower his guard so he can take revenge.

* StockholmSyndrome:
** Played with. The Penguin has his gang abduct Max Shreck and then forces Max (through blackmail) to help him learn his real name and reintegrate him into society. In the Hall of Records scene, it appears as if Max has come to sympathize with Penguin's plight. ("Yes, he's a friend - of the whole city. So have a heart.") It only gradually becomes apparent that Max is actually manipulating Penguin as Penguin had tried to manipulate ''him'', running Penguin as a mayoral candidate in order to oust the mayor that Max has been opposing from the movie's beginning.
*** While the Penguin quickly figures out that Shreck is trying to take advantage of him, he decides that he ''likes'' the idea of becoming Mayor of Gotham and puts his murder plans on the backburner until Batman sabotages his campaign.
** It's also possible that many of the Penguin's thugs (or at least the youngest ones) are the children whom Bruce mentions being kidnapped from the Red Triangle Circus fairgrounds, now grown up and raised to be criminals.

** Selina shows some shades of this as well, from killing a guy by playing tic-tac-toe on his face, to jump-roping her way through a store she's about to burn to the ground, to alluding to fairy tales and childish rhymes in the climatic showdown between her, Bruce, and Max. Not exactly unexpected from the kind of person who keeps cute cat sweaters and an army of stuffed animals in her pink pastel apartment and then experiences a trauma that sends her off the deep end.

* BookEnds: The beginning of the film depicts young Oswald snatching his family's cat into his cage and presumably killing it. By the end of the film, [[spoiler:Catwoman leaves her pet cat, Miss Kitty, in Bruce's care to make him aware that she's survived]].

* BreakTheCutie: Poor Selina.

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: Hooooooo boy. Let's just say that [[spoiler: the Penguin unleashes an army of rocketeer penguins upon Gotham]] and leave it there.

* SlasherSmile: Batman of all people manages to pull of a genuinely terrifying one in response to the Red Triangle strongman's OhCrap face after Batman uses sleight of hand to attach a ticking timebomb to him.

** The Penguin was suspected of being this by a few particularly touchy Jewish groups, owing to his short stature, hooked nose, [[MosesInTheBulrushes Moses-like upbringing,]] and fondness for fish and money. Furthermore, according to her tombstone, his mother's name is "Esther" (an exiled Hebrew queen from the Old Testament). Paradoxically, however, the tombstone is also topped by a huge, Christian cross which gets a long, lingering closeup as part of the movie's rather unsettling biblical imagery -- however, in what may or may not be a significant twist, [[HolyBurnsEvil Penguin can't bring himself to look upon it]], although he may simply be feeling resentment or remorse. Believe it or not, Creator/DannyDeVito himself was raised Catholic, although his wife Rhea Perlman is Jewish.
*** Either the Cobblepots were hiding their Jewish heritage or they're Messianic Jews.
** A New York ''Times'' critic saw anti-Semitism in the "Jewish sounding name" of Max Shreck, without explaining how we tell "Jewish-sounding" names from "German-sounding" ones. In fact, Max Shreck is an homage to the (non-Jewish) actor Max Schreck, who played Count Orlock in ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'', and whose last name is the German word for "fear." That said, Shreck ''does'' wear a shawl that makes him look an awful lot like a rabbi in the scene that announces the mayoral campaign...although, ironically, it seems to be covered with Christian crosses.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* SerialEscalation: Once The Penguin is disgraced from his mayoral bid, he very quickly degenerates in his desire for revenge. Initially, he wants to take out all the first-born sons of Gotham City. When that is thwarted by Batman, he sends an army of penguins with guided missiles to try to KillEmAll (per RousingSpeech).