Michael Keaton's Batman will return in sequel to 1989 movie

Tim Burton's Batman is one of the most revolutionary movies in the history of Hollywood. Released in 1989, it changed the game for comic book movies by introducing mainstream audiences to the modern superhero blockbuster, balancing the extraordinary of the world with some serious, nuanced storytelling; the result was a roaring success as Batman became one of that year's biggest movies and influenced the genre for decades to come. Star Michael Keaton has also been hailed as perhaps the best actor to ever don the cape and cowl.

The film produced three sequels throughout the '90s, with Keaton and Burton returning for the first of those in 1992's Batman Returns. 1995's Batman Forever and 1997's Batman and Robin took the series in a more cartoonish direction, which wasn't a good choice in hindsight. Keaton would also reprise the role three decades later in 2023's The Flash.

Now, 35 years after the original movie's release, it's getting another - more direct - sequel in the form of a brand new novel.

New novel Batman: Resurrection will pick up where the 1989 movie left off

The stories of Michael Keaton's Caped Crusader will continue in brand new novel Batman: Resurrection. The novel is written by New York Times Best-Selling author John Jackson Miller and it will pick up in the aftermath of the 1989 film, which saw Batman defeat The Joker (Jack Nicholson) and gift Gotham City with the Bat Signal should they ever need his help again.

With Gotham City still reeling from The Joker's reign of terror, and all of the events that transpired during it, Batman: Resurrection will focus on Batman's attempts to ensure that the city is allowed that rest from crime that it earned. But that's going to be easier said than done, as new evils arise in the hopes of filling the crime-shaped hole that The Joker has left behind.

This will push the Dark Knight to his limits as he attempts to balance his crime-fighting antics with his relationship with Vicki Vale as the pair feel the strain of Bruce Wayne's double life. Alfred Pennyworth, meanwhile, will long for some normality in Bruce's life, hoping that his surrogate son will one day be able to retire the mantle of the Bat.

Among the new threats that Batman will face are from The Joker gang, the remnants of The Clown Prince of Crime's organization, and slimy millionaire Max Shreck, who becomes a prominent figure in the days after The Joker's demise. And that could very well set the stage for the events of 1992's Batman Returns.

The news was first announced via Gizmodo, with Miller telling the outlet:

"“There are dream projects, and then there are projects you never dreamt were possible. This is the latter. People always ask what world I wanted to get the chance to write in; I never named Burton’s take on Batman because I never imagined it could happen."

What's perhaps most exciting about this is the fact that it gives us an idea of what happens between the 1989 film and its 1992 sequel, allowing the story to maintain a bit of the first movie's own identity before Returns carved out its own.

Bridging the gap between 1989's Batman and Batman Returns

Batman: Resurrection will act as something of a bridge between Tim Burton's Batman and its 1992 sequel Batman Returns. That's an unbelievably exciting prospect because, while the world of the Burtonverse has been continued in multiple continuities, this is the first time that this particular part of the story will be filled in.

The three movie sequels carried on the story, but the two Schumacher ones have subsequently been written out of the canon by the comic series Batman '89 (which acts as a direct sequel to Batman Returns) and 2023's The Flash, which ignores both of those movies, too. With the exception of Returns itself, no one has ever attempted to continue the story of the '89 movie as both of those films are considered canon to the Burtonverse.

What's interesting about that is that, in a way, Returns wasn't a direct continuation of its predecessor (at least not in the same way a direct sequel would be today). Yes, it brought back Keaton and Burton (along with Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, and the Batmobile), while also acknowledging Bruce's relationship with Vicki Vale as canon, but it was a standalone movie that completely reimagined the world of Gotham City through Burton's vision, changing everything about the franchise from its predecessor.

Batman: Resurrection, however, will be able to give us a bit more context as to how some of those changes came about. What happened to the world of Gotham City in those few years that had it evolve from a smoky Noir art-deco landscape to a dark and twisted nightmare come to life? We know it will introduce Max Shreck, so it will likely give us a chance to see how the Christopher Walken-portrayed character became such a business tycoon by the time Batman Returns rolled around.

What's also exciting is that characters that only appeared in Batman will make their presences felt in the novel, meaning that we will learn more about what happened to Vicki Vale and Alexander Knox, while also featuring characters who were introduced in Returns like Shreck and Michelle Pfeiffer's Selina Kyle.

Needless to say that this one sounds like a must for Bat-fans!

Batman: Resurrection is released on October 15, 2024.