Tim Burton directs this action adventure starring Michael Keaton as the DC Comics superhero. The streets of Gotham City are no longer safe for criminals, who are being picked off by a masked vigilante dubbed Batman by the press. Reporter Alexander Knox (Robert Wuhl) teams up 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 (Keaton). Meanwhile, crime boss Carl Grissom (Jack Palance)'s 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 clown prince of crime known as The Joker and proceeds to terrorise Gotham.