Batman Forever

Based on the DC Comics character Batman by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. The third installment of Warner Bros.’ initial Batman film series, it is a sequel to Batman Returns starring Val Kilmer, replacing Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne / Batman, alongside Jim Carrey, Tommy Lee Jones, Nicole Kidman, and Chris O’Donnell, while Michael Gough, and Pat Hingle reprise their roles. The film’s story focuses on Batman trying to stop Two-Face and the Riddler in their scheme to extract information from all the minds in Gotham City while adopting an orphaned acrobat named Dick Grayson—who becomes his sidekick, Robin—and developing feelings for psychologist Dr. Chase Meridian.

Schumacher mostly eschewed the dark, dystopian atmosphere of Burton’s films by drawing inspiration from the Batman comic books of the Dick Sprang era, as well as the 1960s television series. After Keaton chose not to reprise his role, William Baldwin and Ethan Hawke were considered as a replacement, before Val Kilmer joined the cast.

Batman Forever was released on June 16, 1995, to mixed reviews from critics, who praised the visuals, action sequences, soundtrack, and performances of Carrey and Jones, but criticized the screenplay and tonal departure from previous films, while others were divided by Kilmer’s performance. The film was a box office success, grossing over $336 million worldwide and becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1995. It was followed by Batman & Robin in 1997, with Schumacher returning as the director, Chris O’Donnell returning as Robin, and George Clooney replacing Kilmer as Batman.

Flashbacks reveal that Two-Face was disfigured with acid by mobster Sal Maroni, which Batman failed to prevent, causing Dent to develop a split personality. Dent blames Batman for his failure to save him and has sworn revenge against him as a result.

Edward Nygma, an eccentric and egotistical researcher at Wayne Enterprises, approaches his employer Bruce Wayne, Batman’s civilian identity, whom he idealizes due to Bruce’s fame. Nygma presents an invention that can beam television signals directly into a person’s brain, demanding immediate approval directly from Bruce. Bruce rejects the device, as he is irritated by Nygma’s obnoxious demands and is concerned the technology could manipulate minds. After killing his abusive supervisor and staging it as a suicide, Nygma resigns and plots revenge against Bruce, sending him riddles. Criminal psychologist Chase Meridian diagnoses Nygma as psychotic.

That night, Bruce attends a Haly’s Circus event with Chase. Two-Face hijacks the event and threatens to detonate a bomb unless Batman reveals his identity. Acrobat Richard “Dick” Grayson, the youngest member of the Flying Graysons, manages to throw the bomb into a river, but Two-Face kills his family in the process. Bruce convinces the now-orphaned Dick to live at Wayne Manor as his ward, where he discovers that Bruce is Batman. Seeking to avenge the death of his family, Dick demands to join Batman in crime-fighting, hoping to kill Two-Face, but Bruce declines.

Meanwhile, Nygma adopts a criminal persona, the Riddler, and teams up with Two-Face, having seen and been inspired by the live circus event. They commit a series of robberies to finance Nygma’s new company and mass-produce his brainwave device dubbed the “Box”, which steals information from users’ minds and transfers it to Nygma’s, making him smarter in the process, but also slowly causing him to lose his grip on reality. At a party hosted by Nygma, Batman pursues Two-Face and is almost killed until Dick saves him.

Batman visits Chase, who explains that she has fallen in love with Bruce and reveals to her his secret identity. On Halloween night, The Riddler and Two-Face, having discovered Bruce’s secret through the Box, destroy the Batcave, shoot Bruce and abduct Chase. As Bruce recovers, he and his butler, Alfred, deduce that Nygma is the Riddler. Bruce finally accepts Dick as Batman’s partner, Robin.

At the Riddler’s lair, Robin almost kills Two-Face, but spares him, allowing the latter to hold the former at gunpoint. The Riddler reveals that Chase and Robin are trapped in tubes above a deadly drop, giving Batman the chance to save only one. Batman distracts the Riddler with a riddle, before destroying the Riddler’s brainwave receiver with a Batarang, damaging the Riddler’s mind, and enabling Batman to rescue both. Two-Face corners them and determines their fate by flipping a coin, but Batman throws a handful of identical coins in the air, much to Two-Face’s confusion. He attempts to grab the coins, only to stumble and fall to his death.

Committed to Arkham Asylum, Nygma now exclaims that he is Batman, flapping the arms of his straitjacket, now completely delusional due to his scrambled memories. Bruce resumes his crusade as Batman, with Robin as his partner.