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Although Tim Burton’s gothic aesthetic fits Batman and Gotham City like a glove, his two “Batman” films are hardly the work of a lifelong Bat fan. The films take huge liberties with the source material, like making the Joker (Jack Nicholson) the one who killed Bruce Wayne’s parents.
However, there was at least one die-hard Batman fan working on the film: executive producer Michael Uslan. A Batman fan since childhood (his 2019 memoir is titled “The Boy Who Loved Batman”), Uslan actually purchased the rights to the Batman film in 1979 with his creative partner, the late Ben Melniker. Uslan had long wanted to make a serious film that showed the Dark Knight’s full potential. With 1989’s “Batman,” he got his wish, and he’s been an executive producer on every Batman film ever since.
Speaking to Batman On Film in 2014, Uslan mentioned that Burton’s “Batman” opening was an homage to one of his favorite Batman comics, “Night of the Stalker!” Published in 1974, “Stalker” is the opening story of “Detective Comics” #439, scripted by Steve Englehart and plotted by husband-and-wife duo Sal & Vin Amendola. (Sal also drew the comic strip.)
Burton’s “Batman” opens with Gotham City. A couple and their young son leave a cinema, but unable to take a taxi, they take a shortcut in an alley and come across attackers. You think that it’s first about the Wayne family, and we look at the origin of Batman. Then the attackers take the money and flee. The scene cuts to a wide, high angle shot, as if someone is watching the scene from a rooftop. Cue Batman (Michael Keaton) confronting the two attackers and putting the fear of God into them.
“Night of the Stalker!” similarly recreates Batman’s origin for him to witness and then exact his revenge.
Night of the Stalker shows Batman from the criminals’ point of view
The cover of “Detective Comics” #439 (see below) teases “Night of the Stalker!” It’s a simple but evocative image: a moonlit Batman stands on a dark hillside and watches three men fleeing from him in a swamp. What did these men do?
DC Comics
The story begins with Batman standing on a rooftop surveying Gotham, with a narrator saying, “As always, [Batman] knows that the coming darkness will create a need for him. getaway car. Batman spends the rest of the night following them around the Gotham suburbs. Although the story predates the popularity of slasher films, it follows a similar structure – with Batman as the relentless slasher.
It’s even darker than Burton’s “Batman” scene, because the crime isn’t just a robbery, it’s a double murder. Batman sees the tragedy that created him happen again and another young boy becomes an orphan. It is also a bright premise of a “Batman” comic book. Young Bruce Wayne swore to fight criminals in memory of his parents, and with this murder, he failed in his vow. Yet it also gives him the opportunity to avenge his parents by proxy, hence his determination. Batman can Never save his parents, but the crime he witnesses reminds him why he made his wish.
Night of the Stalker’s Place in Batman Legacy
Michael Uslan isn’t the only Batman fan inspired by “Night of the Stalker!” Decades later, the story was adapted and redrawn by comic book writer/artist Darwyn Cooke with a fitting new title: “Déjà Vu.” This isn’t a panel-by-panel remake: “Deja Vu” uses red and orange as background colors, reinforcing the stylization while stripping away the narration to emphasize the action.
The book also adds some critical beats. There is a close-up of the now orphaned boy, in shock, but Batman has no time to comfort him as his parents’ killers flee. The comic still ends with Bruce crying in front of his parents’ portrait, but the final panel now shows a solemn Alfred watching Batman from a cracked door.
“Déjà Vu” appears in Cooke’s collection “Batman: Ego and Other Tails.” (One of the included stories, “Selina’s Big Score,” features Catwoman, hence “Tails.”) He explained that he first conceived the story in 1998, when he redesigned “Night of the Stalker!”. in the style of “Batman Adventures”, the tie-in comic to “Batman: The Animated Series”. The story was written by Bruce Timm, co-creator of “Batman: The Animated Series,” but rejected by DC. For his 2005 issue of the creator anthology “Solo”, Cooke finally released “Deja Vu”, rewritten by himself (with Timm’s approval).
Indeed, “Night of the Stalker!” could have been a great episode of “Batman: The Animated Series”. This is a short, self-contained, atmospheric story, consistent with the tone of this series, although the plot relying on an explicit double murder might have been too much for the censors. If we’re lucky, Timm might adapt “Night of the Stalker!” as an episode of its adult-oriented Batman cartoon, “Batman: Caped Crusader”. Another retelling of this story would be a welcome deja vu.
