Friday, January 17, 2020

Batman and The Phantom (The Movie!)



I remember watching The Phantom back in the day and being thoroughly entertained.  Billy Zane was perfect to me in the lead role, and I was hoping that the movie would only be the first in a series.  Alas, there was no sequel, but I still like to pop the movie in from time to time.  How cool would it have been to have seen him fighting side by side with Michael Keaton's Batman?

Batman and The Phantom previously met an a very early MS Paint three-parter for the blog, that began here, then continued here and finally concluded here.

16 comments:

AirDave said...

(Cool cover!)
I know, right! I enjoyed The Phantom, too. I enjoyed Alec Baldwin as The Shadow, but that's another story...
I'm not so sure about Connery as Ra's, though. Am I the only one that like Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman in The Avengers remake? Connery was quite interesting as the villain there...

det_Tobor said...

Billy's costume also got neg press for the " art designs" on it. Sorry Ross, but i'll take your Aparo cover over this live shot. It has more of a feel to it than this pair meeting for what looks to be a first time. It's a shame the Phantom was treated so badly on the big and little screen (pilot).

Anonymous said...

How about Batman Beyond and Phantom 2040?

Carycomic said...

I loved the Zane Phantom costume, just fine. As I thought it 100% faithful to the Charlton Comics version. As for today's cover? Excellent! And, in light of Air Dave's observation, I wouldn't mind a sequel cover pairing Zane's Phantom in a team-up with Baldwin's Shadow.

jlbgriggs2 said...

I always wanted sequels to The Rocketeer. I love that movie. It was quite faithful to the comics.

Bob Greenwade said...

I have to agree with Dave about Connery as Ra's al Ghul. For me, the best live-action Ra's al Ghul to date has been Alexander Siddig on Gotham, both in appearance and in presentation. If you're looking for someone to play the character in the late 80s/early 90s, maybe... Christopher Walken? Richard E. Grant?

But yes, since Billy Zane's Phantom was set in present day, having him meet Batman would have been loads of fun.

I actually didn't care a lot for that Phantom movie, though. It wasn't actually bad (in my opinion); it just didn't excite me. Part of that was the decision to set it in present day, and still call him Kit (rather than identify Kit as having been his grandfather or great-grandfather) and still have him use unmodernized Pulp-era equipment. That may have been just my own sensibilities, but it did seem to get a tepid box office.

Just for fun, how about a photo cover some time of Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern with the 2015 Fantastic Four? If nothing else, that could be a good April 1 cover...

...at least, if you don't end up taking my usual request for "Ambush Bug Ruins the Marvel Universe" (using the Infinity Gauntlet). Oh, what could Irwin do with that? Turn Nightcrawler yellow, and the Thing pink? Give a Green Lantern Power Ring to Captain Ultra? Drop Nick Fury into the Zoo Crew's world? Allow Doctor Strange to be defeated by the Condiment King?

Anonymous said...

@BG: The Billy Zane Phantom flick had a Depression-era setting, a la the Indiana Jones films. So, technically, NOT present-day! Furthermore, methinks the tepid box office success was a misinterpretaton by most fans--unfamiliar with the Phantom's backstory--that the film's writers were _ripping off_ Indiana Jones!

I say this because I once met a twenty-something who told me, right out loud and with a straight face, that he thought Baldwin's Shadow-flick was a rip-off of Indiana Jones and Batman!

Bob Greenwade said...

@Anon@3:57: Apparently my memory of the Phantom movie is highly faulty, so I'll see if I can't rewatch it.

And of course people get these things mixed up; I once heard from someone who had painstakingly shown how Lord of the Rings was a ripoff of Harry Potter.

Horsefeathers said...

2 wild and crazy guys. Shame there ain't any pix of anyone in Bruce's 1939 attire. I can go with Batman, Phantom and Shadow as a team. who were those masked men ?

Glenn said...

Interesting choice of guest stars and I think it would depend on story if the actors would fit the roles.

I like the Phantom movie and I usually like adaptations IF they do not turn it into a comedy (Green Lantern, Lone Ranger, Green Hornet) when it was not such in original and if the movie is not criticizing the source (i.e. X-Men) while doing a worse job.

Horsefeathers said...

Anon3:57
I say this because I once met a twenty-something who told me, right out loud and with a straight face, that he thought Baldwin's Shadow-flick was a rip-off of Indiana Jones and Batman!

I'll trade you him for my meet with a young register guy who was pissed cause the Green Hornet was such a ripoff of Bill Cosby' s Brown Hornet.
Lots of people know only the "New source" of material and haven't a clue about the original stuff. So forget the books they only know the movies - what came first there.

Horsefeathers said...

Wonder if they'd be interested in sub leasing a lane on the Brooklyn Bridge?

Carycomic said...

@Hyram: depends on the lane. Is it Lois or Margo?

Anonymous said...

Insert proportionate groan, here.

det_Tobor said...

Ross will you ever do a cover on this family act? Lois & Margo?

Horsefeathers said...

Twas Frankie Lane with his Blazing Saddle.

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