Editing Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (section)

==Plot==
<!-- The film is presented in a non-linear narrative. This plot synopsis is written chronologically. -->

A young Bruce Wayne vows to avenge his parents' deaths by minimizing criminal activity in Gotham City. While he is successful at thwarting crimes, he is disappointed that criminals are unafraid of him and seeks a more frightening image. He also begins a relationship with [[Andrea Beaumont]] after the two bond at the Gotham Cemetery over the deaths of their loved ones. Though conflicted about whether to honor his promise to his parents or pursue a happy life with Andrea, Bruce eventually proposes to her. However, Andrea abruptly leaves Gotham with her father, businessman Carl Beaumont, ending the engagement in a [[Dear John letter]]. Heartbroken, Bruce commits to a new life as a vigilante crime fighter, converting a cavern under [[Wayne Manor]] into [[Batcave|a base]] and assuming the mantle of [[Batman]].

Years later, Batman interrupts mobster Chuckie Sol attempting to distribute [[counterfeit money]] in Gotham. Sol tries to escape in his car but is attacked by the Phantasm, a masked vigilante resembling the [[Personifications of death|Grim Reaper]], who causes him to die in a crash. Witnesses see Batman at the scene and believe him to have been responsible, leading councilman Arthur Reeves to vow to have him arrested. Mobster Buzz Bronski visits Sol's grave at the Gotham Cemetery, where he is murdered by the Phantasm, whom Bronski's bodyguards also mistake for Batman. While investigating the scene of Bronski's death, Batman encounters Andrea, who deduces his identity. Salvatore Velestra, the ailing former partner of Sol and Bronski, learns of their murders and fears that Batman will come for him next. He seeks help from former ally, councilman Reeves, but is rebuffed and in desperation turns to the [[Joker (character)|Joker]].  

Batman discovers that Sol, Bronski, and Valestra all once operated [[Dummy corporation|dummy corporations]] bankrolled by Carl Beaumont. He interrogates Andrea about her father's dealings with the mob, but she denies knowledge of such dealings and her father's whereabouts. That night, the Phantasm invades Valestra's penthouse, finding that he has already been killed by the Joker. The apartment has been rigged with explosives, which the Joker detonates, but the Phantasm escapes the blast and avoids subsequent capture by Batman. Responding to the blast, the police attempt to apprehend Batman, who is saved by Andrea. She admits to Bruce that her father had worked for Valestra and was forced to go into hiding in Europe with Andrea when he could not repay Valestra money that he had [[embezzlement|embezzled]]. She returned to the city to  stop her father from murdering his former partners. While she and Bruce consider resuming their relationship, Bruce examines a photograph of the mobsters and realizes that Valestra's enforcer is the man who became the Joker. 

The Joker confronts Reeves in his office, accusing him of orchestrating the murders to conceal his mob connections. Reeves is exposed to Joker's toxin and taken to the hospital, where he is interrogated by Batman and confesses that he previously worked as the Beaumonts' lawyer and helped them hide from the mob. When Carl refused to bankroll Reeves's first struggling election campaign, Reeves revealed the Beaumonts' location to Valestra in exchange for the mob's support. Batman deduces that the mobsters had Beaumont killed and that the Phantasm is Andrea, whose final target is her father's murderer: the Joker. Andrea confronts the Joker at his hideout, the abandoned Gotham World's Fair, where he attempts to trap her, but she is saved by Batman, who unsuccessfully pleads with her not to go through with her revenge. The Joker attempts to escape the fair, which he has rigged to explode, but is stopped by Batman and surrenders to Andrea, who bids Bruce goodbye as the fair is destroyed. Bruce survives the blast but finds no trace of either Andrea or the Joker.{{efn|The ''[[The Batman Adventures|Batman & Robin Adventures]] Annual'' #1 (November 1996), which acts as a direct sequel to ''Mask of the Phantasm'', revealed that Andrea escapes the explosion through the sewers. As she contemplates whether to kill the Joker, she loses her grip on him and he gets washed away through the sewage river.}} He is later consoled by [[Alfred Pennyworth|Alfred]], who assures him that he could not have stopped Andrea's self-destruction. Batman resumes his watch over Gotham City while a sorrowful Andrea departs the city on an ocean liner.