50 free Batman (1989) trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Tim Burton's Batman arrived in June 1989 on a wave of Batmania, broke the opening-weekend record and turned a bat logo into the symbol of a summer. This quiz covers the whole story of the film: the decade it spent in development, the flood of protest letters when Michael Keaton was cast, the deal that made the Joker's actor one of the best-paid men in Hollywood history, the horse-riding accident that handed Vicki Vale to Kim Basinger, the chart-topping soundtrack, the orchestral score and the English backlot where the production designer built the ugliest city imaginable. Easy questions ask who played the Joker, what the Joker's poison was called and which chemical company he fell into; the hard end gets into the Batmobile's chassis, the cathedral finale that was rewritten without telling the director, who was nearly cast as Robin and which earlier film's sets were recycled for the villain's lair. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on the film, the soundtrack and the Batmobile, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed the 1989 Batman film?
Tim Burton
Warner Bros. hired Burton after Pee-wee's Big Adventure but did not greenlight the film until Beetlejuice was a hit in 1988.
Q 02Who plays the Joker in Batman (1989)?
Jack Nicholson
Nicholson had been the studio's top choice since 1980, and Robin Williams lobbied hard for the part.
Q 03Roughly how many protest letters did Warner Bros. get from fans over Michael Keaton's casting?
50,000
Fans expected the campy Mr. Mom to make a 1960s-style Batman; Keaton studied The Dark Knight Returns to prepare instead.
Q 04Which producer suggested Michael Keaton after seeing his dramatic turn in Clean and Sober?
Jon Peters
The director, who had worked with Keaton on Beetlejuice, agreed, though he had originally been interested in the unknown Willem Dafoe.
Q 05Which star turned down Batman in favour of Lethal Weapon 2?
Mel Gibson
Bill Murray, Charlie Sheen, Steven Seagal and Dennis Quaid were also on the studio's list, and Pierce Brosnan simply had no interest in a comic-book role.
Q 06Who was originally cast as the female lead before a horse-riding accident forced her out?
Sean Young
The same producer then suggested Kim Basinger because she could join the production immediately.
Q 07Which actor talked the director out of casting him as the Joker, then regretted it?
John Lithgow
Liotta separately declined a meeting because he thought the film would be stupid, and regretted that too.
Q 08The Joker's actor cut his usual $10m fee to $6m in exchange for what?
A share of the film's earnings and merchandise
The deal paid him more than $50 million and by one biographer's estimate as much as $90 million; he also insisted on top billing and time off for Lakers home games.
Q 09Which fictional chemical company's vat turns Jack Napier into the Joker?
Axis Chemicals
The film borrows and then departs from the comics' Red Hood origin story for the Joker.
Q 10What is the name of the Joker's poison, which makes victims die laughing?
Smylex
He laces hygiene products with it, so Batman hands Vicki his research to warn the city which combinations to avoid.
Q 11Which mob boss sets Napier up on the chemical-plant break-in over an affair with his mistress?
Carl Grissom
Jack Palance played him; screenwriter Sam Hamm invented Grissom to replace the comics' Rupert Thorne.
Q 12Which supermodel played Alicia Hunt, the mob boss's mistress?
Jerry Hall
Her face is later hidden behind a porcelain mask after the Joker's surgeons get to work on her.
Q 13Which museum does the Joker lure the photojournalist to and have his henchmen vandalise?
The Flugelheim
The Joker spares one painting, a Francis Bacon, remarking that he kind of likes it.
Q 21The Joker's actor persuaded the filmmakers to cast which close friend as the Joker's henchman Bob?
Tracey Walter
Bob the Goon is famously shot by the Joker in the film after handing him a gun.
Q 22Where was Batman filmed from October 1988 to early 1989?
Pinewood Studios, England
The 51-acre Gotham backlot was one of the biggest sets ever built at the studio, and media interest had chased the production out of Burbank.
Q 23Which two English stately homes doubled for Wayne Manor?
Knebworth House and Hatfield House
Q 14What does Bruce Wayne recognise in the Joker's 'danced with the devil in the pale moonlight' line?
The phrase used by the mugger who killed his parents
Comics fans objected, since in the comics Joe Chill is the killer; Sam Hamm said making it the Joker was Burton's idea.
Q 15How does Bruce Wayne survive being shot by the Joker in Vicki's apartment?
A serving tray hidden under his shirt
Wayne had come to the apartment intending to reveal his secret identity before the Joker interrupted.
Q 16The Joker's parade with the promise of free money is held to celebrate what?
Gotham's bicentennial
The giant parade balloons carry the poison gas, and Batman uses the Batwing to cut them loose.
Q 17Which reporter, played by Robert Wuhl, was scripted to die of Joker gas but survived because the filmmakers liked him?
Alexander Knox
Wuhl reprised Knox 30 years later in the Arrowverse crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths, which dubbed the film's world Earth-89.
Q 18Which Hammer horror veteran was cast as Alfred?
Michael Gough
Gough stayed on as Alfred through all four films of the original series, even after Keaton and Burton left.
Q 19Billy Dee Williams played Harvey Dent because the director planned what for a sequel?
An African-American Two-Face
Tommy Lee Jones got the part in Batman Forever instead, to Williams' disappointment.
Q 20Which future star auditioned for Dick Grayson before the role was cut from the script?
Matt Damon
Irish child actor Ricky Addison Reed was actually cast before Warren Skaaren removed Robin altogether.
Two disused power stations, Acton Lane and Little Barford, provided the industrial locations.
Q 24Sets from which 1986 film were reused as the interiors of the Joker's chemical plant?
Aliens
James Cameron's power plant and alien-nest sets were still standing at Acton Lane Power Station.
Q 25Which production designer built the film's Gotham City and won an Oscar for it?
Anton Furst
Furst said the team imagined New York without a planning commission, an essay in ugliness, and cited Terry Gilliam's Brazil as an influence.
Q 26Which musician wrote and performed the film's songs?
Prince
The producers first wanted Prince for the Joker's songs and Michael Jackson for the romance numbers, with the composer blending the two.
Q 27Who composed the score, his third collaboration with the director after Pee-wee's Big Adventure?
Danny Elfman
One producer was sceptical of hiring the Oingo Boingo frontman until he heard the opening number.
Q 28Which single from the soundtrack album reached number one, his first since "Kiss"?
"Batdance"
Its lyrics are mostly samples from the film, and the album topped the Billboard 200 for six weeks.
Q 29Which singer duets on "The Arms of Orion" from the soundtrack album?
Sheena Easton
In the liner notes the song is a duet between Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale, each track being assigned to a character.
Q 30Which two comics are cited as the main influences on the film's serious tone?
The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke
The director was not a comics fan but responded to the seriousness of both books; Elfman was handed The Dark Knight Returns for inspiration too.