Andrea Beaumont
Encyclopedia
Andrea Beaumont, also known as The Phantasm, is a fictional character
in the DC animated universe
. Conceived by Alan Burnett
and Paul Dini
, she first appeared in the 1993 animated film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
as the ex-fiancé of Bruce Wayne/Batman
and one of the film's primary antagonists. The Phantasm has made occasional cameo appearance
s in various Batman titles, often as a freelance assassin
. The dual animated character in Mask of the Phantasm was voiced by Dana Delany
as Andrea and by Stacy Keach
as the Phantasm.
as per Alan Burnett's initial description of a Grim Reaper-esque character. Burnett wanted the villain to be reminiscent of the Ghost of Christmas Future
, as mentioned in the film by the Joker
. Timm went through approximately 20 different character designs for the Phantasm before creating a version that would evolve into the final design.
Described by Timm as resembling a "tall, gaunt Death
character", the Phantasm's costume is hooded and features a metal, skull-like mask. The Phantasm carries a large blade, reminiscent of a scythe
, in her right hand. The blade was not part of Timm's original design, and was added later at Burnett's insistence. The character's left glove houses a chemically-based smoke-generating device, which the Phantasm uses to conceal herself in a shroud of fog or to blind enemies.
At various points in Mask of the Phantasm, the Phantasm's manipulation of fog makes it appear that the character has paranormal
powers, such as intangibility and the ability to disappear. These smoke-filled appearances were influenced by the Marvel Comics
supervillain Mysterio
. The Phantasm's facade is completed by a voice provided by Stacy Keach
, which was digitally altered in post-production to create deep and menacing tones that would echo at key moments in the story.
included Alan Burnett
, Martin Pasko
, Paul Dini
, and Michael Reaves
. Pasko wrote many of the flashback sequences and Reaves the final showdown between Batman, the Phantasm, and the Joker
.
In Mask of the Phantasm, producer Alan Burnett "wanted to do a big love story with Bruce because we hadn't really done it on the TV show
. I wanted a story that got into his head." He also felt that the film's narrative should be removed from Batman's traditional rogues gallery. The resulting narrative, which dealt with Bruce's decision to become and remain Batman, hinged on the love story between Bruce and Andrea. Andrea's role in Mask of the Phantasm corresponds with that of the femme fatale
from hardboiled
detective fiction
. Like classic femme fatales such as Brigid O'Shaughnessy from The Maltese Falcon, Andrea is a beautiful, intelligent woman who harbors dark secrets. The fact that Andrea is secretly the main villain is another convention of this stock character
.
Andrea also serves as a foil
for Batman. The characters are very similar; they both don an intimidating costume and speak to the gravestones of their parents (as if holding a conversation with the deceased). The paralleling of their characters — most importantly the death of their parents at the hand of criminals — highlights how different they are: Though they both became vigilante
s, Andrea chose to become a killer, following a warped code of "eye for an eye
" justice, while Bruce chose the more humane act of fighting crime without taking anyone's life.
University, she meets Bruce Wayne, and they fall in love. He is internally conflicted by his desire to lead a normal life with Andrea and keep the promise he made to his murdered parents to fight crime. He finally decides to abandon crime-fighting — instead pledging part of his inheritance to the Gotham City Police Department
— so he can marry Andrea. As Bruce proposes to her at his estate, the two discover the cave that would later become the Batcave
.
Andrea is forced to break off the engagement and move to Europe
, however, when she learns that her father has double-crossed the Mafia
. Carl had set up dummy corporations for some of the most powerful mob bosses in Gotham, including Chuckie Sol, Sal Valestra, and Buzz Bronski. When they learn that Beaumont has embezzled
from them, they demand immediate repayment. Unable to quickly access the money he had stolen and subsequently invested, Carl flees with Andrea and eventually settles on the Mediterranean coast. By then, he has parlayed the money he'd stolen into a sizable fortune. A few years later, however, when Beaumont's father refuses to make donations to Arthur Reeves, a politician formerly in his employ, the young councilman sells information on the Beaumonts' whereabouts to the mob. Although Carl has repaid them, the vengeful gangsters want "interest
compounded in blood" and plan to use the information to have him killed. They send a hitman, who would later become the Joker
, to kill Carl. Andrea encounters him as he leaves her villa, and discovers her murder
ed father only seconds afterward.
Consumed with hatred, Andrea waits patiently for many years, planning to destroy the men who ruined her life. When she returns to Gotham, she dons a costume reminiscent of the Grim Reaper
, complete with a smoke-generating device and scythe-bladed gauntlet. Disguised as such, and mistaken by everyone as Batman, she kills Sol and Bronski. After Bronski's death, she revisits her mother's grave, only to encounter Batman, who is investigating the crime-scene where the Phantasm killed Bronski. Shocked to see her after all these years, Batman quickly departs, but Andrea notices that he was standing next to the grave of Bruce Wayne's parents and realizes his true identity.
Batman later discovers the link between the mobsters and Carl Beaumont and questions Andrea, but she rebuffs him. When the Phantasm attempts to kill Valestra, she nearly falls into a trap laid by the Joker, which she escapes. Batman attempts to apprehend her as she flees from Valestra's residence, although she easily evades him and the police. When Andrea realizes that the police will arrest Batman in her stead, she quickly changes out of her costume and helps him elude the authorities. In a final attempt to conceal her identity, Andrea tells Bruce that the Phantasm is her father and that she has returned to stop his murderous rampage.
Andrea tracks the Joker to his hideout at the derelict Gotham World Fairgrounds, but the Clown Prince of Crime has deduced her identity, and is ready for her attack. The two fight hand-to-hand in the "Home of the Future" exhibit before he lures Andrea to a giant turbine. He attempts to kill her by sucking her into it, but Batman intervenes, breaking the machine moments before its blades would have crushed her. Andrea attempts to justify her actions: "They took everything, Bruce. My dad, my life, you. I'm not saying it's right, or even sane, but it's all I've got left. [...] They had to pay!" She asks him to let her carry out her vendetta without interference. For once completely helpless, Batman begs her to leave. Andrea agrees and disappears in a cloud of smoke. After a battle between the Dark Knight and the Joker, Andrea reappears to claim the defeated maniac. As the fairgrounds explode, Andrea bids farewell to Batman, and disappears with the Joker.
After escaping the inferno through a series of sewers, Batman assumes that Andrea and the Joker have perished in the blaze. However, she survives (and as The New Batman Adventures
reveals, so does the Joker) and leaves a locket for Bruce in the Batcave as a keepsake. In the penultimate scene of the film, Andrea stands on the vespertine
deck of an ocean liner
, alone.
Annual #1 (1996). The Phantasm also appears in Batman Adventures: Shadows and Masks
, in which Andrea goes undercover in the Black Mask
's organization, the False Face Society. During this story arc, she confronts Bruce at Wayne Manor
and asks him not to interfere with her operation. He rebuffs Andrea, referring to her as a "killer" and thus unworthy of his consideration. She eventually fights Batgirl
, who takes some of her gas pellets. She also tries to kill Black Mask.
She later tricked Arthur Reeves into killing himself.
The Phantasm reappears as an assassin in in the Season 2 finale episode of Justice League Unlimited
("Epilogue"). Now an elderly woman, the Phantasm is hired by Amanda Waller
to murder Terry McGinnis' parents in front of his eyes. The psychological trauma
, Waller reasons, would have steered Terry toward becoming Batman's successor. However, the Phantasm cannot go through with the job and abandons it moments before she would have slain the young couple. The Phantasm argues that the murder would defile the Batman legacy by breaking Bruce's paramount rule, to never take a life.
Her refusal marks the official end of Waller's "Batman Beyond project", only to have fate compel Terry to eventually become Wayne's successor anyway. In the episode, Andrea has no lines or voice actor; her sentiments are conveyed through Waller's monologue
recounting the event. Her scythe-gauntlet in the future has glowing orange studs on it, suggesting some degree of technological overhaul.
In conjunction with the release of Mask of the Phantasm in 1993, Kenner
released two Phantasm action figures. The second, released after the film, was packaged with the removable mask which separated from the figure. The first release was a single piece, with neither the mask or scythe being removable.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the DC animated universe
DC animated universe
The DC Animated Universe is a fan term that refers to a series of popular animated television series and related spin-offs produced by Warner Bros. Animation which share the same continuity. Most of these series are adapted from DC Comics properties...
. Conceived by Alan Burnett
Alan Burnett
Alan Burnett is a television writer-producer particularly associated with DC Comics and Walt Disney television animation. He has had a hand in virtually every DC animated project since the waning years of the Super Friends, and continues to do so...
and Paul Dini
Paul Dini
Paul Dini is an American writer and producer who works in the television and comic book industries. He is best known as a producer and writer for several Warner Bros./DC Comics animated series, including Star Wars: Ewoks, Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated...
, she first appeared in the 1993 animated film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is a 1993 animated superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, and is a spin-off of the Emmy Award-winning Batman: The Animated Series...
as the ex-fiancé of Bruce Wayne/Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
and one of the film's primary antagonists. The Phantasm has made occasional cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s in various Batman titles, often as a freelance assassin
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
. The dual animated character in Mask of the Phantasm was voiced by Dana Delany
Dana Delany
Dana Welles Delany is an American film, stage, and television actress, producer, host and health activist.After various roles in the early career, Delany garnered her first leading role in 1987 in the short-lived NBC sitcom Sweet Surrender and achieved wider fame in 1988–1991 as Colleen McMurphy...
as Andrea and by Stacy Keach
Stacy Keach
Stacy Keach is an American actor and narrator. He is most famous for his dramatic roles; however, he has done narration work in educational programming on PBS and the Discovery Channel, as well as some comedy and musical...
as the Phantasm.
Character design
The Phantasm's costume was designed by Bruce TimmBruce Timm
Bruce Walter Timm is an American character designer, animator and producer. He is also a writer and artist working in comics, and is known for his contributions building the modern DC Comics animated franchise, the DC animated universe.-Animation:Timm's early career in animation was varied; he...
as per Alan Burnett's initial description of a Grim Reaper-esque character. Burnett wanted the villain to be reminiscent of the Ghost of Christmas Future
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, A.K.A., The Ghost of Christmas Future, is a fictional character in English novelist Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It is the ghost that haunts the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, in order to prompt him to adopt a more caring attitude in life and avoid the horrid...
, as mentioned in the film by the Joker
Joker (comics)
The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon and the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin...
. Timm went through approximately 20 different character designs for the Phantasm before creating a version that would evolve into the final design.
Described by Timm as resembling a "tall, gaunt Death
Death (personification)
The concept of death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood...
character", the Phantasm's costume is hooded and features a metal, skull-like mask. The Phantasm carries a large blade, reminiscent of a scythe
Scythe
A scythe is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass, or reaping crops. It was largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia. The Grim Reaper is often depicted carrying or wielding a scythe...
, in her right hand. The blade was not part of Timm's original design, and was added later at Burnett's insistence. The character's left glove houses a chemically-based smoke-generating device, which the Phantasm uses to conceal herself in a shroud of fog or to blind enemies.
At various points in Mask of the Phantasm, the Phantasm's manipulation of fog makes it appear that the character has paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
powers, such as intangibility and the ability to disappear. These smoke-filled appearances were influenced by the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
supervillain Mysterio
Mysterio
Mysterio is the name of three fictional characters, all of which are supervillains and enemies of Spider-Man in the . The original Mysterio was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and first appears in Amazing Spider-Man #13, although it was later retconned that the aliens seen in Amazing...
. The Phantasm's facade is completed by a voice provided by Stacy Keach
Stacy Keach
Stacy Keach is an American actor and narrator. He is most famous for his dramatic roles; however, he has done narration work in educational programming on PBS and the Discovery Channel, as well as some comedy and musical...
, which was digitally altered in post-production to create deep and menacing tones that would echo at key moments in the story.
Mask of the Phantasm
The screenwriters of Batman: Mask of the PhantasmBatman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is a 1993 animated superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, and is a spin-off of the Emmy Award-winning Batman: The Animated Series...
included Alan Burnett
Alan Burnett
Alan Burnett is a television writer-producer particularly associated with DC Comics and Walt Disney television animation. He has had a hand in virtually every DC animated project since the waning years of the Super Friends, and continues to do so...
, Martin Pasko
Martin Pasko
Martin Pasko is a writer and editor in a diverse array of media, including comic books and television.Pasko has worked for many comics publishers, but is best known for his work with DC Comics over three decades. He has written Superman in many media, including television animation, webisodes, and...
, Paul Dini
Paul Dini
Paul Dini is an American writer and producer who works in the television and comic book industries. He is best known as a producer and writer for several Warner Bros./DC Comics animated series, including Star Wars: Ewoks, Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated...
, and Michael Reaves
Michael Reaves
James Michael Reaves is an American writer, known for his contributions as producer and story editor to a number of 1990s animated television series, including Disney's Gargoyles and Batman: The Animated Series. He has also written media tie-in novels, children's books, and original fiction...
. Pasko wrote many of the flashback sequences and Reaves the final showdown between Batman, the Phantasm, and the Joker
Joker (comics)
The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon and the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin...
.
Role
Batman: The Animated Series
Batman: The Animated Series is an American animated series based on the DC Comics character Batman. The series featured an ensemble cast of many voice-actors including Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Arleen Sorkin, and Loren Lester. The series won four Emmy Awards and was nominated...
. I wanted a story that got into his head." He also felt that the film's narrative should be removed from Batman's traditional rogues gallery. The resulting narrative, which dealt with Bruce's decision to become and remain Batman, hinged on the love story between Bruce and Andrea. Andrea's role in Mask of the Phantasm corresponds with that of the femme fatale
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
from hardboiled
Hardboiled
Hardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined...
detective fiction
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
. Like classic femme fatales such as Brigid O'Shaughnessy from The Maltese Falcon, Andrea is a beautiful, intelligent woman who harbors dark secrets. The fact that Andrea is secretly the main villain is another convention of this stock character
Stock character
A Stock character is a fictional character based on a common literary or social stereotype. Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. In their most general form, stock characters are related to literary archetypes,...
.
Andrea also serves as a foil
Foil (literature)
In fiction, a foil is a character who contrasts with another character in order to highlight particular qualities of another character....
for Batman. The characters are very similar; they both don an intimidating costume and speak to the gravestones of their parents (as if holding a conversation with the deceased). The paralleling of their characters — most importantly the death of their parents at the hand of criminals — highlights how different they are: Though they both became vigilante
Vigilante
A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
s, Andrea chose to become a killer, following a warped code of "eye for an eye
An eye for an eye
The meaning of the principle, an eye for an eye, is that a person who has injured another person receives the same injury in compensation. The exact Latin to English translation of this phrase is actually "The law of retaliation." At the root of this principle is that one of the purposes of the...
" justice, while Bruce chose the more humane act of fighting crime without taking anyone's life.
Synopsis
Andrea Beaumont is the daughter of wealthy businessman Carl Beaumont and his deceased wife, Victoria. In her youth, while attending GothamGotham City
Gotham City is a fictional U.S. city appearing in DC Comics, best known as the home of Batman. Batman's place of residence was first identified as Gotham City in Batman #4 . Gotham City is strongly inspired by Trenton, Ontario's history, location, atmosphere, and various architectural styles...
University, she meets Bruce Wayne, and they fall in love. He is internally conflicted by his desire to lead a normal life with Andrea and keep the promise he made to his murdered parents to fight crime. He finally decides to abandon crime-fighting — instead pledging part of his inheritance to the Gotham City Police Department
Gotham City Police Department
The Gotham City Police Department is a fictional police department servicing Gotham City, as depicted in comic books published by DC Comics, in particular those tied into the Batman books.-History of GCPD:...
— so he can marry Andrea. As Bruce proposes to her at his estate, the two discover the cave that would later become the Batcave
Batcave
The Batcave is the secret headquarters of fictional DC Comics superhero Batman, the alternate identity of playboy Bruce Wayne, consisting of a series of subterranean caves beneath his residence, Wayne Manor.-Publication history:...
.
Andrea is forced to break off the engagement and move to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, however, when she learns that her father has double-crossed the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
. Carl had set up dummy corporations for some of the most powerful mob bosses in Gotham, including Chuckie Sol, Sal Valestra, and Buzz Bronski. When they learn that Beaumont has embezzled
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
from them, they demand immediate repayment. Unable to quickly access the money he had stolen and subsequently invested, Carl flees with Andrea and eventually settles on the Mediterranean coast. By then, he has parlayed the money he'd stolen into a sizable fortune. A few years later, however, when Beaumont's father refuses to make donations to Arthur Reeves, a politician formerly in his employ, the young councilman sells information on the Beaumonts' whereabouts to the mob. Although Carl has repaid them, the vengeful gangsters want "interest
Interest rate
An interest rate is the rate at which interest is paid by a borrower for the use of money that they borrow from a lender. For example, a small company borrows capital from a bank to buy new assets for their business, and in return the lender receives interest at a predetermined interest rate for...
compounded in blood" and plan to use the information to have him killed. They send a hitman, who would later become the Joker
Joker (comics)
The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon and the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin...
, to kill Carl. Andrea encounters him as he leaves her villa, and discovers her murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ed father only seconds afterward.
Death (personification)
The concept of death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood...
, complete with a smoke-generating device and scythe-bladed gauntlet. Disguised as such, and mistaken by everyone as Batman, she kills Sol and Bronski. After Bronski's death, she revisits her mother's grave, only to encounter Batman, who is investigating the crime-scene where the Phantasm killed Bronski. Shocked to see her after all these years, Batman quickly departs, but Andrea notices that he was standing next to the grave of Bruce Wayne's parents and realizes his true identity.
Batman later discovers the link between the mobsters and Carl Beaumont and questions Andrea, but she rebuffs him. When the Phantasm attempts to kill Valestra, she nearly falls into a trap laid by the Joker, which she escapes. Batman attempts to apprehend her as she flees from Valestra's residence, although she easily evades him and the police. When Andrea realizes that the police will arrest Batman in her stead, she quickly changes out of her costume and helps him elude the authorities. In a final attempt to conceal her identity, Andrea tells Bruce that the Phantasm is her father and that she has returned to stop his murderous rampage.
Andrea tracks the Joker to his hideout at the derelict Gotham World Fairgrounds, but the Clown Prince of Crime has deduced her identity, and is ready for her attack. The two fight hand-to-hand in the "Home of the Future" exhibit before he lures Andrea to a giant turbine. He attempts to kill her by sucking her into it, but Batman intervenes, breaking the machine moments before its blades would have crushed her. Andrea attempts to justify her actions: "They took everything, Bruce. My dad, my life, you. I'm not saying it's right, or even sane, but it's all I've got left. [...] They had to pay!" She asks him to let her carry out her vendetta without interference. For once completely helpless, Batman begs her to leave. Andrea agrees and disappears in a cloud of smoke. After a battle between the Dark Knight and the Joker, Andrea reappears to claim the defeated maniac. As the fairgrounds explode, Andrea bids farewell to Batman, and disappears with the Joker.
After escaping the inferno through a series of sewers, Batman assumes that Andrea and the Joker have perished in the blaze. However, she survives (and as The New Batman Adventures
The New Batman Adventures
The New Batman Adventures is the successor to Batman: The Animated Series produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Although bearing different character designs and animation styles, both shows take place in the same continuity, with TNBA set two years after BTAS. The series aired on The WB from...
reveals, so does the Joker) and leaves a locket for Bruce in the Batcave as a keepsake. In the penultimate scene of the film, Andrea stands on the vespertine
Vespertine
Vespertine, is the fifth studio album by the Icelandic recording artist Björk, released on 27 August 2001. On this album, Björk creates a quiet, introverted world of microbeats and personal lyrics...
deck of an ocean liner
Ocean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...
, alone.
Comics
The Phantasm makes her first returning appearance in comic of Batman & Robin AdventuresThe Batman Adventures
The Batman Adventures was a DC Comics comic book series featuring Batman. It is different from other Batman titles in that it is set in the continuity of Batman: The Animated Series as opposed to the regular DC Universe.-Overview:...
Annual #1 (1996). The Phantasm also appears in Batman Adventures: Shadows and Masks
The Batman Adventures
The Batman Adventures was a DC Comics comic book series featuring Batman. It is different from other Batman titles in that it is set in the continuity of Batman: The Animated Series as opposed to the regular DC Universe.-Overview:...
, in which Andrea goes undercover in the Black Mask
Black Mask (comics)
Black Mask is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. An enemy of Batman, he first appeared in Batman #386 . Black Mask was created by Doug Moench and Tom Mandrake.-Dark beginning:...
's organization, the False Face Society. During this story arc, she confronts Bruce at Wayne Manor
Wayne Manor
In DC Comics, Wayne Manor is a fictional setting, the personal residence of Bruce Wayne, who is also Batman. The residence is typically depicted as a huge stately mansion on grounds outside Gotham City, maintained by the Wayne family's servant, Alfred Pennyworth...
and asks him not to interfere with her operation. He rebuffs Andrea, referring to her as a "killer" and thus unworthy of his consideration. She eventually fights Batgirl
Barbara Gordon
Barbara Gordon is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics and in related media, created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino...
, who takes some of her gas pellets. She also tries to kill Black Mask.
She later tricked Arthur Reeves into killing himself.
Justice League Unlimited
Justice League Unlimited
Justice League Unlimited is an American animated television series that was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on Cartoon Network. Featuring a wide array of superheroes from the DC Comics universe, and specifically based on the Justice League superhero team, it is a direct sequel to the...
("Epilogue"). Now an elderly woman, the Phantasm is hired by Amanda Waller
Amanda Waller
Dr. Amanda Blake Waller is a character published by DC Comics. She first appeared in Legends #1 in 1986, and was created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and John Byrne...
to murder Terry McGinnis' parents in front of his eyes. The psychological trauma
Psychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
, Waller reasons, would have steered Terry toward becoming Batman's successor. However, the Phantasm cannot go through with the job and abandons it moments before she would have slain the young couple. The Phantasm argues that the murder would defile the Batman legacy by breaking Bruce's paramount rule, to never take a life.
Her refusal marks the official end of Waller's "Batman Beyond project", only to have fate compel Terry to eventually become Wayne's successor anyway. In the episode, Andrea has no lines or voice actor; her sentiments are conveyed through Waller's monologue
Monologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
recounting the event. Her scythe-gauntlet in the future has glowing orange studs on it, suggesting some degree of technological overhaul.
Merchandise
Kenner
Kenner Products was a toy company founded in 1947 by three brothers, Albert, Phillip, and Joseph L. Steiner, in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, and was named after the street where the original corporate offices were located, which is just north of Cincinnati's Union Terminal.Kenner introduced its...
released two Phantasm action figures. The second, released after the film, was packaged with the removable mask which separated from the figure. The first release was a single piece, with neither the mask or scythe being removable.