6 Ways Tim Burton's Batman Changed Everything

It is a widely recognised fact that 1989's Batman helped usher in an unprecedented period of prosperity for the comics industry. It also gave Hollywood the excuse it needed to finally exploit this tremendous asset, regardless of which publisher owned the character(s). Very soon, an ad was circulating in movie magazines about Spider-Man's big screen debut.

Though Batman seemed to dominate in movies during the nineties, Hollywood was learning from the development and production of other superhero films ranging from Roger Corman's unreleased Fantastic Four and Warner Brothers' Steel (starring Shaq) to New Line's adaptation of newer, lesser known properties like 1994's hit The Mask, with Jim Carey, and 1997's Spawn, a modest box-office success despite an otherwise poor reception.

Batman's momentum eventually halted with director Joel Schumacher's gaudy and universally derided Batman And Robin in 1997, which everyone felt took the lighter tone of 1995's Batman Forever way too far. Even so, comic sales remained strong until just before the turn of the century, when overproduction due to a collectors' craze hurt both major publishers and nearly sank Marvel forever. But the shadow of Tim Burton's first movie loomed large, ushering in a new age for the Superhero genre.

Now, Marvel rides high on movie screens while fans see DC struggling to catch up, even thought is was them that blew the door wide open for well-made comic book movies in the first place.

What else did Tim Burton's Batman change? Throw out any major impacts we missed down in the comments.