Synopsis for
Batman Returns (1992) More at IMDbPro »

In a prologue, a wealthy couple find themselves the parent of a deformed child, with penguin-like features. Unable to cope with him, they throw him in a basket into a water system that leads into Gotham's sewer system. The basket eventually finds it's way to the penguin habitate in the now-closed Gotham City Zoo, where it is discovered by some penguins.

Some years later, Gotham is getting ready to celebrate the Christmas season, with businessman Max Shreck in attendance. During a small speech by Shreck and the Mayor, a gang or circus performers descend on the festivities and terrorize the public. They attempt to capture Max, but the arrival of Batman sends them scurrying away.

Max attempts to escape the mayhem down a dark alleyway, but is then captured and taken to the Penguin's lair, in defunct Zoo. The Penguin appears to be the ringleader of the circus gang, and wants Max to help him return to normality, and find out more about his past. Max is at first reluctant, but when the Penguin threatens to expose some of his more underhanded business dealings, he agrees to help.

After he returns to his offices, Max finds his secretary Selina Kyle has found out about some of his underhanded dealings. Though it seems obvious that Selina is not looking to blackmail Max, he still does away with her by pushing her out a high window in his building.

Though appearing dead, Selina returns to life after she is surrounded by a gang of alleycats. Upon returning to her residence, she creates a costume and a double life as Catwoman.

Meanwhile, the Mayor and his family attempt to quell the worried citizens of Gotham with a small news conference. During the newcast, a member of the circus gang attempts to steal the Mayor's son, and heads into an open sewer grate. Suddenly, the Penguin emerges with the Mayor's son, and returns him, as everyone is surprised just who this savior is. The Penguin pleads for the chance to find where his parents are, and is given access to Gotham's Hall of Records, where he spends several nights poring over a number of papers. Even though he's considered a hero, Bruce Wayne (as Batman) is still suspicious, thinking there's something more to his motives. Bruce further investigates into the Penguin's background, and finds that he eventually became part of the Red Triangle Circus Group. Of interest to Bruce is that during some of the times that the circus made it's stops, there were usually several reports of missing children.

Eventually, The Penguin finds that his parents are now dead. After visiting their graves, he tells the news that his true name is Oswald Cobblepot, and that even though his parents did a despicable thing to him, he forgives them. Needless to say, Oswald's forgiveness of his parents makes him one of the most talked about persons in town.

Max Shreck then attempts to have Oswald run for Mayor of Gotham. Oswald is at first reluctant, but eventually warms up to the idea. Using the circus gang as a means to terrorize the public and make it seem that Gotham's current Mayor is ill-suited for his job, the Penguin begins to gain public support. During one evening, Batman finds Oswald on the street watching the circus group, but then encounters Catwoman, who proceeds in blowing up a Shreck department store. Batman follows her, but ends up getting into a fight where she is eventually pushed off a building, and into a truck filled with sand.

Catwoman next meets up with Oswald, and wants to work with him to frame and destroy Batman. A woman dubbed the Ice Princess, who was scheduled to light Gotham's Christmas Tree goes missing, and Batman goes looking for her. Finding her in a building overlooking the plaza with the Christmas Tree, Oswald appears, and unleashes a flurry of bats that frightens the girl. As she falls from the building, it looks like Batman pushed her off. She ends up landing on the tree-lighting switch, which lights the tree, but unleashes a flurry of bats that were hidden inside. Batman then attempts to leave in his Batmobile, but finds that it's been sabotaged. After managing to dismantle the remote control device placed on the Batmobile by Oswald, Batman manages to escape back to the Batcave.

After this incident, Oswald and Catwoman meet up, to which he attempts to woo her. Catwoman refuses his advances, and angrily, Oswald lashes her to one of his flying umbrellas. Catwoman eventually frees herself, but then ends up plummeting into a greenhouse.

The next day, the Penguin holds a press conference, deriding the Mayor, and calling Batman 'a ticking time-bomb.' Bruce Wayne and his Butler Alfred then sabotage the conference, by playing a disc that plays a recording made from some of Oswald's speech that came over the Batmobile's radio the previous night. The recorded comments of Oswald deriding the citizens and 'playing the city,' cause the crowd to turn on him. Oswald then escapes into the sewers again. Returning to his former lair, he declares that he is The Penguin, and not a human being.

It is then that the Penguin assigns his circus group with a plan he had in mind for some time. While Gotham City's wealthy will be partying at Max Shreck's Christmas Party, the circus gang will round up their first-born children, and return them to the lair, where the Penguin intends to lead them into a pit of toxic waste, procured from Shreck's 'clean textile plant.' This was obviously what the Penguin had in mind when he asked for the chance to look through the Hall of Records.

At Max's party, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle meet. Though while everyone around them is in masks, the two came maskless. During a dance, the two realize who the other is, and decide to leave. However, before they can, the Penguin emerges from below the glass dance floor, and tells of what he has done. He also claims to have come for Shreck's first-born son, Chip, who is at the party. Max pleads with the Penguin to take him (Max) instead. The Penguin agrees, and Max is taken to his lair.

Meanwhile, Bruce leaves and becomes Batman to stop the Penguin's plan. Infuriated that his plan has been foiled, The Penguin arms his legion of penguins with missiles and mind-control devices, sending them out to 'punish all of Gotham's children.'

using the BatSki-Boat, Batman ends upturning the penguin Army back to the Zoo, and training their weapons on the penguin. Confronting the Penguin, the now-maddened creature swings wildly with a sword/umbrella, before plunging through a hole and into the water of his lair below.

Meanwhile, Max attempts to escape, but is captured by Catwoman, who intends to kill him. Batman confronts her, and reveals who he is, and that she doesn't need to kill Max. Selina almost gives in to his words, but then attempts to kill Max. Max attempts to shoot Selina, who ends up electrocuting her former boss. When the lights of the electrocution have cleared, Selina is nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, hurt internally from the fall, the Penguin emerges, attempting to kill Batman, but ends up picking the wrong umbrella, before finally dying. After he expires, 6 Emperor Penguins appear, acting as pallbearers, and committing the Penguin's body to the waters surrounding the lair.

In the aftermath, Alfred is driving Bruce home, when he sees a shadow play across an alley wall. Going down the alley, Bruce finds only a small gray cat. Returning to the car with the cat, both Butler and Master wish each other a Merry Christmas. in the last scene, the bat-signal appears overhead, and Catwoman's head rises up, proof that Selina still prowls the city in her costume.