CRISIS O'BSERVATIONS 4 - EARTH-89 TWO FOR TUESDAY

CRISIS VS. TOOBWORLD O’BSERVATIONS
TWO FOR TUESDAY – EARTH-89

Within the main Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event, Earth-89 was the first of the alternate Earths in the Multiverse to be destroyed.  (Many episodes ago in ‘The Flash’, Earth-90 - home of the 1990 TV series of ‘The Flash’ [to them, at least; not me] - was the first to go, I think.)

Earth-89 was the homeworld for the 1989 “Batman” movie directed by Tim Burton with Michael Keaton as the Batman and Jack Nicholson as the Joker.  We didn’t see them in the quick scene of Earth-89, but it was established by the appearance of Robert Wuhl as his character of Alexander Knox, an investigative reporter along the lines of Mike McAlary or Pete Hamill.  Unlike the Huntress from her Earth, we didn’t see him evaporate with his world’s destruction, but it was a given.

It’s a shame we didn’t see the parallel Earths from the greater Cineverse dimensions for the Schumacher and Nolan “Batman” movies and even that 1940s serial.  But by the time the first three-fifths of the crossover were over, we were assured that they no longer existed. (From the CW’s perspective.)

As Earth-89 was from the movies, and an alternate Cineverse at that, since there was the 1966 “Batman” movie before it and the 1940s serial before that, it really has no effect on the concept of Toobworld.  (For the greater Toobworld Dynamic, the 1966 movie was absorbed into the dimension of Earth Prime-Time since it was really just an extension of the TV series.)

So there are two points from that quick clip I’d like to address; both of them come from the front page of that newspaper which Alexander Knox was reading.

1] THE GOTHAM GAZETTE

I’ve seen a lot of tsuris over the fact that Knox was seen reading the Gazette when he had been a reporter for the Gotham Globe.  But hey!  That was thirty years ago!  There are so many things which could have happened in that time.

• Knox could still be working for the Globe, but he’s checking up on the competition.
• Knox is retired and just wants to read all the coverage of the news in Gotham.
• Knox maybe got fired from the Globe and now reads the Gazette in public as a small form of revenge.
• And whether he got fired or quit, Knox could now be working for the Gazette.  Perhaps he was lured away by the lure of a pay raise.  (Saw it all the time with the tabloids in NYC.)
• So it’s no big deal about what newspaper he’s reading.

2] “BATMAN CAPTURES JOKER”

In the movie, the Joker most certainly died from that fall from that height.  But “the Joker” isn’t a name; it’s a job description.  In the ensuing years since the movie, somebody else must have picked up the mantle; perhaps there have been more than one Joker wannabe since 1989.

And the same holds true for the Batman.
Earth-89’s Batman was at his apex in fitness and ability, perhaps through the 1990s.  But it’s been thirty years and while Michael Keaton has pretty much stayed fit, he is showing his age.

So the cowl and cape may have been passed to a new torchbearer, and like the Joker, maybe to more than one.

As I said earlier, Earth-89 has no real effect on the Toobworld concept.  I just find it fascinating that its fate closes the door on any possibility of a sequel by Burton and Keaton if they wanted to examine the life of the Batman in his twilight years.

C’est la vie....