Andrea Beaumont
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Andrea Beaumont, also known as The Phantasm, is a fictional DC Comics femme fatale. She first appeared in the 1993 animated film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm as the ex-fiancé of Bruce Wayne. Due to the popularity of her character, the Phantasm has made occasional cameo appearances in the DC animated universe (often as a freelance assassin).
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[edit] Mask of the Phantasm
[edit] Synopsis
Andrea Beaumont was the daughter of wealthy businessman Carl Beaumont and his deceased wife, Victoria. In her youth, while attending Gotham University, she met and fell in love with Bruce Wayne. Wayne was internally conflicted by his desire to lead a normal life with Andrea and keep the promise he made to his parents to fight crime. He finally decided to abandon crime-fighting - instead pledging part of his inheritance to the Gotham police - so he could marry Andrea. As Bruce proposed to her at his estate, the two discovered the cave that would later become the Batcave.
Andrea was forced to break off the engagement and move to Europe, however, when she learned that her father had double-crossed the mob. 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 learned that Beaumont had embezzled from them, they demanded immediate repayment. Unable to quickly access the money he had stolen and subsequently invested, Carl fled with Andrea and eventually settled on the Mediterranean coast. Beaumont was able to parlay the money he'd stolen into a sizeable fortune and pay off his debt. However, when Andrea's father refused to make donations to Arthur Reeves, a politician formerly in Beaumont's employ, the young man sold information on the Beaumonts' whereabouts to the mob. Although Carl had repaid them, the vengeful gangsters wanted "interest compounded in blood" and planned to use the information to have him killed. They sent their hitman (who would later become the Joker) to kill Carl Beaumont. Andrea encountered the villain as he left her villa, and was horrified to discover her murdered father only moments afterward.
Consumed with hatred and determined to get revenge, Andrea waited patiently for years, planning the demise of the men who destroyed her happiness. When she finally returned to Gotham, she donned a costume reminiscent of the Grim Reaper, complete with a smoke-generating device and scythe. Disguised as such, and mistaken by everyone as Batman, she killed Sol and Bronski (after Bronski's death, she learned that Batman was, in fact, her ex-fiancé Bruce Wayne). Batman quickly discovered the link between the mobsters and Carl Beaumont, but was rebuffed by Andrea when he questioned her. When the Phantasm attempted to kill Valestra, she nearly fell into a trap laid by the Joker, although she was able to escape. Batman attempted to apprehend her as she fled from Valestra's residence, although she easily evaded him and the police. When Andrea realized that the police would arrest Bruce in her stead, she quickly changed out of her costume and helped him elude the authorities. In a final attempt to conceal her identity, Andrea told Bruce that the Phantasm was her father, and that she had returned to stop his murderous rampage.
Andrea tracked the Joker to his hideout at the derelict Gotham World Fairgrounds, but the Clown Prince of Crime had deduced her identity, and was ready for her attack. The two fought hand-to-hand in the "Home of the Future" exhibit before he lured Andrea to a giant turbine. He attempted to kill her by sucking her into it, but Batman intervened on her behalf, breaking the machine moments before its blades would have crushed her. Andrea attempted to justify her actions to Wayne, "They took everything, Bruce! My father, my friends, my life... you. They deserved what they got! They had to pay!" She asked him to let her carry out her vendetta without interference. For once completely helpless, Bruce begged her to leave. Andrea agreed and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. After a battle between the Dark Knight and the Joker, Andrea reappeared to claim the defeated villain. As the fairgrounds exploded, Andrea disappeared with the Joker.
After escaping the inferno through a series of sewers, Batman assumed that Andrea and the Joker had perished in the blaze. She had survived, however, (as, presumably, had the Joker) and left a locket for him as a keepsake in the Batcave. In the penultimate scene of the film, Andrea stands on the vespertine deck of an ocean-liner, alone.
[edit] Role
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, deceptive, and strong-willed love interest for the main character. 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: After her father's death Andrea chose to become a vigilante and killer, following a warped code of "eye for an eye" justice. Bruce instead chose to capture criminals and hand them over to the authorities, refusing to play judge, jury, and executioner.
[edit] Comics
The Phantasm made her first return appearance in The New Adventures of Batman and Robin Annual #1, in which she explained how the Joker survived after Mask of the Phantasm. Andrea did not kill him because he was no longer the cold-hearted gangster that killed her father, but rather an insane serial killer.
The Phantasm also appeared in Batman Adventures, in which Andrea went undercover in the False Face Society (an organization headed by the Black Mask). During this storyarc, she confronted Bruce at Wayne Manor and asked him not to interfere with this operation, but he treated her coldly and referred to her as a "killer" and thus unworthy of his consideration. The story arc ended on an open note, suggesting the possibility of another reappearance. However, the title has since been cancelled.
[edit] Justice League Unlimited
Andrea reappeared in the twilight of her life as a mercenary in Justice League Unlimited (in the 78th episode, entitled "Epilogue"). Now an old woman, Andrea was hired by Amanda Waller to assassinate Terry McGinnis' parents in front of his eyes. The psychological trauma would steer McGinnis toward becoming Batman's successor. However, Beaumont could not go through with the job and abandoned the plan moments before she would have slain the young couple. Andrea argued that the murder would defile the Batman legacy by breaking Bruce Wayne's paramount rule, to never take a life. Her refusal marked the official end of Waller's Batman Beyond project. According to Waller: "I argued with her, but deep down I knew she was right. People say Batman's obsessive, that he'd do anything to achieve his goals, but he'd never resort to murder. So if I was to honor all he stood for, neither could I." Despite Beaumont's revenge in Mask of the Phantasm and subsequent life as a professional assassin, she came to understand and respect Bruce's sense of justice.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Although Andrea has no superpowers, she seeks to terrify her prey by appearing as a supernatural creature. Described by the Joker as resembling the Ghost of Christmas Future, her costume is hooded and features a skull-like mask. The Phantasm carries a large blade, reminiscent of a scythe, in her right hand. Her left glove houses a chemically-based smoke-generating device, which she uses to conceal herself in a shroud of fog or blind enemies. The frightening facade is completed by the deep, booming voice the Phantasm uses to intimidate her victims (most likely achieved via the use of a voice-changer).
When Andrea first met Bruce Wayne she was at least proficient in self-defense, as seen in Mask of the Phantasm. However, like Batman, Andrea must have dedicated a considerable amount of time to the training required to accomplish her physically-demanding feats of crime. The fact that Andrea was still active as an assassin in Justice League Unlimited suggests that despite her advanced years she was still in excellent physical condition.
[edit] Trivia
- Andrea is based loosely on a combination of Judson Caspian (the Reaper) and his daughter Rachel, characters from the Batman: Year Two comic book mini-series.
- In conjunction with the release of Mask of the Phantasm in 1993, Kenner released a Phantasm action figure. This infuriated some fans who had yet to see the film, as Andrea's face was clearly visible through the package (thus spoiling the mystery of the Phantasm's identity).[citation needed]
- When the Joker killed Andrea's father, he inadvertently created the Phantasm. This is similar to the 1989 Batman film in which he killed the Waynes and inadvertently created Batman.
- Dana Delany provided the voice for Andrea. She later provided the voice for another of Wayne's love interests, Lois Lane, in The Batman/Superman Movie.
- The Phantasm's voice was provided by Stacy Keach, the voice actor for Andrea's father. It was also digitally enhanced to give it an eerie resonance.
- In Justice League Unlimited Andrea had no lines or voice actor. Her sentiments were conveyed through Amanda Waller's monologue recounting the event.
