Prince makes cameo in new movie-inspired Batman '89 comic

Twenty years before superhero movies dominated pop culture, director Tim Burton made a breakthrough with his 1989 Batman movie. The dark adaptation became the most domestically successful American film that year, thanks in no small part to the celebrity firepower it brought to bear. Michael Keaton starred as the Dark Knight, Jack Nicholson played the Joker, and Prince performed the soundtrack. Now, a new comic series released by DC Comics this week based on the 1989 film features a small cameo from the Purple One.

Written by original Batman screenwriter Sam Hamm with art by Joe Quinones and Leonardo Ito, Batman '89 is the newest DC comic based on a specific screen adaptation. The trend started with Batman '66, based on the classic Adam West TV show, and continued with Wonder Woman '77, modeled after the Lynda Carter series. Batman '89 is set in the world of the Burton Batman, so Harvey Dent looks like Billy Dee Williams and Alfred looks like Michael Gough.

But a more subtle, blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo occurs on one of the issue's first pages, in which a Gotham newscaster is interviewing Halloween trick-or-treaters about the prevalence of both Batman and Joker costumes at this year's celebrations. Specifically, she ends up talking to a Joker cosplayer who looks almost exactly like Prince in the music videos he made for the film's soundtrack.

It's just short of a direct match, because though Prince wore only half a Joker face in the video for his hit "Batdance," this character is in full makeup. But he shrugs off the Joker comparisons. "Do you feel your costume glorifies a dangerous criminal?" the journalist asks, to which he replies, "Who said that?" and later simply, "Oh."

A representative for DC did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.

Check out the page in question above, and look for Batman '89 #1 wherever comics are sold.

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