The Bat-Signal lit up the sky because one Jersey kid had a vision: bring a darker, more human Batman to the big screen. In this episode, Michael Uslan—the executive producer behind every Batman film since 1989—shares how his childhood love for comics sparked a cinematic revolution.
Uslan takes us from Ocean Township to Hollywood, revealing how a decade of rejection, a strategic law degree, and lunch with Tim Burton helped erase the campy legacy of the 1960s Batman. Hear behind-the-scenes stories about Jack Nicholson’s Joker, the uproar over Michael Keaton’s casting, and the marketing blitz that created full-blown “Batmania.”
Now chairman of the New Jersey Film Commission and with his memoir headed to Broadway, Uslan reflects on Batman’s lasting legacy—and the heartwarming moment a group of West Point cadets turned his story into their own battle cry.
