Remembering That Time Batman Won A People’s Choice Award

The 2017 Oscar Nominations were announced today, and this year, several superhero movies made it into Oscar considerations (for lesser awards), including Marvel’s Doctor Strange and DC’s Suicide Squad.

With awards season in full swing, we’ve been feeling nostalgic; while a superhero movie has never taken the big prize at the major awards shows (Golden Globes, The Oscars), as you can see above, there was an instance in the distant past (1990) where a superhero film did take a top prize at a mainstream awards show, long before the genre ruled the box office.

If you can’t tell from the video quality, fashion and hairstyles, that’s the 1990 People’s Choice Awards, where Tim Burton‘s 1989 Batman movie won “Favorite Motion Picture.” Onstage to accept the award were actors Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, who were then (and are now) icons for their roles as Bruce Wayne/Batman and The Joker, respectively.

Of interesting note is Keaton’s rather aggressive acceptance speech; long before trolls and fanboys could get their whine on across the Internet, people were sending hate mail (hate snail mail, mind you) to “comedic actor” Michael Keaton, telling him why he had no business playing Batman. It’s either comforting (or depressing) to know that when it comes to casting the biggest superheroes in comics, little about fan hate has changed…

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Wonder Woman opens in theaters on June 2, 2017, followed by Justice League on November 17, 2017; Aquaman on July 27, 2018; Shazam on April 5, 2019; Justice League 2 on June 14, 2019; Cyborg on April 3, 2020; and Green Lantern Corps on July 24, 2020. The Flash, The Batman, Dark Universe and Man of Steel 2 are currently without release dates.