It was 1992, and the long awaited sequel to Time Butron’s Batman was released: Batman Returns took a left turn on the tone set by the first film, and felt like Tim Burton was well and truly establishing the franchise as his own. While 1989’s Batman was a single villain romp, retaining a bit of campiness thanks to Jack Nicholson’s portrayal as the Joker, this film felt more serious, introducing Catwoman, the Penguin and the self-serving Max Shreck. With a more wintry setting, it was a darker film to watch, without the same bursts of colour that we saw from the Joker in the earlier film. We have seen a couple of releases related to Batman – the 89 Batmobile and the ’89 Batwing, along with a smaller version of the Batmobile, but we have not ventured further in to franchise yet.

Today, we see a unique display model with play features unveiled: the Batcave Shadow Box. With 3981 pieces, and priced at $USD399.99 /£344.99/€ 399.99/ 599.99 AUD/8999.9 TRY/3699.0 CNY/169990.0 HUF/519.99 CAD, this set pushes the boundaries of what has been previously attempted with LEGO Batman, and brings us a new format for displaying such models.