12 Days of Christmas Movies, Day 11

"Batman Returns" (1992)

"Mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it."

Yep, this film follows the tradition established in the first film of introducing a nonsense bit of dialogue. Remember, "Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?" Doesn't hold a candle to, "Mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it. But a kiss can be deadlier if you mean it." Who fucking talks like this in real life?!

In Norse mythology, mistletoe played a very important role in the life of the god Baldur, god of light and son of Frigga and Odin. One morning, Baldur told his mother of a nightmare he had in which he died; so terrifying was this nightmare that Frigga went to Earth on a mission to plead for her son's immunity from death by all things on the earth or under it. The trickster god Loki, enemy of Baldur, knew of one thing that was overlooked by Frigga in her quest: mistletoe, a plant that grows neither on the earth nor under it; mistletoe is a parasitic plant that requires a host tree to grow on, from which it leeches nutrients and threatens its host with potential overgrowth. Loki makes an arrow tip from this plant and, at a festival gathering, gives the arrow to the blind god Hoder and challenges him to shoot the arrow at Baldur. Baldur is struck by the arrow and dies; his death is the first herald of the oncoming twilight of the gods, Ragnarok.
(Evans, B. (1991). Dictionary of mythology. New York: Bantam Dell.)

After this film, there were a few years in which a Catwoman film was rumored to be made. Of course, the beauty and age of women in Hollywood has a narrow window of opportunity, and Michelle Pfeiffer went from being pretty hot to being first callback for the role of Skeletor in "Masters of the Universe." Twelve years after the fact, "Catwoman" showed up on screens, starring Halle Berry. And we all know where that went.