Antz is a 1998 American computer animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. It features the voices of well-known actors such as Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, and Danny Glover as various members of an ant society. Some of the main characters share facial similarities with the actors who voice them. Antz is the first animated film, as well as the first CGI-animated film, by DreamWorks Animation and the second feature-length computer-animated film after Pixar's Toy Story. The film premiered on September 19, 1998, at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was released theatrically in the United States on October 2, 1998.

Azure Dreams, released in Japan as Other Life: Azure Dreams (アザーライフ アザードリームス, Azā Raifu Azā Dorīmusu), is a PlayStation video game developed by Konami and was originally released in Japan on November 13, 1997. A stripped down version was later released on the Game Boy Color. A semi-sequel, Tao's Adventure: Curse of the Demon Seal, was released on the Nintendo DS in 2005.

Banjo-Kazooie is a platform video game developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It was first released on June 29, 1998 in North America and on July 17, 1998 in Europe, and later re-released as an Xbox Live Arcade game for the Xbox 360 on December 3, 2008. Banjo-Kazooie is the first installment in the Banjo-Kazooie series, and chronicles the titular characters' encounter with series antagonist Gruntilda. The game's story focuses on Banjo and Kazooie's efforts to stop Gruntilda's plans to switch her beauty with Banjo's sister Tooty. The game features nine open levels where the player must complete a number of challenges like solving puzzles, jumping over obstacles, gathering objects, and defeating opponents. Banjo-Kazooie was under development for more than two and a half years and was originally intended to be an adventure game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was a critical and commercial success, selling nearly two million copies in the United States and receiving aggregated scores of 92 out of 100 and 92.38% from Metacritic and GameRankings respectively. The game was praised for its detailed graphics, immersive sound, and intricate level design. In 1999, it received two awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences: Console Action Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Art/Graphics. A sequel, Banjo-Tooie, was released for the Nintendo 64 in 2000.

Batman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). Originally referred to as "the Bat-Man" and still referred to at times as "the Batman", the character is additionally known as "the Caped Crusader", "the Dark Knight", and "the World's Greatest Detective", among other titles. Batman is the secret identity of Bruce Wayne, an American billionaire, industrialist, and philanthropist. Having witnessed the murder of his parents as a child, he swore revenge on criminals, an oath tempered with the greater ideal of justice. Wayne trains himself both physically and intellectually and dons a bat-themed costume in order to fight crime. Batman operates in the fictional Gotham City, assisted by various supporting characters including his crime-fighting partner, Robin, his butler Alfred Pennyworth, the police commissioner Jim Gordon, and occasionally the heroine Batgirl. He fights an assortment of villains, often referred to as the "rogues gallery", which includes the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, Two-Face, Ra's al Ghul, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman, among many others. Unlike most superheroes, he does not possess any superpowers; he makes use of intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess, martial arts skills, an indomitable will, fear, and intimidation in his continuous war on crime. Batman became a very popular character soon after his introduction and gained his own comic book title, Batman, in 1940. As the decades wore on, differing interpretations of the character emerged. The late 1960s Batman television series used a camp aesthetic which continued to be associated with the character for years after the show ended. Various creators worked to return the character to his dark roots, with varying results. The comic books of this dark stage culminated in the acclaimed 1986 miniseries The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller, as well as Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison, among others. The overall success of Warner Bros.' live-action Batman feature films have also helped maintain public interest in the character. An American cultural icon, Batman has been licensed and adapted into a variety of media, from radio to television and film, and appears on a variety of merchandise sold all over the world such as toys and video games. The character has also intrigued psychiatrists with many trying to understand the character's psyche and his true ego in society. In May 2011, Batman placed second on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time, after Superman. Empire magazine also listed him second in their 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters of All Time. The character has been portrayed in films by Lewis Wilson, Robert Lowery, Adam West, Michael Keaton, Kevin Conroy, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and soon by Ben Affleck.