Bob the Goon

"Bob, remember, you are my number one guy."

―The Joker, imitating Carl Grissom^[src]

Robert "Bob" Hawkins was The Joker's close trusted friend and first lieutenant among his Goons, until he was shot by Joker himself.

History

During Jack Napier's career in the mob, his most loyal enforcer and friend was Bob, who defended and protected Jack wherever he went, according to Jack. Bob was always busy trying to accommodate Napier, even in little things such as straightening the mirror or polishing the door handle of Jack's car.

File:Bob.gif

Bob defending Jack.

In one incident, Lt. Max Eckhardt pulled his gun on Jack, and Bob immediately went to his friend's aid, and stood close to him while he aimed his own gun at Eckhardt. Bob managed to threaten Batman off of Jack at Axis Chemicals with Commissioner James Gordon at gunpoint, then escaped, and called for Jack to follow.

Even after the incident that disfigured Napier and shattered his sanity, Bob still remained a steadfast Aide-de-Camp to the newly-dubbed "Joker". Bob was always dutifully present at the Joker's side, no matter what the circumstances.

Bob led the Joker's personal army of goons, and was appointed to investigate Alexander Knox to find out everything that he was trying to dig up on Batman.

Bob performed many chores for his friend, and was also dispatched on errands of a more personal nature, such as spying on photojournalist Vicki Vale, to whom the Joker became romantically obsessed. When Bob brought back his report on Knox, he first told Joker of Vicki Vale.

When the Joker arranged to meet Vicki at the Flugelheim Museum, Bob enjoyed himself while he vandalized the priceless paintings with a dagger, although Joker stopped him from carving up the Francis Bacon picture, Figure with Meat. Bob later brought Alicia Hunt to meet Vicki.

After he cornered Batman in an alley, Bob fired two shots from his pistol into Batman's chest, which caused Batman to jerk, but Bob later realized that there was no blood. After he observed that Batman appeared to wear body armor, Bob, when the courage returned in his voice, ordered Batman to be unmasked. The other henchmen, however, were quickly taken down. Bob himself was then challenged by Batman, but fled the scene.

Batman 1989 - Vicki in a jam! - 2 — Bob the Goon silencing Vicki.

Bob met his end after Batman ruined the Joker's scheme to poison the public with Smylex. The Joker, looking for somebody to take his anger out on, asked Bob for his gun. Bob immediately obeyed, and was shot and killed. "I'm gonna need a minute or two alone, boys", Joker said in a moment of mock reflection.

Other Appearances

Some of the Joker/Jack's goons in the 1989 Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MS DOS, MSX, ZX Spectrum and Amiga video game adaptions of the Batman film were based off Bob, who shot at Batman. In the first level at Axis Chemicals, he was depicted wearing a trench coat, and in the final level at the Gotham Cathedral, he wore a Joker goon jacket, just like in the film (in the Amstrad CPC, GX4000, MSX, and Commodore 64 version, Bob only appeared in the Gotham Cathedral Level).

Gallery

Screen Caps

Production Photos

Production Stills (from 1989batman.com James Sawyer)

Behind the Scenes

Batman 1989 - Bob fights Batman — Bob fighting Batman in a deleted scene.

There was a deleted scene in which Bob fought Batman with a knife. Though the scene was cut, it could still be seen in Behind the Scene's documentaries and Trading Cards.
Tracey Walter was cast as Bob on actor Jack Nicholson's suggestion, since he and Walter are close friends.
In the Batman script, Bob was identified as Robert Hawkins. The novelization of the film confirmed that as Bob's actual name. The information card on the back of his action figure card identified him as Robert "Crazy Bob" Capistrano, although that was not canon.
Bob was the only Joker Goon from the Burton films that had his own action figure.