Batman, originally referred to as "
the
Bat-Man" and still referred to at times as "
the
Batman", is a
fictional
character, a
comic book superhero co-created by artist
Bob Kane and writer
Bill
Finger (although only Kane receives official credit), appearing
in publications by
DC Comics. The
character first appeared in
Detective Comics #27 in May
1939.
He is additionally known as "
the Caped Crusader",
"
the Dark Knight", "
the World's Greatest
Detective", or simply "
the Bat"; in the
original version of the story and the vast majority of subsequent
retellings, Batman's
secret identity
is
Bruce Wayne (named for the historical figures
Robert the Bruce and
"Mad" Anthony Wayne), a billionaire playboy,
industrialist, and philanthropist. Having witnessed the murder of
his parents as a child, he swore revenge on crime, an oath tempered
with the greater ideal of justice. Bruce trains himself both
physically and intellectually and dons a
bat-themed costume in order to fight crime. Batman
operates in the fictional American
Gotham
City, assisted by various supporting characters including his
main sidekick
Robin, his butler
Alfred Pennyworth, the police
commissioner
Jim Gordon, and
occasional assistance from the heroine
Batgirl. He fights an assortment of villains
influenced by the characters' roots in
film and
pulp magazines. Unlike most
superheroes, he does not possess any
superpowers; he makes use of intellect,
detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess,
and intimidation in his war on crime. In 2009, following Wayne's
apparent death, the role of Batman
has been taken up by his former ward and the first Robin,
Dick Grayson.
Batman became a 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, culminating in
the 1986 miniseries
Batman: The Dark Knight
Returns, by writer-artist
Frank Miller, while the success of
film director
Tim Burton's 1989 film
Batman helped to
reignite popular interest in the character. A
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.
Publication history
Creation
In early 1938, the success of
Superman in
Action Comics prompted
editors at the comic book division of
National Publications (the future DC
Comics) to request more superheroes for its titles. In response,
Bob Kane created "the Bat-Man."
Collaborator
Bill Finger recalled "Kane
had an idea for a character called 'Batman', and he'd like me to
see the drawings. I went over to Kane's, and he had drawn a
character who looked very much like Superman with kind of … reddish
tights, I believe, with boots … no gloves, no gauntlets … with a
small
domino mask, swinging on a rope.
He had two stiff wings that were sticking out, looking like bat
wings. And under it was a big sign … BATMAN."
Finger offered such suggestions as giving the character a
cowl instead of a simple domino mask, a cape instead of
wings, and gloves, and removing the red sections from the original
costume.
Finger said he devised the name Bruce Wayne
for the character's secret identity: "Bruce Wayne's first name came
from Robert Bruce, the Scottish
patriot. Bruce, being a playboy, was a man of gentry. I
searched for a name that would suggest colonialism. I tried Adams,
Hancock … then I thought of
Mad Anthony
Wayne." He later said his suggestions were influenced by
Lee Falk's popular
The Phantom, a
syndicated newspaper comic strip
character with which Kane was familiar as well.
Various aspects of Batman's personality, character history, visual
design and equipment were inspired by contemporary popular culture
of the 1930s, including movies, pulp magazines, comic strips,
newspaper headlines, and even aspects of Kane himself. Kane noted
especially the influence of the films
The Mark of Zorro (1920)
and
The Bat Whispers
(1930) in the creation of the iconography associated with the
character, while Finger drew inspiration from literary characters
Doc Savage,
The
Shadow, and
Sherlock Holmes in
his depiction of Batman as a master sleuth and scientist.
Kane, in his 1989
autobiography,
detailed Finger's contributions to Batman's creation:
Kane signed away ownership in the character in exchange for, among
other compensation, a mandatory byline on all Batman comics. This
byline did not, originally, say "Batman created by Bob Kane"; his
name was simply written on the title page of each story. The name
disappeared from the comic book in the mid-1960s, replaced by
credits for each story's actual writer and artists. In the late
1970s, when
Jerry Siegel and
Joe Shuster began receiving a "created by"
credit on the Superman titles, along with
William Moulton Marston being given
the byline for creating
Wonder Woman,
Batman stories began saying "Created by Bob Kane" in addition to
the other credits.
Finger did not receive the same recognition. While he had received
credit for other DC work since the 1940s, he began, in the 1960s,
to receive limited acknowledgment for his Batman writing; in the
letters page of
Batman #169 (February 1965) for example,
editor
Julius Schwartz names him as
the creator of the
Riddler, one of Batman's
recurring villains. However, Finger's contract left him only with
his writing page rate and no byline. Kane wrote, "Bill was
disheartened by the lack of major accomplishments in his career. He
felt that he had not used his creative potential to its fullest and
that success had passed him by." At the time of Finger's death in
1974, DC had not officially credited Finger as Batman
co-creator.
Jerry Robinson, who also worked with
Finger and Kane on the strip at this time, has criticized Kane for
failing to share the credit. He recalled Finger resenting his
position, stating in a 2005 interview with
The Comics Journal:
Although Kane initially rebutted Finger's claims at having created
the character, writing in a 1965 open letter to fans that "it
seemed to me that Bill Finger has given out the impression that he
and not myself created the ''Batman, t' [[[sic]]] as well as Robin
and all the other leading villains and characters. This statement
is fraudulent and entirely untrue." Kane himself also commented on
Finger's lack of credit. "The trouble with being a 'ghost' writer
or artist is that you must remain rather anonymously without
'credit'. However, if one wants the 'credit', then one has to cease
being a 'ghost' or follower and become a leader or
innovator."
In 1989, Kane revisited Finger's situation, recalling in an
interview,
Early years
The first Batman story, "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate," was
published in
Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). Finger said,
"Batman was originally written in the style of the pulps," and this
influence was evident with Batman showing little remorse over
killing or maiming criminals. Batman proved a hit character, and he
received his own solo title in 1940, while continuing to star in
Detective Comics. By that time, National was the
top-selling and most influential publisher in the industry; Batman
and the company's other major hero, Superman, were the cornerstones
of the company's success. The two characters were featured
side-by-side as the stars of
World's Finest Comics, which was
originally titled
World's Best Comics when it debuted in
fall 1940. Creators including
Jerry
Robinson and
Dick Sprang also worked
on the strips during this period.
Over the course of the first few Batman strips elements were added
to the character and the artistic depiction of Batman evolved. Kane
noted that within six issues he drew the character's jawline more
pronounced, and lengthened the ears on the costume. "About a year
later he was almost the full figure, my mature Batman," Kane said.
Batman's characteristic utility
belt was introduced in
Detective Comics #29 (July
1939), followed by the
boomerang-like
batarang and the first bat-themed vehicle, the
Batplane, in #31 (September 1939). The character's
origin was revealed in #33 (November 1939), unfolding in a two-page
story that establishes the brooding persona of Batman, a character
driven by the loss of his parents. Written by Finger, it depicts a
young Bruce Wayne witnessing the death of his parents as part of a
street robbery. Days later, at their grave, the child vows that "by
the spirits of my parents [I will] avenge their deaths by spending
the rest of my life warring on all criminals."
The early, pulp-inflected portrayal of Batman started to soften in
Detective Comics #38 (April 1940) with the introduction of
Robin, Batman's kid sidekick. Robin was introduced, based on
Finger's suggestion Batman needed a "
Watson" with whom Batman could
talk. Sales nearly doubled, despite Kane's preference for a solo
Batman, and it sparked a proliferation of "kid sidekicks." The
first issue of the solo spin-off series
Batman was notable not only for
introducing two of his most persistent antagonists, the
Joker and
Catwoman,
but for a story in which Batman shoots some monstrous giants to
death. That story prompted editor
Whitney Ellsworth to decree that the
character could no longer kill or use a gun.
By 1942, the writers and artists behind the Batman comics had
established most of the basic elements of the Batman mythos. In the
years following
World War II, DC Comics
"adopted a postwar editorial direction that increasingly
de-emphasized social commentary in favor of lighthearted juvenile
fantasy." The impact of this editorial approach was evident in
Batman comics of the postwar period; removed from the
"bleak and menacing world" of the strips of the early 1940s, Batman
was instead portrayed as a respectable citizen and paternal figure
that inhabited a "bright and colorful" environment.
The 1950s and early 1960s
Batman was one of the few superhero characters to be continuously
published as interest in the genre waned during the 1950s. In the
story "The Mightiest Team in the World" in
Superman #76 (June 1952), Batman
teams up with Superman for the first time and the pair discovers
each other's secret identity. Following the success of this story,
World's Finest Comics was revamped so it featured stories
starring both heroes together, instead of the separate Batman and
Superman features that had been running before. The team-up of the
characters was "a financial success in an era when those were few
and far between;" this series of stories ran until the book's
cancellation in 1986.
Batman comics were among those criticized when the comic book
industry came under scrutiny with the publication of psychologist
Fredric Wertham's book
Seduction of the Innocent in
1954. Wertham's thesis was that children imitated crimes committed
in comic books, and that these works corrupt the morals of the
youth. Wertham criticized Batman comics for their supposed
homosexual overtones and argued that Batman
and Robin were portrayed as lovers. Wertham's criticisms raised a
public outcry during the 1950s, eventually leading to the
establishment of the
Comics Code
Authority. The tendency towards a "sunnier Batman" in the
postwar years intensified after the introduction of the Comics
Code. It has also been suggested by scholars that the characters of
Batwoman (in 1956) and
Bat-Girl (in 1961) were introduced in part to
refute the allegation that Batman and Robin were gay, and the
stories took on a campier, lighter feel.
In the late 1950s, Batman stories gradually became more
science fiction-oriented, an attempt at
mimicking the success of other DC characters that had dabbled in
the genre. New characters such as Batwoman,
Ace the Bat-Hound, and
Bat-Mite were introduced. Batman's adventures often
involved odd transformations or bizarre space aliens. In 1960,
Batman debuted as a member of the
Justice
League of America in
The
Brave and the Bold #28 (February 1960), and went on to
appear in several Justice League comic series starting later that
same year.
"New Look" Batman and camp
By 1964, sales on Batman titles had fallen drastically. Bob Kane
noted that, as a result, DC was "planning to kill Batman off
altogether." In response to this, editor
Julius Schwartz was assigned to the Batman
titles. He presided over drastic changes, beginning with 1964's
Detective Comics #327 (May 1964), which was cover-billed
as the "New Look". Schwartz introduced changes designed to make
Batman more contemporary, and to return him to more
detective-oriented stories. He brought in artist
Carmine Infantino to help overhaul the
character. The
Batmobile was redesigned,
and Batman's costume was modified to incorporate a yellow ellipse
behind the bat-insignia. The space aliens and characters of the
1950s such as Batwoman, Ace, and Bat-Mite were retired. Batman's
butler Alfred was killed off (though his death was quickly reversed
due to fan response) while a new female relative for the Wayne
family, Aunt Harriet, came to live with Bruce Wayne and Dick
Grayson.
The debut of the
Batman
television series in 1966 had a profound influence on the
character. The success of the series increased sales throughout the
comic book industry, and
Batman reached a circulation of
close to 900,000 copies. Elements such as the character of
Batgirl and the show's
campy nature were introduced into the comics;
the series also initiated the return of Alfred. Although both the
comics and TV show were successful for a time, the camp approach
eventually wore thin and the show was canceled in 1968. In the
aftermath, the Batman comics themselves lost popularity once again.
As Julius Schwartz noted, "When the television show was a success,
I was asked to be campy, and of course when the show faded, so did
the comic books."
Starting in 1969, writer
Dennis O'Neil
and artist
Neal Adams made a deliberate
effort to distance Batman from the campy portrayal of the 1960s TV
series and to return the character to his roots as a "grim avenger
of the night." O'Neil said his idea was "simply to take it back to
where it started. I went to the DC library and read some of the
early stories. I tried to get a sense of what Kane and Finger were
after."
O'Neil and Adams first collaborated on the story "The Secret of the
Waiting Graves" (
Detective Comics #395, January 1970). Few
stories were true collaborations between O'Neil, Adams, Schwartz,
and inker
Dick Giordano, and in
actuality these men were mixed and matched with various other
creators during the 1970s; nevertheless the influence of their work
was "tremendous." Giordano said: "We went back to a grimmer, darker
Batman, and I think that's why these stories did so well... Even
today we're still using Neal's Batman with the long flowing cape
and the pointy ears." While the work of O'Neil and Adams was
popular with fans, the acclaim did little to help declining sales;
the same held true with a similarly acclaimed run by writer
Steve Englehart and penciler
Marshall Rogers in
Detective
Comics #471-476 (August 1977 - April 1978), which went on to
influence the 1989 movie
Batman and be adapted for
Batman: The Animated
Series, which debuted in 1992. Regardless, circulation
continued to drop through the 1970s and 1980s, hitting an all-time
low in 1985.
The Dark Knight Returns and later
Frank Miller's 1986 limited
series
Batman: The
Dark Knight Returns, which tells the story of a 50-year
old Batman coming out of retirement in a possible future,
reinvigorated the character.
The Dark Knight Returns was a
financial success and has since become one of the medium's most
noted touchstones. The series also sparked a major resurgence in
the character's popularity.
That year Dennis O'Neil took over as editor of the Batman titles
and set the template for the portrayal of Batman following DC's
status quo-altering miniseries
Crisis on Infinite Earths.
O'Neil operated under the assumption that he was hired to revamp
the character and as a result tried to instill a different tone in
the books than had gone before. One outcome of this new approach
was the "
Year One" storyline in
Batman #404-407 (February-May 1987), in which Frank Miller
and artist
David Mazzucchelli
redefined the character's origins. Writer
Alan Moore and artist
Brian Bolland continued this dark trend with
1988's 48-page
one-shot
Batman: The Killing
Joke, in which the Joker, attempting to drive
Commissioner Gordon insane, cripples
Gordon's daughter
Barbara, and then
kidnaps and tortures the commissioner, physically and
psychologically.
The Batman comics garnered major attention in 1988 when DC Comics
created a
900 number
for readers to call to vote on whether
Jason
Todd, the second Robin, lived or died. Voters decided in favor
of Jason's death by a narrow margin of 28 votes (see
Batman: A Death in the
Family). The following year saw the release of
Tim Burton's
Batman feature film, which firmly
brought the character back to the public's attention, grossing
millions of dollars at the box office, and millions more in
merchandising. However, the three sequels, Tim Burton's
Batman Returns and
Joel Schumacher's
Batman Forever and
Batman & Robin, did not
perform as well at the box office. The
Batman movie
franchise was rebooted with
Christopher Nolan's
Batman Begins in 2005 and
The Dark Knight in 2008. In
1989, the first issue of
Legends of the Dark Knight,
the first new solo Batman title in nearly fifty years, sold close
to a million copies.
The 1993 "
Knightfall" story arc
introduced a new villain,
Bane, who
critically injures Bruce Wayne. Jean-Paul Valley, known as
Azrael, is called upon to wear the Batsuit
during Wayne's convalescence. Writers
Doug
Moench,
Chuck Dixon, and
Alan Grant worked on the Batman titles
during "Knightfall," and would also contribute to other Batman
crossovers throughout the 1990s. 1998's "
Cataclysm" storyline served as the
precursor to 1999's "
No Man's
Land", a year-long storyline that ran through all the
Batman-related titles dealing with the effects of an
earthquake-ravaged Gotham City. At the conclusion
of "No Man's Land", O'Neil stepped down as editor and was replaced
by
Bob Schreck.
Another writer who rose to prominence on the Batman comic series,
was
Jeph Loeb. Along with longtime
collaborator Tim Sale, they wrote two mini-series ("The Long
Halloween" and "Dark Victory") that pit an early in his career
version of Batman against his entire rogue's gallery (most notably
Two-Face, whose origin was re-envisioned by Loeb) while dealing
with various mysteries involving serial killers Holiday and the
Hangman, of which the former was the subject of intense debate and
speculation amongst Batman fans. In 2003, Loeb teamed with artist
Jim Lee to work on another mystery arc:
"
Batman: Hush" for the main Batman
book. The twelve issue storyline saw Batman and Catwoman running
the gauntlet against Batman's entire rogue's gallery, including an
apparently resurrected Jason Todd, while seeking to find the
identity of the mysterious super-villain Hush. While the character
of Hush failed to catch on with readers, the arc was a sales
success for DC. As the storyline was Jim Lee's first regular comic
book work in nearly a decade, the series became #1 on the
Diamond Comic Distributors sales
chart for the first time since
Batman #500 (October 1993)
and Jason Todd's appearance laid the groundwork for writer
Judd Winick's subsequent run as writer on
Batman, with another multi-issue epic, "Under the Hood,"
which ran from
Batman #637-650.
In 2005, DC launched
All-Star Batman and Robin, a
stand-alone comic series set outside the existing DC Universe.
Written by Frank Miller and drawn by Jim Lee, the series was a
commercial success for DC Comics though widely panned by critics
for its writing.
Starting in 2006, the regular writers on
Batman and
Detective Comics were
Grant
Morrison and
Paul Dini, with Grant
Morrison reincorporating controversial elements of Batman lore
(most notably, the science fiction themed storylines of the 1950s
Batman comics, which Morrison revised as hallucinations Batman
suffered under the influence of various mind-bending gases and
extensive sensory deprivation training) into the character.
Morrison's run climaxed with "Batman R.I.P.", which brought Batman
up against the villainous "Black Glove" organization, which sought
to drive Batman into madness. "Batman R.I.P." segued into
Final Crisis (also written by
Morrison), which saw the apparent death of Batman at the hands of
Darkseid. In the 2009 miniseries
Batman: Battle for the
Cowl, Wayne's former protégé Dick Grayson becomes the new
Batman, and Wayne's son Damien becomes the new Robin. In June 2009,
Judd Winick returned to writing
Batman, while Grant
Morrison was given his own series, titled
Batman and Robin.
Another Batman tale once more starring Bruce as Batman titled
Batman: Unseen deals with Bruce Wayne's early career and him
fighting the invisible man.
Fictional character biography
Batman's history has undergone various revisions, both minor and
major. Few elements of the character's history have remained
constant. Scholars William Uricchio and Roberta E. Pearson noted in
the early 1990s, "Unlike some fictional characters, the Batman has
no primary urtext set in a specific period, but has rather existed
in a plethora of equally valid texts constantly appearing over more
than five decades."
The central fixed event in the Batman stories is the character's
origin story. As a little boy, Bruce
Wayne is horrified and traumatized to see his parents, the
physician Dr.
Thomas Wayne and his wife
Martha, being murdered by a mugger in
front of his very eyes. This drives him to fight crime in
Gotham City as Batman. Pearson and Uricchio also
noted beyond the origin story and such events as the introduction
of Robin, "Until recently, the fixed and accruing and hence,
canonized, events have been few in number," a situation altered by
an increased effort by later Batman editors such as Dennis O'Neil
to ensure consistency and continuity between stories.
Golden Age
In Batman's first appearance in
Detective Comics #27, he
is already operating as a crime fighter. Batman's origin is first
presented in
Detective Comics #33 in November 1939, and is
later fleshed out in
Batman #47. As these comics state,
Bruce Wayne is born to Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha, two
very wealthy and charitable
Gotham City
socialites. Bruce is brought up in Wayne Manor, with its wealthy
splendor, and leads a happy and privileged existence until the age
of eight, when his parents are killed by a small-time criminal
named
Joe Chill while on their way home
from a movie theater. Bruce Wayne swears an oath to rid the city of
the evil that had taken his parents' lives. He engages in intense
intellectual and physical training; however, he realizes that these
skills alone would not be enough. "Criminals are a superstitious
and cowardly lot," Wayne remarks, "so my disguise must be able to
strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night,
black, terrible..." As if responding to his desires, a bat suddenly
flies through the window, inspiring Bruce to assume the persona of
Batman.
In early strips, Batman's career as a vigilante earns him the ire
of the police. During this period Wayne has a fiancée named
Julie Madison. Wayne takes in an
orphaned circus acrobat, Dick Grayson, who becomes his sidekick,
Robin. Batman also becomes a founding member of the
Justice Society of America,
although he, like Superman, is an honorary member, and thus only
participates occasionally. Batman's relationship with the law thaws
quickly, and he is made an honorary member of
Gotham City's police
department. During this time, butler Alfred Pennyworth arrives
at Wayne Manor, and after deducing the Dynamic Duo's secret
identities joins their service.
Silver Age
The
Silver Age of comic
books in DC Comics is sometimes held to have begun in 1956 when
the publisher introduced
Barry
Allen as a new, updated version of
The Flash. Batman is not significantly
changed by the late 1950s for the continuity which would be later
referred to as
Earth-One. The
lighter tone Batman had taken in the period between the Golden and
Silver Ages led to the stories of the late 1950s and early 1960s
that often feature a large number of science-fiction elements, and
Batman is not significantly updated in the manner of other
characters until
Detective Comics #327 (May 1964), in
which Batman reverts to his detective roots, with most
science-fiction elements jettisoned from the series.
After the introduction of DC Comics'
multiverse in the 1960s, DC
established that stories from the Golden Age star the
Earth-Two Batman, a character from a
parallel world. This version of Batman partners with and marries
the reformed Earth-Two Catwoman, Selina Kyle (as shown in
Superman Family #211) and
fathers
Helena Wayne, who,
as the Huntress, becomes (along with Dick Grayson, the Earth-Two
Robin) Gotham's protector once Wayne retires from the position to
become police commissioner, a position he occupies until he is
killed during one final adventure as Batman. Batman titles however
often ignored that a distinction had been made between the
pre-revamp and post-revamp Batmen (since unlike The Flash or
Green Lantern, Batman comics had been
published without interruption through the 1950s) and would on
occasion make reference to stories from the Golden Age.
Nevertheless, details of Batman's history were altered or expanded
upon through the decades. Additions include meetings with a future
Superman during his youth, his upbringing by his uncle Philip Wayne
(introduced in
Batman #208, January/February 1969) after
his parents' death, and appearances of his father and himself as
prototypical versions of Batman and Robin, respectively. In 1980
then-editor
Paul Levitz commissioned the
Untold Legend of the Batman limited series to thoroughly chronicle
Batman's origin and history.
Batman meets and regularly works with other heroes during the
Silver Age, most notably Superman, whom he began regularly working
alongside in a series of team-ups in
World's Finest Comics, starting
in 1954 and continuing through the series' cancellation in 1986.
Batman and Superman are usually depicted as close friends. Batman
becomes a founding member of the
Justice
League of America, appearing in its first story in 1960s
Brave and the Bold #28.
In the 1970s and 1980s,
Brave and the Bold became a Batman
title, in which Batman teams up with a different
DC Universe superhero each month.
In 1969, Dick Grayson attends college as part of DC Comics' effort
to revise the Batman comics. Additionally, Batman also moves from
his mansion,
Wayne Manor into a
penthouse apartment atop the Wayne Foundation building in downtown
Gotham City, in order to be closer to Gotham City's crime. Batman
spends the 1970s and early 1980s mainly working solo, with
occasional team-ups with Robin and/or Batgirl. Batman's adventures
also become somewhat darker and more grim during this period,
depicting increasingly violent crimes, including the first
appearance (since the early Golden Age) of the Joker as a homicidal
psychopath, and the arrival of
Ra's al Ghul, a centuries-old
terrorist who knows Batman's secret identity. In
the 1980s, Dick Grayson becomes
Nightwing.
In the final issue of
Brave and the Bold in 1983, Batman
quits the Justice League and forms a new group called the
Outsiders. He serves as the team's leader
until
Batman and the Outsiders #32 (1986) and the comic
subsequently changed its title.
Modern Batman
After the 12-issue
limited series
Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC Comics
retconned the histories of some major
characters in an attempt at updating them for contemporary
audiences. Frank Miller retold Batman's origin in the storyline
"
Year One" from
Batman
#404-407, which emphasizes a grittier tone in the character. Though
the Earth-Two Batman is erased from history, many stories of
Batman's Silver Age/Earth-One career (along with an amount of
Golden Age ones) remain canonical in the post-Crisis universe, with
his origins remaining the same in essence, despite alteration. For
example, Gotham's police are mostly corrupt, setting up further
need for Batman's existence. While Dick Grayson's past remains much
the same, the history of
Jason Todd, the
second Robin, is altered, turning the boy into the orphan son of a
petty crook, who tries to steal the tires from the Batmobile. Also
removed is the guardian Phillip Wayne, leaving young Bruce to be
raised by Alfred. Additionally, Batman is no longer a founding
member of the Justice League of America, although he becomes leader
for a short time of a new incarnation of the team launched in 1987.
To help fill in the revised backstory for Batman following
Crisis, DC launched a new Batman title called
Legends of the Dark Knight
in 1989 and has published various miniseries and one-shot stories
since then that largely take place during the "Year One" period.
Various stories from
Jeph Loeb and
Matt Wagner also touch upon this
era.
In 1988's "
Batman: A Death
in the Family" storyline from
Batman #426-429 Jason
Todd, the second Robin, is killed by the Joker. Subsequently Batman
begins exhibiting an excessive, reckless approach to his crime
fighting, a result of the pain of losing Jason Todd. Batman works
solo until the decade's close, when
Tim Drake becomes the new Robin. In 2005,
writers resurrected the Jason Todd character and have pitted him
against his former mentor.
Many of the major Batman storylines since the 1990s have been
inter-title crossovers that run for a number of issues. In 1993, DC
published both the "
Death of
Superman" storyline and "
Knightfall"
. In the Knightfall storyline's first phase, the new villain Bane
paralyzes Batman, leading Wayne to ask
Azrael to take on the role. After the end of
"Knightfall," the storylines split in two directions, following
both the Azrael-Batman's adventures, and Bruce Wayne's quest to
become Batman once more. The story arcs realign in "KnightsEnd," as
Azrael becomes increasingly violent and is defeated by a healed
Bruce Wayne. Wayne hands the Batman mantle to Dick Grayson (then
Nightwing) for an interim period, while Wayne trains to return to
the role.
The 1994 company-wide crossover
Zero Hour changes aspects of DC
continuity again, including those of Batman. Noteworthy among these
changes is that the general populace and the criminal element now
considers Batman an urban legend rather than a known force.
Similarly, the Waynes' killer is never caught or identified,
effectively removing
Joe Chill from the
new continuity, rendering stories such as "Year Two"
non-canon.
Batman once again becomes a member of the Justice League during
Grant Morrison's 1996 relaunch of the series, titled
JLA.
While Batman contributes greatly to many of the team's successes,
the Justice League is largely uninvolved as Batman and Gotham City
face catastrophe in the decade's closing crossover arc. In 1998's
"
Cataclysm" storyline, Gotham City
is devastated by an earthquake and ultimately cut off from the
United States Government afterwards. Deprived of many of his
technological resources, Batman fights to reclaim the city from
legions of gangs during 1999's "
No Man's Land."
Meanwhile, Batman's relationship with the Gotham City Police
Department changed for the worse with the events of "Batman:
Officer Down" and "Batman: War Games/War Crimes"; Batman's
long-time law enforcement allies Commissioner Gordon and Harvey
Bullock are forced out of the police department in "Officer Down",
while "War Games" and "War Crimes" saw Batman become a wanted
fugitive after a contingency plan of his to neutralize Gotham
City's criminal underworld is accidentally triggered, resulting a
massive gang war that ends with the sadist Black Mask the
undisputed ruler of the city's criminal gangs. Other troubles come
for Batman in the form of Lex Luthor (secretly behind the events of
"No Man's Land"), who seeks revenge for Bruce Wayne cancelling all
of his company's government contracts upon Luthor being elected
President of the United States. Luthor arranges for the murder of
Batman's on-again, off-again love interest Vesper (introduced in
the mid-1990s) during the "Bruce Wayne: Murderer?" and "
Bruce Wayne: Fugitive" story arcs.
Though Batman is able to clear his name, he loses another ally in
the form of his new chauffer Sasha, who is recruited into the
organization known as "Checkmate" while stuck in prison due to her
refusal to turn states evidence against her employer. While he was
unable to prove that Luthor was behind the murder of Vesper, Batman
does get his revenge with help from Talia Al' Ghul in
Superman/Batman #1-6: not only does he bring down Lex Luthor's
Presidency but also engages in a hostile take-over of Luthor's
corporate holdings, bankrupting the villain in the process.
DC's 2005
limited series Identity Crisis reveals that
JLA member
Zatanna had edited Batman's
memories to prevent him from stopping the League from lobotomizing
Dr. Light after he raped Sue Dibney. This served as a retcon for
Batman's complete distrust for his fellow super-heroes, which,
under writers such as Mark Waid in the "Tower of Babel" arc in JLA,
manifested itself in the form of Batman keeping extensive files on
how to kill his fellow super-heroes. Batman later creates the
Brother I satellite surveillance system to
watch over and if necessary, kill the other heroes. It is
eventually co-opted by
Maxwell Lord,
who then kills super-hero Blue Beetle to keep him from alerting the
Justice League of the existence of Batman's murderous creation. The
revelation of Batman's creation and his tacit responsibility for
Blue Beetle's death becomes a driving force in the lead-up to the
Infinite Crisis miniseries,
which again restructures DC continuity. In
Infinite Crisis
#7,
Alexander Luthor, Jr.
mentions that in the newly rewritten history of the "
New Earth," created in the previous
issue, the murderer of Martha and Thomas Wayne – again, Joe Chill –
was captured, thus undoing the retcon created after
Zero
Hour. Batman and a team of superheroes destroy Brother Eye and
the OMACs, though at the very end of the Batman reaches his
apparent breaking point when Alexander Luthor Jr. mortally wounds
Nightwing. Picking up a gun, Batman nearly shoots Luthor in order
to avenge his former sidekick, until Wonder Woman convinces him to
not pull the trigger.
Following
Infinite Crisis, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson
(having recovered from his wounds), and Tim Drake retrace the steps
Bruce had taken when he originally left Gotham City, to "rebuild
Batman." In the "
Face the
Face" storyline, Batman and Robin return to Gotham City after
their year-long absence. Part of this absence is captured in during
Week 30 of the
52 series, which shows Batman fighting his
inner demons. Later on in
52, Batman is shown undergoing
an intense meditation ritual in
Nanda
Parbat. This becomes an important part of the regular
Batman title, which reveals that Batman was reborn as a
more effective crime fighter while undergoing this ritual, having
"hunted down and ate" the last traces of fear in his mind.
At the end of the "Face the Face" story arc, Bruce officially
adopts Tim (who had lost both of his parents at various points in
the character's history) as his son. The follow-up story arc in
Batman, "
Batman &
Son", introduces
Damian Wayne, who
is Batman's son with
Talia al Ghul.
Batman, along with Superman and Wonder Woman, reforms the Justice
League in the new
Justice League of America series, and is
leading the newest incarnation of the
Outsiders.
Grant Morrison's 2008 storyline,
"
Batman R.I.P.", featuring Batman
being physically and mentally broken by the enigmatic "Black
Glove," garnered much news coverage in advance of its
highly-promoted conclusion, which would supposedly feature the
death of Bruce Wayne. The original intention was, in fact, not for
Batman to die in the pages of "R.I.P.," but for the story to
continue with the current DC event
Final Crisis and have the death occur
there. As such, a two-issue bridge arc was designed called "Last
Rites" that showed Batman survive his helicopter crash into the
Gotham City River and return to his Batcave, only to be summoned to
the Hall of Justice by the JLA to help investigate Orion's death.
This in turn led into the events of "Final Crisis" (which began
publication while Batman RIP was concluding), where Batman is
kidnapped by
Granny Goodness. "Last
Rites" told the tale of Batman being mentally probed by Darkseid's
minions Mokkari and Simyon, in an attempt to cull the personality
traits that make Batman the successful super-hero that he is in
order to transplant them into cloned bodies. The plan fails due to
the clones, imparted with Batman's sense of justice, killing
themselves rather than serve Darkseid. The two-parter concludes
with a major "Final Crisis" plot point, as it is revealed that
Batman kept the bullet used to kill Orion in his utility
belt.
The Batman's apparent death occurs in
Final Crisis #6 when
he confronts Darkseid. Batman announces that he will break his
"no-gun" rule while facing Darkseid. Wielding an Apokalips-made
gun, Batman shoots Darkseid in the chest with a bullet made of
Radion (the same bullet used to kill Orion), just as Darkseid
unleashes his
Omega
Sanction, or the "death that is life", upon Batman. However,
the Omega Sanction does not actually
kill its target. The
Omega Sanction sends the consciousness of the target into parallel
worlds. Although the presence of Batman's corpse would suggest that
he is dead, at the conclusion of
Final Crisis it is
revealed that Batman has been sent to the distant past where he is
able to watch the passing of
Anthro.
The three-issue
Battle for the
Cowl miniseries, ('cowl' referring to Batman's mask) saw
those who were closest to Wayne compete for the "right" to assume
the role of Batman. Eventually, Grayson reluctantly assumes the
role.

A Black Lantern Batman, from
Blackest Night #5 (January 2010).
In
Blackest Night, the
villain
Black Hand is seen
digging up Bruce Wayne's body, stealing his skull, and recruiting
it into the
Black Lantern Corps.
Deadman, whose body has also become a Black
Lantern, rushes to aide the new Batman and Robin along with Red
Robin (Tim Drake) against the Gotham villains who have reanimated
as Black Lanterns, as well as their own family members. The skull
was briefly reanimated as a Black Lantern, reconstructing a body in
the process by Black Hand's lord,
Nekron, to
move against the Justice League and the Titans. After the Black
Lantern Batman created several black power rings to attach to and
kill the majority of the Justice League, the skull was returned to
normal after Nekron explained it served its purpose as an emotional
tether. Nekron also referred to the skull as "Bruce Wayne",
implying that he is aware of Batman's current disembodied
consciousness as a result of the
Omega Sanction.
Characterization
Batman's primary character traits can be summarized as "wealth;
physical prowess; deductive abilities and obsession." The details
and tone of Batman comic books have varied over the years due to
different creative teams. Dennis O'Neil noted that character
consistency was not a major concern during early editorial regimes:
"
Julie Schwartz did a Batman in
Batman and
Detective and
Murray Boltinoff did a Batman in the
Brave and the Bold and apart from the costume they bore
very little resemblance to each other. Julie and Murray did not
coordinate their efforts, did not pretend to, did not want to, were
not asked to. Continuity was not important in those days."
A main component that defines Batman as a character is his origin
story. Bob Kane said he and Bill Finger discussed the character's
background and decided that "there's nothing more traumatic than
having your parents murdered before your eyes." Despite his trauma
he is driven to train in becoming a brilliant scientist and train
his body into absolute physical perfection to fight crime in
Gotham City as Batman, an inspired idea
from Wayne's insight into the cowardly mind. As another main
characterization he performs illegally as a VIGILANTE in order to
stop evil that started with the death of his parents. Although
manifested differently by being re-told by different artists it is
nevertheless that the details and the prime components of the
Batman's origin have never varied at all in the comic books, the
"reiteration of the basic origin events holds together otherwise
divergent expressions". The origin is the source of the character's
traits and attributes, which play out in many of the character's
adventures.
Batman is often treated as a vigilante by other characters in his
stories. Frank Miller views the character as "a dionysian figure, a
force for anarchy that imposes an individual order." Dressed as a
bat, Batman deliberately cultivates a frightening persona in order
to aid him in crime fighting, a fright that originates from the
criminals own guilty consciousness which Batman cleverly reminds
and stimulates.
Bruce Wayne

Bruce Wayne as Batman.
In his secret identity, Batman is Bruce Wayne, a wealthy
businessman who lives in Gotham City. To the world at large, Bruce
Wayne is often seen as an irresponsible, superficial playboy who
lives off his family's personal fortune (amassed when Bruce's
family invested in Gotham real estate before the city was a
bustling metropolis) and the profits of
Wayne Enterprises, a major private
technology firm that he inherits. However, Wayne is also known for
his contributions to charity, notably through his Wayne Foundation.
Bruce creates the playboy public persona to aid in throwing off
suspicion of his secret identity, often acting dim-witted and
self-absorbed to further the act.
Writers of both Batman and Superman stories have often compared the
two within the context of various stories, to varying conclusions.
Like Superman, the prominent persona of Batman's dual identities
varies with time. Modern-age comics have tended to portray "Bruce
Wayne" as the facade, with "Batman" as the truer representation of
his personality (in counterpoint to the post-Crisis Superman, whose
"Clark Kent" persona is the 'real' personality, and "Superman" is
the 'mask').
In
Batman Unmasked, a television documentary about the
psychology of the character, Associate Professor of Social
Psychology at the University of California, Los
Angeles
, and an adjunct behavioral scientist at the
Rand Corporation Benjamin Karney, notes that the Batman's
personality is driven by Bruce Wayne's inherent humanity; that
"Batman, for all its benefits and for all of the time Bruce Wayne
devotes to it, is ultimately a tool for Bruce Wayne's efforts to
make the world better".
As noted in the the Will Brooker book,
Batman Unmasked,
"the confirmation of Batman's identity lies with the young
audience...he doesn't have to be Bruce Wayne; he just needs the
suit and gadgets, the abilities, and most importantly the morality,
the humanity. There's just a sense about him: 'they trust him...
and they're never wrong."
Dick Grayson
With Wayne apparently dead,
Dick
Grayson has become the new Batman. This is the second time he
has taken on the mantle in Bruce Wayne's absence, albeit the first
time (when Wayne was recovering from his broken back) reluctantly.
After Wayne's death, Dick had no problem becoming Batman, but Wayne
had left a prerecorded message telling him not become Batman and to
continue fighting crime as Nightwing with Robin at his side.
Realizing that Gotham still needed the Dark Knight, Dick retired
his Nightwing mantle to become the new Batman.
In an interview with
IGN, Morrison details that
having Grayson as Batman and
Damian
Wayne as Robin will be a "reverse" of the normal dynamic
between Batman and Robin, with, "a more light-hearted and
spontaneous Batman and a scowling, badass Robin." Morrison explains
his intentions for the new characterization of Batman: "Dick
Grayson is kind of this consummate superhero. The guy has been
Batman's partner since he was a kid, he's led the
Teen Titans, and he's trained with everybody in
the DC Universe. So he's a very different kind of Batman. He's a
lot easier; He's a lot looser and more relaxed.
Skills, abilities, and resources
Unlike many superheroes, Batman has no superpowers and instead
relies on "his own scientific knowledge, detective skills, and
athletic prowess." In the stories Batman is regarded as one of the
world's greatest detectives. In Grant Morrison's first storyline in
JLA, Superman describes Batman as "the most dangerous man
on Earth," able to defeat a team of superpowered aliens all by
himself in order to rescue his imprisoned teammates. He is also a
master of disguise, often gathering information under the identity
of Matches Malone, a notorious gangster.
Costume
Batman's costume incorporates the imagery of a bat in order to
frighten criminals. The details of the Batman costume change
repeatedly through various stories and media, but the most
distinctive elements remain consistent: a scallop-hem cape, a cowl
covering most of the face featuring a pair of batlike ears, and a
stylized bat emblem on the chest, including the ever-present
utility belt. The costumes' colors are traditionally blue and grey,
although this colorization arose due to the way comic book art is
colored. Finger and Kane conceptualized Batman as having a black
cape and cowl and grey suit, but conventions in coloring called for
black to be highlighted with blue. This coloring has been claimed
by Larry Ford, in
Place, Power, Situation, and Spectacle: A
Geography of Film, to be a reversion of conventional
color-coding symbolism, which sees "bad guys" wearing dark colors.
Batman's gloves typically feature three scallops that protrude from
long, gauntlet-like cuffs, although in his earliest appearances he
wore short, plain gloves without the scallops. A yellow ellipse
around the bat logo on the character's chest was added in 1964, and
became the hero's trademark symbol, akin to the red and yellow "S"
symbol of Superman. The overall look of the character, particularly
the length of the cowl's ears and of the cape, varies greatly
depending on the artist. Dennis O'Neil said, "We now say that
Batman has two hundred suits hanging in the Batcave so they don't
have to look the same . . . Everybody loves to draw Batman, and
everybody wants to put their own spin on it."
Equipment
Batman uses a large arsenal of specialized gadgets in his war
against crime, the designs of which usually share a bat motif.
Batman historian
Les Daniels credits
Gardner Fox with creating the concept of
Batman's arsenal with the introduction of the utility belt in
Detective Comics #29 (July 1939) and the first bat-themed
weapons the
batarang and the "Batgyro" in
Detective Comics #31 and #32 (September; October, 1939).
Batman's primary vehicle is the
Batmobile,
which is usually depicted as an imposing black car with large
tailfins that suggest a bat's wings.
Batman's other vehicles include the
Batplane (aka the Batwing),
Batboat,
Bat-Sub, and
Batcycle.
In proper practice, the "bat" prefix (as in batmobile or batarang)
is rarely used by Batman himself when referring to his equipment,
particularly after some portrayals (primarily the 1960s
Batman live-action television
show and the
Super
Friends animated series) stretched the practice to
campy proportions. The 1960s television
series Batman has an arsenal that includes such "bat-" names as the
bat-computer, bat-scanner, bat-radar, bat-cuffs, bat-pontoons,
bat-drinking water dispenser, bat-camera with polarized bat-filter,
bat-
shark repellent bat-spray, and bat-rope.
The storyline "A Death in the Family" suggests that given Batman's
grim nature, he is unlikely to have adopted the "bat" prefix on his
own.
Batman keeps most of his field equipment in a utility belt. Over
the years it is shown to contain a virtually limitless variety of
crime fighting tools. Different versions of the belt have these
items stored in either pouches or hard cylinders attached evenly
around it.
Bat-Signal
When Batman is needed, the Gotham City police activate a
searchlight with a bat-shaped insignia over the
lens called the Bat-signal which shines into the night sky,
creating a bat-symbol on a passing cloud which can be seen from any
point in Gotham. The origin of the signal varies, depending on the
continuity and medium.
In various incarnations, most notably the 1960s
Batman TV series, Commissioner
Gordon also has a dedicated phone line, dubbed the Bat-Phone,
connected to a bright red telephone (in the TV series) which sits
on a wooden base and has a transparent cake cover on top. The line
connects directly to Batman's residence,
Wayne Manor, specifically both to a similar
phone sitting on the desk in Bruce Wayne's study and the extension
phone in the Batcave.
Batcave
The Batcave is Batman's secret headquarters, consisting of a series
of subterranean caves beneath his mansion, Wayne Manor. It serves
as his command center for both local and global surveillance, as
well as housing his vehicles and equipment for his war on crime. It
also is a storeroom for Batman's memorabilia. In both the comic
Batman: Shadow of the
Bat (issue #45) and the 2005 film
Batman Begins, the cave is said to have
been part of the
Underground
Railroad. Of the heroes and villains who see the Batcave, few
know where it is located.
Supporting characters
Batman's interactions with the characters around him, both heroes
and villains, help to define the character.
Commissioner James "Jim" Gordon, Batman's ally in
the Gotham City police, debuted along with Batman in
Detective
Comics #27 and has been a consistent presence since then.
Later on, Batman gained Alfred as his butler and
Lucius Fox as his business manager and apparently
unwitting
armorer. However, the most
important supporting role in the Batman mythos is filled by the
hero's young sidekick Robin. The first Robin, Dick Grayson,
eventually leaves his mentor and becomes the hero Nightwing, though
he and Batman would still continue to work together. The second
Robin,
Jason Todd, is badly beaten and
then killed in an explosion set by the Joker, but later returns as
an adversary.
Tim Drake, the third Robin,
first appeared in 1989 and went on to star in his own comic series.
Alfred, Bruce Wayne's loyal butler, father figure, and one of the
few to know his secret identity, "[lends] a homey touch to Batman's
environs and [is] ever ready to provide a steadying and reassuring
hand" to the hero and his sidekick.
Batman is at times a member of superhero teams such as the Justice
League of America and the Outsiders. Batman has often been paired
in adventure with his Justice League teammate Superman, notably as
the co-stars of
World's Finest and
Superman/Batman series. In pre-Crisis
continuity, the two are depicted as close friends; however, in
current continuity, they have a mutually respectful but uneasy
relationship, with an emphasis on their differing views on crime
fighting and justice.
Batman is involved romantically with many women throughout his
various incarnations. These range from society women such as
Julie Madison,
Vicki Vale and
Silver
St. Cloud, to allies like
Wonder
Woman and
Sasha Bordeaux, to even
villainesses such as
Catwoman and
Talia al Ghul, with the latter of whom he
sired a son, Damien, and with the former of whom sired a daughter,
Helena. While these relationships tend to be short, Batman's
attraction to Catwoman is present in nearly every version and
medium in which the characters appear. Authors have gone back and
forth over the years as to how Batman manages the 'playboy' aspect
of Bruce Wayne's personality; at different times he embraces or
flees from the women interested in attracting "Gotham's most
eligible bachelor."
Other supporting characters in Batman's world include former
Batgirl
Barbara Gordon, Commissioner
Gordon's daughter who, now using a wheelchair due to a gunshot
wound inflicted by the Joker, serves the superhero community at
large as the
computer
hacker Oracle; Azrael, a would-be assassin who replaces Bruce
Wayne as Batman for a time;
Cassandra
Cain, an assassin's daughter who became the new Batgirl,
Huntress, the sole surviving
member of a mob family turned Gotham vigilante who has worked with
Batman on occasion,
Stephanie
Brown, the daughter of a criminal who operated as the Spoiler
and temporarily as Robin, Ace the Bat-Hound, Batman's Canine
partner; and Bat-Mite, an extra-dimensional imp who idolizes
Batman.
Enemies
Batman faces a variety of foes ranging from common criminals to
outlandish super-villains. Many Batman villains mirror aspects of
the hero's character and development, often having tragic origin
stories that lead them to a life of crime. Batman's "most
implacable foe" is the
Joker, a
completely insane clown-like criminal who as a "personification of
the irrational" represents "everything Batman [opposes]." Other
recurring antagonists include
Catwoman, the
Penguin, the
Riddler,
Poison
Ivy and
Two-Face, among many
others.
Cultural impact
Batman has become a pop culture icon, recognized around the world.
The character's presence has extended beyond his comic book
origins; events such as the release of the 1989
Batman
film and its accompanying merchandising "brought the Batman to the
forefront of public consciousness." In an article commemorating the
sixtieth anniversary of the character,
The Guardian wrote, "Batman is a figure
blurred by the endless reinvention that is modern mass culture. He
is at once an icon and a commodity: the perfect cultural artefact
for the 21st century." In addition, media outlets have often used
the character in trivial and comprehensive surveys —
Forbes Magazine estimated Bruce Wayne
to be the 9th-richest fictional character with his
$5.8 billion fortune, several places after
Iron Man, who is at 6.
BusinessWeek listed the character as one
of the ten most intelligent superheroes appearing in American
comics.
In other media
character of Batman has appeared in various media aside from comic
books. The character has been developed as a vehicle for
newspaper syndicated
comic
strips,
books,
radio
dramas,
television and several
theatrical
feature films. The first
adaptation of Batman was as a daily newspaper
comic strip which premiered on October 25, 1943.
That same year the character was adapted in the 15-part
serial Batman, with
Lewis Wilson becoming the first actor to
portray Batman on screen. While Batman never had a
radio series of his own, the character made occasional
guest appearance in
The Adventures of
Superman starting in 1945 on occasions when Superman voice
actor
Bud Collyer needed time off. A
second movie serial,
Batman and Robin, followed in
1949, with
Robert Lowery
taking over the role of Batman. The exposure provided by these
adaptations during the 1940s "helped make [Batman] a household name
for millions who never bought a comic book.".
In the 1964 publication of
Donald
Barthelme's collection of short stories "Come Back, Dr.
Caligari", Barthelme wrote "The Joker's Greatest Triumph." Batman
is portrayed for purposes of spoof as a pretentious French-speaking
rich man.
The
Batman television
series, starring
Adam West, premiered in
January 1966 on the
ABC television network.
Inflected with a
camp sense of humor,
the show became a pop culture phenomenon. In his memoir,
Back
to the Batcave, West notes his dislike for the term 'camp' as
it was applied to the 1960s series, opining that the show was
instead a
farce or
lampoon, and a deliberate one, at that. The series
ran for 120 episodes, ending in 1968. In between the first and
second season of the
Batman television series the cast and
crew made the theatrical release
Batman (1966). The popularity of the
Batman TV series also resulted in the first animated
adaptation of Batman in the series
The Batman/Superman Hour; the
Batman segments of the series were repackaged as
Batman with Robin the Boy
Wonder which produced thirty-three episodes between 1968
and 1977. From 1973 until 1986, Batman had a starring role in ABC's
Super Friends series, which
was animated by
Hanna-Barbera.
Olan Soule was the voice of Batman in all
these series, but was eventually replaced during
Super
Friends by Adam West, who voiced the character in
Filmation's 1977 series
The New Adventures of
Batman.
In 1989, Batman returned to movie theaters in director
Tim Burton's
Batman starring
Michael Keaton as the title character. The
film was a huge success; not only was it the top-grossing film of
the year, but at the time was the fifth highest-grossing film in
history. The film spawned three sequels:
Batman Returns (1992),
Batman Forever (1995) and
Batman & Robin (1997),
the last two of which were directed by
Joel Schumacher instead of Burton, and
replaced Keaton as Batman with
Val Kilmer
and
George Clooney,
respectively.
In 1992, Batman returned to television in
Batman: The Animated
Series, which was produced by
Warner Bros. and broadcast on the
Fox television network. Author
Les Daniels described the series as
"[coming] as close as any artistic statement has to defining the
look of Batman for the 1990s." The success of
Batman: The
Animated Series led to the animated spin-off film
Batman: Mask of the
Phantasm (1993), as well as various other animated series
set in the
same continuity,
including
The New Batman
Adventures,
Batman
Beyond, and
Justice League. As with
Batman: The Animated Series, each of these productions
featured
Kevin Conroy as the voice of
Batman. In 2004, a new animated series titled
The Batman made its debut with
Rino Romano as the title character. In
2008, this show was replaced by another animated series,
Batman: The Brave and
the Bold, with
Diedrich
Bader as Batman.
In 2005,
Christopher Nolan
directed
Batman Begins, a
reboot of the film franchise starring
Christian Bale as Batman. Its sequel,
The Dark Knight
(2008), set the record for the highest grossing opening weekend of
all time in the U.S., earning approximately $158 million, and
became the fastest film to reach the $400 million mark in the
history of American cinema (eighteenth day of release). These
record breaking attendances saw
The Dark Knight listed as
the second-highest domestic grossing film of all time with $533
million, second only to
Titanic. An animated anthology
feature set between the Nolan films,
Batman: Gotham Knight, was also
released in 2008.
Homosexual interpretations

Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson.
Panel from Batman #84 (June 1954), page 24.
Controversy has arisen over various sexual interpretations made
regarding the content of Batman comics.
Homosexual interpretations have been part of
the academic study of Batman since psychologist
Fredric Wertham asserted in his
Seduction of the Innocent in
1954 that "Batman stories are psychologically homosexual." He
claimed, "The Batman type of story may stimulate children to
homosexual
fantasies, of the nature
of which they may be unconscious." Wertham wrote, "Only someone
ignorant of the fundamentals of psychiatry and of the
psychopathology of sex can fail to realize a
subtle atmosphere of
homoeroticism
which pervades the adventures of the mature 'Batman' and his young
friend 'Robin.'"
Andy Medhurst wrote in his 1991 essay "Batman, Deviance, and Camp"
that Batman is interesting to gay audiences because "he was one of
the first fictional characters to be attacked on the grounds of his
presumed homosexuality," "the 1960s TV series remains a touchstone
of camp," and "[he] merits analysis as a notably successful
construction of masculinity."
Creators associated with the character have expressed their own
opinions. Writer Alan Grant has stated, "The Batman I wrote for 13
years isn't gay. Denny O'Neil's Batman,
Marv Wolfman's Batman, everybody's Batman all
the way back to Bob Kane... none of them wrote him as a gay
character. Only Joel Schumacher might have had an opposing view."
Writer
Devin Grayson has commented,
"It depends who you ask, doesn't it? Since you're asking me, I'll
say no, I don't think he is ... I certainly understand the gay
readings, though." While Frank Miller has described the
relationship between Batman and the Joker as a "homophobic
nightmare," he views the character as sublimating his sexual urges
into crime fighting, concluding, "He'd be
much healthier
if he were gay."
Burt Ward, who portrayed
Robin in the 1960s television show, has also remarked upon this
interpretation in his autobiography
Boy Wonder: My Life in
Tights; He writes that the relationship could be interpreted
as a sexual one, with the show's
double
entendres and lavish camp also possibly offering ambiguous
interpretation.
Such homosexual interpretations continue to attract attention. One
notable example occurred in 2000, when DC Comics refused to allow
permission for the reprinting of four panels (from
Batman
#79, 92, 105 and 139) to illustrate Christopher York's paper
All in the Family: Homophobia and Batman Comics in the
1950s. Another happened in the summer of 2005, when painter
Mark Chamberlain displayed a number of
watercolors depicting both Batman and Robin in
suggestive and sexually explicit poses. DC threatened both artist
and the Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts gallery with legal action if they
did not cease selling the works and demanded all remaining art, as
well as any profits derived from them.
Notes
References
- Beatty, Scott, et al., The Batman Handbook: The
Ultimate Training Manual. Quirk Books, 2005. ISBN
1-59474-023-2
- Daniels, Les. Batman: The
Complete History. Chronicle Books, 1999. ISBN
0-8118-4232-0
- Daniels, Les. DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's
Favorite Comic Book Heroes. Bulfinch, 1995. ISBN
0-821-22076-4
- Jones, Gerard. Men of Tomorrow:
Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book. Basic
Books, 1995. ISBN 0-465-03657-0
- Pearson, Roberta E.; Uricchio, William (editors). The Many
Lives of the Batman: Critical Approaches to a Superhero and His
Media. Routledge: London, 1991. ISBN 0-85170-276-7
- Wright, Bradford W. Comic Book Nation: The Transformation
of Youth Culture in America. Johns Hopkins, 2001. ISBN
0-8018-7450-5
External links