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 billionaire Bruce Wayne, playboy, 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 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, among others. The overall
success of Warner Bros.' live-action Batman feature films have also
helped maintain public 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 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
by Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian
Bale and soon by Ben Affleck in films. In
early 1939, 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.
Kane
and Finger (pictured left) drew upon contemporary 1930s popular
culture for inspiration regarding much of the Bat-Man's look,
personality, methods and weaponry. Details find predecessors in pulp
fiction, comic strips, newspaper headlines, and autobiographical
details referring to Kane himself. As an aristocratic hero with a
double identity, the Bat-Man had predecessors in the Scarlet
Pimpernel (created by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, 1903) and Zorro
(created by Johnston McCulley, 1919). Like them, he performed his
heroic deeds in secret, averted suspicion by playing the fool in
public, and marked his work with a signature symbol. Kane
specifically noted the influence of the films The Mark of Zorro
(1920) and The Bat Whispers (1930) in the creation of the character's
iconography. Finger, drawing inspiration from pulp heroes like Doc
Savage, The Shadow, and Sherlock Holmes, made the character a master sleuth.
In
his 1989 autobiography, Kane (pictured right) detailed Finger's
contributions to Batman's creation: "One day I called Bill and
said, 'I have a new character called the Bat-Man and I've made some
crude, elementary sketches I'd like you to look at'. He came over and
I showed him the drawings. At the time, I only had a small domino
mask, like the one Robin later wore, on Batman's face. Bill said,
'Why not make him look more like a bat and put a hood on him, and
take the eyeballs out and just put slits for eyes to make him look
more mysterious?' At this point, the Bat-Man wore a red union suit;
the wings, trunks, and mask were black. I thought that red and black
would be a good combination. Bill said that the costume was too
bright: 'Color it dark gray to make it look more ominous'. The cape
looked like two stiff bat wings attached to his arms. As Bill and I
talked, we realized that these wings would get cumbersome when
Bat-Man was in action, and changed them into a cape, scalloped to
look like bat wings when he was fighting or swinging down on a rope.
Also, he didn't have any gloves on, and we added them so that he
wouldn't leave fingerprints."
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: "Bob made him more insecure, because
while he slaved working on Batman, he wasn't sharing in any of the
glory or the money that Bob began to make, which is why [he was]
going to leave [Kane's employ]. Kane should have credited Bill as co-creator,
because I know; I was there. That was one thing I would never
forgive Bob for, was not to take care of Bill or recognize his vital
role in the creation of Batman. As with Siegel and Shuster, it should
have been the same, the same co-creator credit in the strip, writer
and artist.
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, 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, "In those days it
was like, one artist and he had his name over it [the comic strip]
— the policy of DC in the comic books was, if you can't write
it, obtain other writers, but their names would never appear on the
comic book in the finished version. So Bill never asked me for it
[the byline] and I never volunteered — I guess my ego at that
time. And I felt badly, really, when he [Finger] died."
INTRODUCING, THE BAT-MAN
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
(Sept. 1939). The character's origin was revealed in #33 (Nov. 1939),
unfolding in a two-page story that establishes the brooding persona
of Batman, a character driven by the death of his parents. Written by
Finger, it depicts a young Bruce Wayne witnessing his parents' murder
at the hands of a mugger. 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 enemies, 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.
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. Scholars have suggested that the characters of
Batwoman (in 1956) and the pre-Barbara Gordon 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
retrospect the suggestion that Batman and Robin are gay may be just
reading too much into stories drawn and written in a simpler time.
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
(Feb. 1960), and went on to appear in several Justice League comic
series starting later that same year.
BATMAN
GOES 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) 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."
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
Frank
Miller's limited series The Dark Knight Returns (February–June
1986), which tells the story of a 55-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. In 1989, the first issue of Legends of the Dark
Knight, the first new solo Batman title in nearly 50 years, sold
close to a million copies.
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. Burton
followed with Batman Returns but dropped out as director of the third
film. Burton's Batman was concidered "too dark" and
director Joel Schumacher's would helm Batman Forever and Batman &
Robin each getting lighter in tone and more "family
friendly". Neither performed as well as the original at the box
office and Batman & Robin, meanwhile, was a critical and
commercial failure. The studio was done with Batman until the
franchise was rebooted with director and co-writer Christopher
Nolan's Batman Begins in 2005, The Dark Knight in 2008 and The Dark
Knight Rises in 2012.
Untitled
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 want to
coordinate their efforts, nor were they asked to do so. Continuity
was not important in those days."
The driving force behind
Batman's character is his parents' murder. Bob Kane and Bill Finger
discussed Batman'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 to become 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 criminal mind.
Another
of Batman's characterizations is a vigilante; in order to stop evil
that started with the death of his parents, he must sometimes break
laws himself. Although manifested differently by being re-told by
different artists, it is nevertheless that the details and the prime
components of 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 fear that originates from the criminals' own guilty conscience.
The
Batman is, in his everyday identity, Bruce Wayne, a wealthy business
owner living in Gotham City. Wayne averts suspicion by acting the
part of a superficial, dim-witted playboy idly living off his
family's fortune (amassed through investment in real estate before
the city became a bustling metropolis) and the profits of Wayne
Enterprises, his inherited conglomerate. he supports philanthropic
causes through his nonprofit Wayne Foundation but is more widely
known as a celebrity socialite. In public he pretends to be a heavy
drinker, using ginger ale to suggest champagne and liberally serving
alcohol to guests that he never actually consumes himself. In
reality, he is a strict teetotaler concerned to maintain top physical
fitness and mental acuity.
In public he appears
frequently in the company of fashionable women to encourage tabloid
gossip. In reality there is less than meets the eye: though he leads
an active romantic life, crime-fighting account for most of his night
hours. Bruce Wayne's calculated persona as a vapid, self-indulgent
son of privilege finds literary precedent in Sir Percival Blakeney,
hero of the The Scarlet Pimpernel stories by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
(1903), and Don Diego de la Vega, hero of the Zorro tales by Johnston
McCulley (1919). Like Bruce Wayne, Sir Percy and Don Diego are each
members of gentry who invite contempt by publicly playing the fool.
Also like Bruce Wayne, each performs heroic deeds in secret and marks
his work with a signature symbol.
The name "Bruce
Wayne" was chosen for certain connotations. According to co-creator
Bill Finger, "Bruce Wayne's first name came from Robert Bruce,
the Scottish patriot. Wayne, 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."
Writers
of Batman and Superman stories have often compared and contrasted
the two. Interpretations vary depending on the writer, the story, and
the timing. Grant Morrison notes that both heroes "believe in
the same kind of things" despite the day/night contrast their
heroic roles display. He notes an equally stark contrast in their
real identities. Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent belong to different
social classes: "Bruce has a butler, Clark has a boss." T.
James Musler's book Unleashing the Superhero in Us All explores the
crucial role played by wealth in the Bruce Wayne story.
Modern stories tend to
portray Bruce Wayne as the character's facade and the 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".
Will Brooker notes in his
book Batman Unmasked that "the confirmation of the 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."
Bruce Wayne is a graduate
of Yale Law School, as seen in Detective Comics #439 (1974), in which
the final page shows a Yale Law School diploma hanging in Bruce
Wayne's office.
Batman
has no inherent superhuman powers. To compensate for this, he relies
on "his own scientific knowledge, detective skills, and athletic
prowess" and a lot of cool toys. In the stories, Batman is
regarded as one of the world's greatest detectives, if not the
world's greatest crime solver. 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 by himself
in order to rescue his imprisoned teammates. He has spent a
significant portion of his life traveling the world and acquiring the
skills needed to aid in his crusade against crime. His knowledge and
expertise in almost every discipline known to man is nearly
unparalleled by any other character in the DC Universe. Batman is an
expert in interrogation techniques and would often use law
enforcement methods as well as torture. Several of his methods
include hanging a person over the edge of a building by the leg or
chaining a person upside down and beating them. He usually just uses
his frightening appearance to get answers. Batman has been repeatedly
described as one of the greatest martial artists in the DC Universe;
his skills in hand-to-hand combat are said to rival such notable
martial artists as Lady Shiva, Bronze Tiger, and Richard Dragon.
Batman has the ability to
function while tolerating massive amounts of physical pain, withstand
telepathy and mind control. He is a master of disguise, often
gathering information under the identity of Matches Malone, a
notorious gangster. He is also skilled in spying, thus allowing him
to hide in unexpected places. His ninjutsu training has made him a
master at stealth where he can can appear and disappear in rather
impossible situations. He is efficient with observation skills and
forensic investigation. He is also efficient in escapology, thus
allowing him to break free of nearly inescapable deathtraps with very
little to no harm.
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, and 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. His batsuit aids in his combat
against enemies, having the properties of both Kevlar and Nomex. It
protects him from gunfire and other significant impacts. However,
Batman's most defining characteristic is his strong commitment to
justice and his unwillingness to take life, regardless of the
situation he has faced. This unyielding moral rectitude has earned
him the respect of several heroes in the DC Universe, most notably
that of Superman and Wonder Woman.
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 an inversion 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."
Where Does He Get Those
Wonderful Toys?
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. A typical major
exception to the range of Batman's equipment are conventional
firearms, which he refuses to use on principle considering that
weapon class was the instrument of his parents' murder. Modern
depictions of Batman have him compromise for practicality by arming
his vehicles mainly for the purpose of removing obstacles or
disabling enemy vehicles.
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.
The Batman's interactions
with the characters around him, both heroes and villains, have over
time developed a strong supporting cast around the character.
Commissioner James "Jim" Gordon, Batman's ally in the
Gotham City police, debuted along with Batman in Detective Comics
#27. Gordon has been a consistent presence ever since. As a
crime-fighting everyman, he shares the Batman's goals while offering,
much as the character of Watson does in Sherlock Holmes stories, a
normal person's perspective on the work of an extraordinary genius.
Later the Batman gained a butler. Alfred Pennyworth serves as Bruce
Wayne's loyal father figure and is one of the few persons to know his
secret identity. In the 1970s, Lucius Fox appeared as Bruce Wayne's
business manager and technology specialist.
A widely recognized
supporting character for many years has been the young sidekick
Robin. Bill Finger stated that he wanted to include Robin because
"Batman didn't have anyone to talk to, and it got a little
tiresome always having him thinking." The first Robin, Dick
Grayson, was introduced in 1940. In the 1970s he finally grew up,
went off to college and became the hero Nightwing. A second Robin,
Jason Todd, appeared in the 1980s. In the stories he was eventually
badly beaten and then killed in an explosion set by the Joker, but
later revived as an adversary, the Red Hood, using the Joker's old
persona. Carrie Kelly, the first female Robin to appear in Batman
stories, was the last Robin in in-universe chronology, joining up
with a retiring Batman in Frank Miller's Dark Knight series in the
middle 1980s. The third Robin in in-universe chronology, Tim Drake,
first appeared in 1989. He went on to star in his own comic series.
In the first decade of the new millennium, Stephanie Brown served as
the fourth in-universe Robin between the character's stints as The
Spoiler and Batgirl.
On
two occasions former Robin Dick Grayson has served as Batman. He
served briefly while Wayne recovered from spinal injuries caused by
Bane in the 1993 Knightfall storyline. He assumed the mantle again in
a 2009 comic book while Wayne was believed dead, and served as a
second Batman even after Wayne returned in 2010. As part of DC's 2011
editorial mandate, he returned to being Nightwing (right) following
the Flashpoint crossover event.
In an interview with IGN,
Morrison details that having Dick Grayson as Batman and Damian Wayne
as Robin represented 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."
The 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. In
Superman/Batman #3 (December 2003), Superman observes,
"Sometimes, I admit, I think of Bruce as a man in a costume.
Then, with some gadget from his utility belt, he reminds me that he
has an extraordinarily inventive mind. And how lucky I am to be able
to call on him."
Bruce Wayne has been
portrayed as involved romantically with many women through his
various incarnations. Some have been respected society figures: Julie
Madison, Vicki Vale (above), and Silver St. Cloud. Some have been
allies: Wonder Woman and Sasha Bordeaux. Some have been villainesses:
the Catwoman and Talia al Ghul. With the latter he sired a son,
Damian, and with the former of whom sired a daughter, Helena (on
Earth-Two). While these relationships tend to be short, Batman's
attraction to the Catwoman is present in nearly every version and
medium in which the characters appear. Writers have varied in the
approach over the years to the 'playboy' aspect of Bruce Wayne's
persona; some show his playboy reputation as a manufactured illusion
to support his mission as Batman, while others have depicted Bruce
Wayne as genuinely enjoying the benefits of being "Gotham's most
eligible bachelor."
Some
of the other supporting characters in the Batman's world include
Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara Gordon, who has fought crime
under the aliases Batgirl and, during a period in which she was
confined to a wheelchair due to a gunshot wound inflicted by the
Joker, 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.
Batman
faces a variety of foes ranging from common criminals to outlandish
supervillains. Many of them mirror aspects of the Batman'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 homicidal maniac with a clown-like appearance who, as a
"personification of the irrational", represents everything
Batman opposes. Other long time recurring foes include Catwoman,
Bane, the Scarecrow, the Penguin, Two-Face, the Riddler, Mr. Freeze,
Poison Ivy, and Ra's al Ghul, among many others.
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 8th-richest fictional character with his $6.9 billion fortune,
several places after Iron Man, who is at 5. BusinessWeek listed the
character as one of the ten most intelligent superheroes appearing in
American comics. Entertainment Weekly named Batman as one of The 20
All Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture. He also was placed on AFI's
100 Years&ldots; 100 Heroes and Villains from the 1989 feature film
by the American Film Institute. The character was the focus of the
2008 non-fiction book Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero
by E. Paul Zehr.
The
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, a stage
show, and of course 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 (left) 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.
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
Kinks performed the theme song from the Batman series on their 1967
album Live at Kelvin Hall. 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 The Adventures of Batman and 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 also 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 latter two of which were directed by Joel
Schumacher instead of Burton, and replaced Keaton as Batman with Val
Kilmer and George Clooney, respectively. The second Schumacher film,
while a box office success, failed to outgross any of its
predecessors and was critically panned, causing Warner Bros. to
cancel the planned Batman Triumphant, and place the film series on hiatus.
In
1992, Batman returned to television in Batman: The Animated Series,
which was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and broadcast on the Fox
television network. Les Daniels described the series as "coming
as close as any artistic statement has to defining the look of Batman
for the 1990s" in his reference book, Batman: The Complete
History. The series' success led to the theatrical spin-off film
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), as well as various other TV
series set in the same continuity, including Superman: The Animated
Series, The New Batman Adventures, Justice League, and Justice League
Unlimited. As with Batman: The Animated Series, each of these
productions featured Kevin Conroy as the voice of Batman. The
futuristic series Batman Beyond was also set in this same animated
continuity and featured a newer, younger Batman voiced by Will
Friedle. 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 2013, a new CGI-animated series
titled Beware the Batman made its debut.
In 2005, Batman Begins was
released to theaters as a reboot of the film series; directed by
Christopher Nolan and 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 end its run as the
second-highest domestic grossing film (at the time) with $533
million, bested then only by Titanic. It was eventually followed by
another sequel, The Dark Knight Rises (2012), which serves as a
conclusion to Nolan's film series.
At the 2013 Comic-Con Zack
Snyder confirmed that the Man Of Steel sequel would be a
Batman-Supeman movie. After the announcement fans were beside
themselves with joy. On August 22, 2013, it was announced by Warner
Bros. Pictures that Ben Affleck will be taking the mantle of Batman
in the Man of Steel sequel and the Internet had a melt down with many
fans hating the idea of Ben Affleck as Batman. This is similar
negative buzz that Michael Keaton got when cast as Batman in 1989 and
Anne Hathaway got when cast as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises.
Both went on to prove their critics wrong. Affleck isn't new to the
superhero genre, having played George Reeves, a former Superman, in
the 2006 film Hollywoodland, he also played Daredevil in the 2003
movie of the same name, where he met his future off-screen wife
Jennifer Garner. Affleck friend and superhero aficionado Kevin Smith
(director of Mallrats, Clerks and Dogma) got a preview of Affleck in
his Batman costume and announced in a Podcast that fans would not be disappointed.
Batman has also starred in
multiple video games, most of which were adaptations of the various
cinematic or animated incarnations of the character. Among the most
successful of these was Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009), which was
released by Rocksteady Studios to critical acclaim. It was followed
by the sequel Batman: Arkham City (2011), which also received
widespread acclaim. As with most animated Batman media, Kevin Conroy
has provided the voice of the character in these games. A third game,
Batman: Arkham Origins (2013), is being developed by Warner Bros.
Games in Montreal.
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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
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, among others. The overall
success of Warner Bros.' live-action Batman feature films have also
helped maintain public interest in the character.
In
early 1939, 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."
Kane
and Finger (pictured left) drew upon contemporary 1930s popular
culture for inspiration regarding much of the Bat-Man's look,
personality, methods and weaponry. Details find predecessors in pulp
fiction, comic strips, newspaper headlines, and autobiographical
details referring to Kane himself. As an aristocratic hero with a
double identity, the Bat-Man had predecessors in the Scarlet
Pimpernel (created by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, 1903) and Zorro
(created by Johnston McCulley, 1919). Like them, he performed his
heroic deeds in secret, averted suspicion by playing the fool in
public, and marked his work with a signature symbol. Kane
specifically noted the influence of the films The Mark of Zorro
(1920) and The Bat Whispers (1930) in the creation of the character's
iconography. Finger, drawing inspiration from pulp heroes like Doc
Savage, The Shadow, and Sherlock Holmes, made the character a master sleuth.
In
his 1989 autobiography, Kane (pictured right) detailed Finger's
contributions to Batman's creation: "One day I called Bill and
said, 'I have a new character called the Bat-Man and I've made some
crude, elementary sketches I'd like you to look at'. He came over and
I showed him the drawings. At the time, I only had a small domino
mask, like the one Robin later wore, on Batman's face. Bill said,
'Why not make him look more like a bat and put a hood on him, and
take the eyeballs out and just put slits for eyes to make him look
more mysterious?' At this point, the Bat-Man wore a red union suit;
the wings, trunks, and mask were black. I thought that red and black
would be a good combination. Bill said that the costume was too
bright: 'Color it dark gray to make it look more ominous'. The cape
looked like two stiff bat wings attached to his arms. As Bill and I
talked, we realized that these wings would get cumbersome when
Bat-Man was in action, and changed them into a cape, scalloped to
look like bat wings when he was fighting or swinging down on a rope.
Also, he didn't have any gloves on, and we added them so that he
wouldn't leave fingerprints."
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: "Bob made him more insecure, because
while he slaved working on Batman, he wasn't sharing in any of the
glory or the money that Bob began to make, which is why [he was]
going to leave [Kane's employ]. Kane should have credited Bill as co-creator,
because I know; I was there. That was one thing I would never
forgive Bob for, was not to take care of Bill or recognize his vital
role in the creation of Batman. As with Siegel and Shuster, it should
have been the same, the same co-creator credit in the strip, writer
and artist.
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
(Sept. 1939). The character's origin was revealed in #33 (Nov. 1939),
unfolding in a two-page story that establishes the brooding persona
of Batman, a character driven by the death of his parents. Written by
Finger, it depicts a young Bruce Wayne witnessing his parents' murder
at the hands of a mugger. 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."
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.
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) while a new
female relative for the Wayne family, Aunt Harriet, came to live with
Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson.
Frank
Miller's limited series The Dark Knight Returns (February–June
1986), which tells the story of a 55-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.
Another
of Batman's characterizations is a vigilante; in order to stop evil
that started with the death of his parents, he must sometimes break
laws himself. Although manifested differently by being re-told by
different artists, it is nevertheless that the details and the prime
components of 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.
The
Batman is, in his everyday identity, Bruce Wayne, a wealthy business
owner living in Gotham City. Wayne averts suspicion by acting the
part of a superficial, dim-witted playboy idly living off his
family's fortune (amassed through investment in real estate before
the city became a bustling metropolis) and the profits of Wayne
Enterprises, his inherited conglomerate. he supports philanthropic
causes through his nonprofit Wayne Foundation but is more widely
known as a celebrity socialite. In public he pretends to be a heavy
drinker, using ginger ale to suggest champagne and liberally serving
alcohol to guests that he never actually consumes himself. In
reality, he is a strict teetotaler concerned to maintain top physical
fitness and mental acuity.
Writers
of Batman and Superman stories have often compared and contrasted
the two. Interpretations vary depending on the writer, the story, and
the timing. Grant Morrison notes that both heroes "believe in
the same kind of things" despite the day/night contrast their
heroic roles display. He notes an equally stark contrast in their
real identities. Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent belong to different
social classes: "Bruce has a butler, Clark has a boss." T.
James Musler's book Unleashing the Superhero in Us All explores the
crucial role played by wealth in the Bruce Wayne story.
Batman
has no inherent superhuman powers. To compensate for this, he relies
on "his own scientific knowledge, detective skills, and athletic
prowess" and a lot of cool toys. In the stories, Batman is
regarded as one of the world's greatest detectives, if not the
world's greatest crime solver. 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 by himself
in order to rescue his imprisoned teammates. He has spent a
significant portion of his life traveling the world and acquiring the
skills needed to aid in his crusade against crime. His knowledge and
expertise in almost every discipline known to man is nearly
unparalleled by any other character in the DC Universe. Batman is an
expert in interrogation techniques and would often use law
enforcement methods as well as torture. Several of his methods
include hanging a person over the edge of a building by the leg or
chaining a person upside down and beating them. He usually just uses
his frightening appearance to get answers. Batman has been repeatedly
described as one of the greatest martial artists in the DC Universe;
his skills in hand-to-hand combat are said to rival such notable
martial artists as Lady Shiva, Bronze Tiger, and Richard Dragon.
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, and 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. His batsuit aids in his combat
against enemies, having the properties of both Kevlar and Nomex. It
protects him from gunfire and other significant impacts. However,
Batman's most defining characteristic is his strong commitment to
justice and his unwillingness to take life, regardless of the
situation he has faced. This unyielding moral rectitude has earned
him the respect of several heroes in the DC Universe, most notably
that of Superman and Wonder Woman.
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.
Bat-Signal
On
two occasions former Robin Dick Grayson has served as Batman. He
served briefly while Wayne recovered from spinal injuries caused by
Bane in the 1993 Knightfall storyline. He assumed the mantle again in
a 2009 comic book while Wayne was believed dead, and served as a
second Batman even after Wayne returned in 2010. As part of DC's 2011
editorial mandate, he returned to being Nightwing (right) following
the Flashpoint crossover event.
Some
of the other supporting characters in the Batman's world include
Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara Gordon, who has fought crime
under the aliases Batgirl and, during a period in which she was
confined to a wheelchair due to a gunshot wound inflicted by the
Joker, 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.
Batman
faces a variety of foes ranging from common criminals to outlandish
supervillains. Many of them mirror aspects of the Batman'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 homicidal maniac with a clown-like appearance who, as a
"personification of the irrational", represents everything
Batman opposes. Other long time recurring foes include Catwoman,
Bane, the Scarecrow, the Penguin, Two-Face, the Riddler, Mr. Freeze,
Poison Ivy, and Ra's al Ghul, among many others.
The
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, a stage
show, and of course 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 (left) 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.
