Batman (fictional character)
Batman is a fictional character in the DC Comics superhero universe, known as one of the most iconic comic book superheroes. Created in the late 1930s by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, Batman is the alter ego of Bruce Wayne, a wealthy American businessman. Unlike many superheroes, Batman possesses no superpowers; he relies on his intellect, martial arts skills, and an array of high-tech gadgets to combat crime in Gotham City. His character is often depicted as a darker, more complex figure, commonly referred to as the Caped Crusader or the Dark Knight.
Batman's origin story centers on the traumatic event of witnessing his parents' murder, which motivates him to fight against injustice. Over the years, he has faced numerous villains, including the Joker and Catwoman, and has been supported by various allies, including his sidekick Robin. The character has evolved significantly through different media, including comic books, television series, and films, with notable adaptations like Tim Burton's 1989 film and Christopher Nolan's acclaimed trilogy in the 2000s. Batman continues to be a central figure in superhero culture, reflecting themes of heroism, vengeance, and moral complexity.
Batman (fictional character)
Batman is a fictional character in the DC Comics superhero universe. The character is one of the most popular comic book superheroes of all time and a pop culture icon. Created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger in the 1930s, Batman is the superhero alter ego of American billionaire Bruce Wayne, owner of Wayne Enterprises. Batman has no superpowers, instead using resources such as his intellect, wealth, martial arts training, and various high-tech gadgets to protect himself and others from harm. Batman is also referred to as the Caped Crusader and the Dark Knight in later comics.
Batman wears a bat-themed suit of armor, with a mask that resembles a bat head. He also dons a bat-shaped symbol on his chest plate. The same symbol is used in the Bat-Signal, a searchlight that lights the shape of a bat in the sky when law enforcement needs Batman's help. Batman operates out of headquarters known as the Bat Cave, which he uses to keep an eye out for various supervillains, including his archenemy, the Joker. He is assisted by a variety of friends and sidekicks at times. Batman has undergone a number of transformations over the decades, and his story has been adapted into several successful films and other media.
Origins
Bob Kane came up with the idea for Batman, originally referred to as "the Bat-man," in the late 1930s. He shared his idea with his friend, comic strip writer Bill Finger. Originally, Kane's Batman wore brighter colors and a simple mask covering just his eyes. Finger suggested making the character darker, adding a bat wing–shaped cape and a hooded mask. Kane and Finger drew from a number of inspirations when crafting the Batman persona. Pulp fiction magazines of the 1930s, Sherlock Holmes stories, and films such as The Mark of Zorro (1920) all influenced the duo's vision.
Finger and Kane went on to create an intricate Batman universe that included sidekicks and villains, and Finger is credited with writing some of the most popular story lines. Though the pair's roles in the character's universe dwindled as the decades passed, Kane continued to receive a "created by" credit in many of the comics.
Early Era
Batman first appeared in an issue of National Publications' (the company that became DC Comics) Detective Comics in May of 1939. After garnering a fan base, the character earned its own comic, which first hit shelves in 1940. By this time, Batman was known for his characteristic utility belt, which held his boomerang-inspired "batarang." The 1940s also expanded on Batman's backstory as a billionaire orphaned as a boy when a mugger murdered his parents. This event motivated him to fight crime and injustice. Alfred Pennyworth, Wayne's devoted butler who raised him after his parents' death, is one of the few people to know Batman's true identity. Along with Commissioner Jim Gordon and several superhero counterparts, Batman battles a number of foes that threaten the well-being of the citizens of Gotham City. Wayne's wealth allows him to invent many gadgets that help him fight villains as Batman. He also rides around the city in the Batmobile and the Batplane, which are equipped with crime-fighting technology.
Pulp fiction heavily influenced the early Batman story lines, but writers eventually made the character more sentimental and introduced a young sidekick nicknamed Robin into the comics. The early solo comics were also noteworthy for introducing readers to two of Batman's most persistent adversaries, Catwoman and the Joker. Many more villains made their way into the Batman universe as time went on, including the Penguin, the Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Bane, and Harley Quinn.
Batman's storyline brightened in tone during the 1950s and 1960s. Kane and other Batman writers presented the Batwoman and Batgirl characters in the 1960s. The 1960s also had Batman join the Justice League of America, a superhero team created by DC Comics that included Superman and Wonder Woman among other heroes.
Batman's popularity began to wane in the mid-1960s, and the character was nearly eliminated from the DC universe. Editors decided to revamp the character's story and gave him an updated look. A Batman television series that debuted in 1966 helped to briefly revive the character's popularity, using a camp, comedic style. The series was short-lived, however, as was the comic's revival. Batman comic sales continued to decline throughout the 1970s and 1980s before American writer Frank Miller decided to take the character to darker territory in the mid-1980s.
The Dark Knight Returns and Beyond
Miller's The Dark Knight Returns incited a major resurgence in Batman's popularity. The comic book series told the story of a fifty-five-year-old Bruce Wayne who comes out of retirement to once again don the Batsuit. The darker Batman storyline persisted through the 1980s and 1990s, and a variety of writers added to the grimmer narrative. Alan Moore's 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke, which charted the origins of the Joker, was a critical sensation and became widely considered one of the best Batman stories ever created.
DC continued to build on the Batman narrative throughout the 2000s and 2010s, turning out a number of graphic novels and stand-alone story lines written by several respected comic writers, including Grant Morrison and Jeph Loeb. In 2011, DC Comics completely relaunched all of its superhero books with new number one issues in an attempt to attract new readers. The revamp included the Batman storyline, though a number of previously published story lines factored into the new issues.
Over the years other characters occasionally took the helm of Batman. However, Bruce Wayne remains the iconic version, even as his own depiction varied across different incarnations of the character. Key supporting characters also evolved; for example, the Robin alias moved from Dick Grayson to Jason Todd to Tim Drake, and later to others.
Film and Television Portrayals
The Batman television series that ran from 1966 to 1968 was the first notable live-action adaptation of the character. Starring Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin, it presented a comedic take on the franchise and became well known for its campy style. The show's theme song also became iconic.
The darker Miller and Moore comic book story lines of the 1980s greatly influenced the 1988 film adaptation Batman, directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton as the title character. The film spawned several sequels, though a variety of leading men filled in for Keaton in later films. After the fourth film in the series proved a commercial failure, director and screenwriter Christopher Nolan later rebooted the franchise with Batman Begins in 2005, starring Christian Bale. This was followed by two sequels, The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Again drawing from the darker Batman story lines of Miller and Moore, the rebooted franchise was a major critical and commercial success.
The live-action film version of Batman was rebooted again as Warner Brothers Pictures launched the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), a series of interconnected films based around various DC Comics characters. Ben Affleck played Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017), both of which received mixed to negative reviews from fans and critics and underperformed at the box office. An alternate version was portrayed by Robert Pattinson in The Batman (2022), which essentially rebooted the character once more and notably emphasized Batman's detective skills more than other film versions. It received mostly positive reviews and was a commercial success. Meanwhile, a young Bruce Wayne also appeared in the standalone film Joker (2019), a critical success that explores the origins of Batman's most iconic archenemy.
The great popularity of superhero media in the early twenty-first century led to several different Batman-related live-action television series, often separate from the DCEU continuity. Gotham (2014–19) focuses on a young Bruce Wayne before he becomes Batman. It also connected to the show Batwoman (2019–22). An older version of Bruce Wayne appears as a supporting character in Titans (2018– ), which features Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and other franchise stalwarts.
Batman was also featured in numerous animated films and series over the years. From the 1990s through the early 2020s dozens of animated works focused on or included the character, including Batman: The Animated Series (1992–95) and many other entries in the so-called DC Animated Universe, often voiced by Kevin Conroy. A different version of Batman also appeared in the acclaimed and successful The Lego Movie in 2014 and received a spinoff film, The Lego Batman Movie, in 2017.
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