This is a featured post from Jenni Henderson.
When artist Bob Kane and collaborator Bill Finger first spit-balled ideas for a new caped crusader to rival the iconic status of Superman, they could scarcely have imagined that eighty years down the line, their creation Batman would remain one of the world’s most popular superheroes – if not the most popular.
Let’s take a look at a few of the many areas of pop culture in which the Batman exudes a brooding and badass presence in the present day!
The Batman in comics
The purists out their still love Bruce Wayne’s complex alter-ego the most when he’s fighting his way through the pages of a DC Comics title. In these contemporary comics we see an even deeper darkness than the more recent Dark Knight cinema titles; more death, destruction, even the hero’s back being broken over the knee of a ruthless villain. Holy smokes! Recent series such as Batman R.I.P and Batman Incorporated have seen Batman travel through time, franchise the Batman identity and even get disintegrated down to a charred skeleton.
Clearly The Dark Knight’s comic book devotees are drawn to this kind of darkness like moths to a flame – the series remains one of the most enduringly popular and profitable arms of Brand Batman.
The leading man
The list of actors who’ve taken to the silver screen as The Dark Knight over the years reads pretty much like a dynastic family tree of Hollywood’s leading men, and the lineage shows no signs of stopping, with Ben Affleck controversially signed up for the forthcoming title Batman vs. Superman.
Some fans insist that the oldies are the real goodies of the bunch, favouring the ‘golden age’ influenced portrayals of the likes of Lewis Wilson and Adam West, later Val Kilmer and George Clooney. However, the incarnation of Batman which currently carries the most cultural clout is without a doubt that of Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan’s recent Dark Knight trilogy. These films will be remembered as much for Heath Ledger’s fantastic, horrifying turn as the Joker as they will for Batman’s own character, but nevertheless the films were important in transposing the more conflicted hero – already significantly developed in the comics – to the mainstream.
Batman, beyond comics and films
Brand Batman is a runaway success across a vast array of platforms. There are now Dark Knight video games, Batman costumes, dark knight slots, pretty much every type of merchandise imaginable… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Super-who?