Explaining the Batman
This post was inspired by a recent chat session I had with a couple of friends. It is amazing what Nolan, Goyer and company have done with Batman Begins. It has created interest in people to explore the mythology that is the Batman. This post hopes to bring an understanding of the Batman Mythology for the lay.
A Wee Bit of Bat-History
The Batman was first created in 1939 by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. He was a dark legendary figure. Even then, his history was his parents met a tragic end and was the impetus of how he became the legendary Batman. Over the years, this origin had not changed, even during the “campy” years of the 1950s and well into the 60s. For a more in depth take on this history, please refer to this wiki.
In 1986, DC Comics, had rebooted their universe. They recreated icons, Superman, Wonder Woman and all the rest. But they had a problem. The Batman's legend as created by Finger and Kane was already perfect! What it did lack was some depth, some detail. Enter a creator named Frank Miller.
Frank Miller was a gifted creator. He had done a spectacular Daredevil run. He created a fan favorite character--- Elektra and was the author of her own death. By this point in history he had also already written the saga called “The Dark Knight Returns” which was the Batman's last adventure.
Enter Frank Miller, he was to retouch the Batman's origins for DC Comics. What happened afterwards was a spectacular mini-series run that would be called Batman: Year One. It of course incorporated the elements of Kane's Batman. For nearly twenty years now, Batman: Year One was the foundation upon which our era's Batman is based upon and draws inspiration from.
Tragic Beginnings
Bruce Wayne is a tragic figure. Orphaned at a very young age (eight/nine in most accounts), he was a lost boy since then. He was the little prince of Gotham, royalty as close at it ever could be for an American. He was heir to a vast fortune, from a family that had created Gotham itself. Yet here he was, just a boy, the last sole surviving progeny of all that Gotham was. All he had left was a gentleman's gentleman who had been entrusted to care for him long before he lost his parents.
Being brought up to be succeed one's father is bad enough. Being groomed to be king, immensely more challenging. Having to be both and something more without a mother and father, is a weight beyond measure, in the real world or in the fictional genre of the Batman.
Brilliant and talented, Bruce Wayne sought to make sense of the world. In every history, Bruce Wayne already knew what he wanted to do: make sure that what happened to his parents, never did again for anybody else. He traveled the world, in search of knowledge. He was a skilled martial artist. He was a skilled detective. He was a skilled scientist. He trained his mind, his body into the peak of human perfection.
In canon, Bruce Wayne traveled to Asia, spent years there learning more skills. His Master Kirgi, would later give him a choice: spend the next 20 years forgetting the violence that had marked him or leave. He found himself in Gotham.
The first night out, Bruce Wayne was a failure. Bleeding to death Wayne returned to the Manor, hoping to die. Then a Bat fell into his family library where he was and he knew how to bring fear into the hearts of criminals. He would become fear itself. He would become the Batman.
Batman Begins in Bat-Lore
The history of the Batman is a tale woven by many generations. It adapts itself to the times but every generation adds a richness to the story itself, making it greater. Should it every become canon, the movie Batman Begins, builds on sixty years of history adds to the profusion of this history.
Take Ra's Al Ghul for instance. He was a creature created in the 1970s. He is a “modern” creation by a man called Denny O'Neil. He was, I believe the perfect reflection of the Batman. Ra's Al Ghul is the Anti-Batman.
Ra's Al Ghul is a terrorist when he was created. He still is. He is human, yet Ra's has lived for centuries through what he calls, the Lazarus Pit. It is a bath, a product of Alchemy some say that when immersed in it, will give a person new life but at a cost. You become slightly crazy with each immersion.
Ra's believes in both canon and movie, that the world needs to be purged of the infection of humanity. He seeks to bring balance to the world by bring about the destruction of our time's civilization and a return to simpler and more balanced living. Shrewd and calculating, his methods are manipulation of people to achieve his end goal. He is a master of theatrics and deception.
In canon, Ra's Al Ghul employs hundreds of agents, the League of Assassins. He is rich beyond imagination. He has in his employ his own cadre of gentleman's gentleman called the Tribe of Ubu.
When he was created, Ra's Al Ghul had a daughter. She was Talia and though by circumstance, fell in love with the Batman and he, though in denial, feels something as well. It is a fact in canon that only Talia Al Ghul calls the Batman, “beloved”. She lives in both his world as the adventurer Batman and in the world of business, having been given the position of Chief Executive Officer of Lex Luthor's LexCorp when the latter was elected President of the United States.
The movie, Batman Begins has a Ra's Al Ghul. He was Bruce Wayne's last teacher before assuming “the Mantle of the Bat”. It was Ra's in Batman Begins who taught him how to be ninja. He taught Bruce Wayne how to master his fear, how to face it. He taught him the art of theatrics and deception.
In Batman Begins, Lucious Fox was the scientist who worked in Applied Sciences. He would later be promoted by Bruce Wayne to become Chief Executive Officer of his company, the guy who runs the daily operations of Wayne Enterprises. The starling difference in the comics and in the movie is that Fox, suspects or has a faint idea who Batman is. In the comics, he does not.
The character of James Gordon, though not entirely explored in the movie was it was in Year One (though it is understandable, I mean, the story is “Batman Begins” and not “Gordon Begins”), is yet another example of how the movie adds to the fullness of the story. James Gordon in the movies, as in the comics starts off as the honest cop in the street. Yet as honest as he is, James Gordon does not and has never “ratted” out his fellow officers. He just doesn't take their bribes and things like that. The movie adds to this by bring to light this side of James Gordon. He is the symbol of the honest people in Gotham, a patriot.
The Rogues Gallery
Part of the success of the Batman is the depth of his Rogues Gallery as much as the depth of his supporting cast.
Of all the heroes, perhaps save, the Flash, the Batman's rogues is as well known as he is. They are diverse characters themselves. Each can stand alone but shines themselves. They have for example also clashed with other heroes in the DC Universe and stood just as tall as their nemesis.
For a list of the members of his rogues gallery and links to topics concerning them, please refer to this wiki.
The Women in Bruce Wayne's Life
No post of this magnitude is ever complete without at least touching the loves of Bruce Wayne. We won't study them in depth--- there are just too many but we will touch on the movie's love interest.
Rachel Dawes (though I personally think they should have named her Rachel Dawson) is a new character to the Batman mythology. As a friend of mine pointed out, she's like Lana Lang (from the Superman Mythology) crossed with Silver Saint Cloud (from the 70s Batman).
Let me explain.
Lana Lang in the reworked 80s history of Superman was the girl who grew up with Clark Kent. She was the childhood sweetheart. She knew him as Clark and as “superman” long before Lois Lane coined the “S” Term. She was also the girl, who Clark Kent out grew later in life.
Silver Saint Cloud was this woman who discovered that Bruce Wayne was Batman. Now, she wasn't as smart as Lois Lane (who took sixty plus years and Clark had to remove the glasses to find out who Superman really was) being just an ordinary girl who just happened to figure out her boyfriend's nocturnal adventures by a matter of deduction.
All three women would walk away from the loves of their lives. Bruce Wayne didn't even have to push Rachel or Silver away, they'd do it themselves.
The many loves of Bruce Wayne's life include such characters as Talia Al Ghul, Lois Lane (from the animated series and some minor hints re: Lee and Loeb's Hush), Selina Kyle (Catwoman, she's good now, sort of), Barbara Gordon (only in the Bruce Timm animated series), Wonder Woman (in both comics and in the cartoons), Vicky Vale (journalist), Vesper Fairchild (who died so that Batgirl's dad and Lex Luthor could get even with Bruce, its a long story), and Sasha Bordeaux. And if I forgot anybody, please feel free to add to the list, as it is a substantial list.
It is of important note that Talia Al Ghul and Bruce Wayne have an out-of-continuity-son Ibn al Xu'ffasch. In pre-Crisis (DC Universe reboot in the mid-1980s)era, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle had a daughter named Helena Wayne who became the Huntress in the Silver Age of Comics. Like Ibn, Helena Wayne does not exist in current DC Continuity.
Who is Batman?
We finally get to the part where we talk about, who is Batman?
You see, the Batman is many things to people. As the animated series episode, “The Legend of the Batman”, tells us, each kid tells a different “Batman” story. Yet each incarnation of the Batman fits in their understanding of him.
The Batman could be that campy 50s/60s character that Adam West portrayed. He could be saying puns like “holy robins!” or having “pow”, “bam” printed across the screen or comic every time he hit a guy.
The Batman like that episode properly depicted, could be this huge man, driving a tank. He was lord of Gotham. He could be menacing, fighting of mutant gangsters, just as Frank Miller imagined in “The Dark Knight Returns”.
The Batman could be the detective. He solved crimes, as was popularized in the 70s. He is the World's Greatest Detective.
The Batman could also be the urban myth or the general commanding his franchise of costumed vigilantes, protecting Gotham (and sometimes the world) from crime (and the forces of evil). He could also be the strategist, the brains behind the Justice League, commanding in the shadows, using only his keen intellect lead the league towards victory. He could also be like James Bond, with all the cool gadgets and vehicles the car that the women love.
Though if you were like me, he'd be all of those things (except that campy 50s/60s style) and he is more.
“Bruce” is the public face of the Batman. He is this rich, stupid, spoiled playboy who dates movie stars and buys things that are not for sale. He is a mask, the real mask.
The Batman, is a frightening creature. He is primal, he is an element that lives in darkness. The Batman strikes fear in the hearts of those who prey on the fearful. He is an ideal. He is an all powerful symbol, as the movie, Batman Begins aptly refered to, "that the good people can rally behind of".
It is a common and often times understandable mistake that “Bruce Wayne” is mixed with “the Batman”. Noticed that I made a distinction between “Bruce Wayne”, “Bruce” and “The Batman”? Because they are three elements but there is only one true face. That is “Bruce Wayne”.
“Bruce Wayne” is the genius who expanded his family's already vast wealth into an empire that spans the globe. In current canon, Wayne Enterprises has interests in Technology, in Real Estate, in Communications. They even “own” Batman's old outfit, the “Outsiders” and his wards' the “Teen Titans”, providing for their resources through a series of corporations. It caused quite a stir with his adopted son.
"Bruce Wayne" is a warrior and an "aristocrat" as equal to Wonder Woman.
It is “Bruce Wayne” who solves mysteries, and challenges the norm. It is “Bruce Wayne” under the guise of the Batman who employs “theatrics and deception” as weapons. It is he who can think two steps ahead of just about everybody, even Lex Luthor. It is “Bruce Wayne” who developed a vast array of technology.
I submit, “The Batman” as he is depicted is a mask and that the real man, the real person is “Bruce Wayne”.
“Bruce Wayne” is always pictured as cold and calculating. He is heartless, he is cruel, he dumps women, even a Wonder Woman. No one could be that dumb. But who can understand his reasons, for a genius and for all his will, it is the heart he could never control. Perhaps it is because, "Bruce Wayne" is filled with so much heart. He acknowleges that "it never forgets" (see Rucka's OMAC #2).
Amanda Waller (in the Justice League Unlimited episode, “Epilogue”) was right in her analysis. The Batman may be the warrior who exercised his will above all others, who did what had to be done. But he was a man who used the vast powers of his intellect, as much as he did his human heart. Two steps ahead of everybody else, even a Superman, Bruce Wayne always figured out the best way out of a solution and employed everything to accomplish that. At the crux of every choice, is the core of Bruce Wayne's moral compass, his beliefs as his parents taught him and a heart that rivals Superman's.
What is Bruce Wayne but a testament: the pinnacle of human achievement, of the perfection of body and mind and the will to overcome tragedy and a heart so filled with compassion, of love, of understanding of his fellow beings?
What is the Batman but a means to protecting people? It is an extension and embodiment of Bruce Wayne's will to help people and like no other character in history, does it from the darkness so perfectly, he does not fall into it.
As the world will always need a Batman, he is different to every person and every age. The Batman will forever be an extension of the person behind that cowl.
Beyond the mask, the cool toys, the car, the butler and the beautiful women, how does one best construe “The Batman”? It was the Rachel Dawes character who gave us the ultimate answer. (In fact, I believe that the whole movie of Batman Begins fails without her character simply because she is the key.) “It is not who we are in the inside that matters. It is what we do”. That's Bruce Wayne. That's Batman.
links of interest
How the Batsuit Works
Being Batman
The Batman Wiki Page
Beyond Flight and Tights
A Wee Bit of Bat-History
The Batman was first created in 1939 by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. He was a dark legendary figure. Even then, his history was his parents met a tragic end and was the impetus of how he became the legendary Batman. Over the years, this origin had not changed, even during the “campy” years of the 1950s and well into the 60s. For a more in depth take on this history, please refer to this wiki.
In 1986, DC Comics, had rebooted their universe. They recreated icons, Superman, Wonder Woman and all the rest. But they had a problem. The Batman's legend as created by Finger and Kane was already perfect! What it did lack was some depth, some detail. Enter a creator named Frank Miller.
Frank Miller was a gifted creator. He had done a spectacular Daredevil run. He created a fan favorite character--- Elektra and was the author of her own death. By this point in history he had also already written the saga called “The Dark Knight Returns” which was the Batman's last adventure.
Enter Frank Miller, he was to retouch the Batman's origins for DC Comics. What happened afterwards was a spectacular mini-series run that would be called Batman: Year One. It of course incorporated the elements of Kane's Batman. For nearly twenty years now, Batman: Year One was the foundation upon which our era's Batman is based upon and draws inspiration from.
Tragic Beginnings
Bruce Wayne is a tragic figure. Orphaned at a very young age (eight/nine in most accounts), he was a lost boy since then. He was the little prince of Gotham, royalty as close at it ever could be for an American. He was heir to a vast fortune, from a family that had created Gotham itself. Yet here he was, just a boy, the last sole surviving progeny of all that Gotham was. All he had left was a gentleman's gentleman who had been entrusted to care for him long before he lost his parents.
Being brought up to be succeed one's father is bad enough. Being groomed to be king, immensely more challenging. Having to be both and something more without a mother and father, is a weight beyond measure, in the real world or in the fictional genre of the Batman.
Brilliant and talented, Bruce Wayne sought to make sense of the world. In every history, Bruce Wayne already knew what he wanted to do: make sure that what happened to his parents, never did again for anybody else. He traveled the world, in search of knowledge. He was a skilled martial artist. He was a skilled detective. He was a skilled scientist. He trained his mind, his body into the peak of human perfection.
In canon, Bruce Wayne traveled to Asia, spent years there learning more skills. His Master Kirgi, would later give him a choice: spend the next 20 years forgetting the violence that had marked him or leave. He found himself in Gotham.
The first night out, Bruce Wayne was a failure. Bleeding to death Wayne returned to the Manor, hoping to die. Then a Bat fell into his family library where he was and he knew how to bring fear into the hearts of criminals. He would become fear itself. He would become the Batman.
Batman Begins in Bat-Lore
The history of the Batman is a tale woven by many generations. It adapts itself to the times but every generation adds a richness to the story itself, making it greater. Should it every become canon, the movie Batman Begins, builds on sixty years of history adds to the profusion of this history.
Take Ra's Al Ghul for instance. He was a creature created in the 1970s. He is a “modern” creation by a man called Denny O'Neil. He was, I believe the perfect reflection of the Batman. Ra's Al Ghul is the Anti-Batman.
Ra's Al Ghul is a terrorist when he was created. He still is. He is human, yet Ra's has lived for centuries through what he calls, the Lazarus Pit. It is a bath, a product of Alchemy some say that when immersed in it, will give a person new life but at a cost. You become slightly crazy with each immersion.
Ra's believes in both canon and movie, that the world needs to be purged of the infection of humanity. He seeks to bring balance to the world by bring about the destruction of our time's civilization and a return to simpler and more balanced living. Shrewd and calculating, his methods are manipulation of people to achieve his end goal. He is a master of theatrics and deception.
In canon, Ra's Al Ghul employs hundreds of agents, the League of Assassins. He is rich beyond imagination. He has in his employ his own cadre of gentleman's gentleman called the Tribe of Ubu.
When he was created, Ra's Al Ghul had a daughter. She was Talia and though by circumstance, fell in love with the Batman and he, though in denial, feels something as well. It is a fact in canon that only Talia Al Ghul calls the Batman, “beloved”. She lives in both his world as the adventurer Batman and in the world of business, having been given the position of Chief Executive Officer of Lex Luthor's LexCorp when the latter was elected President of the United States.
The movie, Batman Begins has a Ra's Al Ghul. He was Bruce Wayne's last teacher before assuming “the Mantle of the Bat”. It was Ra's in Batman Begins who taught him how to be ninja. He taught Bruce Wayne how to master his fear, how to face it. He taught him the art of theatrics and deception.
In Batman Begins, Lucious Fox was the scientist who worked in Applied Sciences. He would later be promoted by Bruce Wayne to become Chief Executive Officer of his company, the guy who runs the daily operations of Wayne Enterprises. The starling difference in the comics and in the movie is that Fox, suspects or has a faint idea who Batman is. In the comics, he does not.
The character of James Gordon, though not entirely explored in the movie was it was in Year One (though it is understandable, I mean, the story is “Batman Begins” and not “Gordon Begins”), is yet another example of how the movie adds to the fullness of the story. James Gordon in the movies, as in the comics starts off as the honest cop in the street. Yet as honest as he is, James Gordon does not and has never “ratted” out his fellow officers. He just doesn't take their bribes and things like that. The movie adds to this by bring to light this side of James Gordon. He is the symbol of the honest people in Gotham, a patriot.
The Rogues Gallery
Part of the success of the Batman is the depth of his Rogues Gallery as much as the depth of his supporting cast.
Of all the heroes, perhaps save, the Flash, the Batman's rogues is as well known as he is. They are diverse characters themselves. Each can stand alone but shines themselves. They have for example also clashed with other heroes in the DC Universe and stood just as tall as their nemesis.
For a list of the members of his rogues gallery and links to topics concerning them, please refer to this wiki.
The Women in Bruce Wayne's Life
No post of this magnitude is ever complete without at least touching the loves of Bruce Wayne. We won't study them in depth--- there are just too many but we will touch on the movie's love interest.
Rachel Dawes (though I personally think they should have named her Rachel Dawson) is a new character to the Batman mythology. As a friend of mine pointed out, she's like Lana Lang (from the Superman Mythology) crossed with Silver Saint Cloud (from the 70s Batman).
Let me explain.
Lana Lang in the reworked 80s history of Superman was the girl who grew up with Clark Kent. She was the childhood sweetheart. She knew him as Clark and as “superman” long before Lois Lane coined the “S” Term. She was also the girl, who Clark Kent out grew later in life.
Silver Saint Cloud was this woman who discovered that Bruce Wayne was Batman. Now, she wasn't as smart as Lois Lane (who took sixty plus years and Clark had to remove the glasses to find out who Superman really was) being just an ordinary girl who just happened to figure out her boyfriend's nocturnal adventures by a matter of deduction.
All three women would walk away from the loves of their lives. Bruce Wayne didn't even have to push Rachel or Silver away, they'd do it themselves.
The many loves of Bruce Wayne's life include such characters as Talia Al Ghul, Lois Lane (from the animated series and some minor hints re: Lee and Loeb's Hush), Selina Kyle (Catwoman, she's good now, sort of), Barbara Gordon (only in the Bruce Timm animated series), Wonder Woman (in both comics and in the cartoons), Vicky Vale (journalist), Vesper Fairchild (who died so that Batgirl's dad and Lex Luthor could get even with Bruce, its a long story), and Sasha Bordeaux. And if I forgot anybody, please feel free to add to the list, as it is a substantial list.
It is of important note that Talia Al Ghul and Bruce Wayne have an out-of-continuity-son Ibn al Xu'ffasch. In pre-Crisis (DC Universe reboot in the mid-1980s)era, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle had a daughter named Helena Wayne who became the Huntress in the Silver Age of Comics. Like Ibn, Helena Wayne does not exist in current DC Continuity.
Who is Batman?
We finally get to the part where we talk about, who is Batman?
You see, the Batman is many things to people. As the animated series episode, “The Legend of the Batman”, tells us, each kid tells a different “Batman” story. Yet each incarnation of the Batman fits in their understanding of him.
The Batman could be that campy 50s/60s character that Adam West portrayed. He could be saying puns like “holy robins!” or having “pow”, “bam” printed across the screen or comic every time he hit a guy.
The Batman like that episode properly depicted, could be this huge man, driving a tank. He was lord of Gotham. He could be menacing, fighting of mutant gangsters, just as Frank Miller imagined in “The Dark Knight Returns”.
The Batman could be the detective. He solved crimes, as was popularized in the 70s. He is the World's Greatest Detective.
The Batman could also be the urban myth or the general commanding his franchise of costumed vigilantes, protecting Gotham (and sometimes the world) from crime (and the forces of evil). He could also be the strategist, the brains behind the Justice League, commanding in the shadows, using only his keen intellect lead the league towards victory. He could also be like James Bond, with all the cool gadgets and vehicles the car that the women love.
Though if you were like me, he'd be all of those things (except that campy 50s/60s style) and he is more.
“Bruce” is the public face of the Batman. He is this rich, stupid, spoiled playboy who dates movie stars and buys things that are not for sale. He is a mask, the real mask.
The Batman, is a frightening creature. He is primal, he is an element that lives in darkness. The Batman strikes fear in the hearts of those who prey on the fearful. He is an ideal. He is an all powerful symbol, as the movie, Batman Begins aptly refered to, "that the good people can rally behind of".
It is a common and often times understandable mistake that “Bruce Wayne” is mixed with “the Batman”. Noticed that I made a distinction between “Bruce Wayne”, “Bruce” and “The Batman”? Because they are three elements but there is only one true face. That is “Bruce Wayne”.
“Bruce Wayne” is the genius who expanded his family's already vast wealth into an empire that spans the globe. In current canon, Wayne Enterprises has interests in Technology, in Real Estate, in Communications. They even “own” Batman's old outfit, the “Outsiders” and his wards' the “Teen Titans”, providing for their resources through a series of corporations. It caused quite a stir with his adopted son.
"Bruce Wayne" is a warrior and an "aristocrat" as equal to Wonder Woman.
It is “Bruce Wayne” who solves mysteries, and challenges the norm. It is “Bruce Wayne” under the guise of the Batman who employs “theatrics and deception” as weapons. It is he who can think two steps ahead of just about everybody, even Lex Luthor. It is “Bruce Wayne” who developed a vast array of technology.
I submit, “The Batman” as he is depicted is a mask and that the real man, the real person is “Bruce Wayne”.
“Bruce Wayne” is always pictured as cold and calculating. He is heartless, he is cruel, he dumps women, even a Wonder Woman. No one could be that dumb. But who can understand his reasons, for a genius and for all his will, it is the heart he could never control. Perhaps it is because, "Bruce Wayne" is filled with so much heart. He acknowleges that "it never forgets" (see Rucka's OMAC #2).
Amanda Waller (in the Justice League Unlimited episode, “Epilogue”) was right in her analysis. The Batman may be the warrior who exercised his will above all others, who did what had to be done. But he was a man who used the vast powers of his intellect, as much as he did his human heart. Two steps ahead of everybody else, even a Superman, Bruce Wayne always figured out the best way out of a solution and employed everything to accomplish that. At the crux of every choice, is the core of Bruce Wayne's moral compass, his beliefs as his parents taught him and a heart that rivals Superman's.
What is Bruce Wayne but a testament: the pinnacle of human achievement, of the perfection of body and mind and the will to overcome tragedy and a heart so filled with compassion, of love, of understanding of his fellow beings?
What is the Batman but a means to protecting people? It is an extension and embodiment of Bruce Wayne's will to help people and like no other character in history, does it from the darkness so perfectly, he does not fall into it.
As the world will always need a Batman, he is different to every person and every age. The Batman will forever be an extension of the person behind that cowl.
Beyond the mask, the cool toys, the car, the butler and the beautiful women, how does one best construe “The Batman”? It was the Rachel Dawes character who gave us the ultimate answer. (In fact, I believe that the whole movie of Batman Begins fails without her character simply because she is the key.) “It is not who we are in the inside that matters. It is what we do”. That's Bruce Wayne. That's Batman.
links of interest
How the Batsuit Works
Being Batman
The Batman Wiki Page
Beyond Flight and Tights
posted by Cocoy at
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
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