Batman
Jared Kircher
Origins
As a young child, Bruce Wayne, Batman, witnessed the death of his parents. They were murdered in an alley by a thief just looking for some money. Bruce swore to bring justice to his parents and from the age of eight he would dedicate the rest of his life to fighting crime. His costume came about from his childhood fear, bats. Bruce said that criminals were a cowardly and superstitious lot (Detective Comics 33). Wishing to share his fear he says, "My disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible... A Bat!" (Detective Comics 33)
Creation
The Batman character was created by two men, Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Bob Kane was and still is given all the credit for creating the character, but it was Bill who finalized and perfected the image. In a book written by Marc Nobleman quotes, "Bill Finger named Gotham city, he named Bruce Wayne. There are some who felt that his character was Birdman, It was Bill who said, 'Let's go with Batman' "(Nobleman 6). Bill is credited with 99% of credit from Nobleman on the character, but from a business viewpoint Bob sold it (Nobleman 9).
Villains
Batman has a plethora of villains he must battle. His most recurring foe is The Joker. In a Diary kept by Heath Ledger, an actor who portrayed the villain, he says, "He's just an absolute sociopath, a cold-blooded, mass murdering clown, and Chris has given me free rein. It's kinda fun because there are no real boundaries to what the Joker would say or do. Nothing intimidates him, and everything is a big joke," (Ledger 29). Soon after Ledger's untimely death the previous actor for the role, Jack Nicholson, says he warned Heath Ledger about the role (Nicholson 3).
Policies
Batman used to always kill in the "Original" Comics. He saw this as "a fitting end to their sort," (Detective Comics 27). This murdering version of Batman persisted until the author was forced to make a change that toned him down. But by going back and reading through those first couple years of Batman stories, it’s easy to see that this wasn’t the case at all. In reality this “original” version of Batman lasted about two years (Sims 6). In a comic Bruce himself responds to everyone's question, he doesn't kill because he fears if he goes down that road he may never come out.
Allies
Batman has worked with a number of friends and allies throughout his time as The Caped Crusader. The most famous, of course, is Robin. Robin is Batman's most trusted ally. The authors deemed Batman's comics too dark so they decided to kiddie up the story by adding a boy (Kane 2). Bill finger recalls that, "I found that as I went along, Batman needed a 'Watson' to talk to. That's how Robin came to be. Bob called me over and said he was going to put a boy in the comic to identify with Batman. I thought it was a great idea" (Finger 3).
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- "Jack Nicholson Warned Heath Ledger on 'Joker' Role." NY Daily News. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013.
- Staff. "Inside Heath Ledger's Private Diary: Batman Star's Heartbroken Father Shares Personal Notes from Joker Journal." Mail Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013
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