He wasn't bitten by a radioactive spider. He didn't originate from another planet. And yet, Batman has managed to maintain a devoted audience for nearly a century.Joining The Colin McEnroe Show, two comic experts explained Batman's enduring power in the entertainment industry, and why filmmakers continue to make adaptations of the series.
“Superman is an ideal,” said Glen Weldon, the author of The Caped Crusader: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture. “He’s unrealistic. I could never be him. But I could be Batman. You or I could be Batman. And I would point out to [fans] that he does have a super power: his wealth.” And viewers, Weldon said, have a deeper connection to Batman than other superheroes because of that wealth -- a core value of the American dream.
Batman's character has evolved since the comic's original publication in the 1940s. In the 1966 movie adaptation, actor Adam West re-worked the character's dark humor to be quirkier and more family-oriented, to the displeasure of the fans of the darker Batman comics. But the Batman franchise's ability to change with the times allowed it to become a cultural staple, according to Mitch Hallock, creator and owner of Connecticut’s Comic Con.
"He has always been a mirror to what’s happening in society, and no other character I can think of in the comic book industry has really played that role except Batman," Hallock said. "He’s changed like a chameleon decade after decade.”
Marvel writer Dennis O’Neill explored Batman's altruistic motivations in the 1990s -- inspired by a 1939 comic panel he found that shows Bruce Wayne making an oath to protect citizens from the pain of losing a parent.
“That, I think, is key – it’s not vengeance he’s seeking, it’s not a vendetta,” Weldon said. “He is dedicating himself to something beyond him and bigger than him. It’s an act of self-rescue, but it’s also, and this is key, an obsession.”
“Batman v Superman” opens on March 25.
Karelyn Kuczenski is an intern at WNPR.
