Bruce Wayne: "Criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot, so my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible... a... a..."Caption: "As if in answer, a huge bat flies in the open window!"Bruce Wayne: "A bat! That's it! It's an omen... I shall become a BAT!"
Batman was created by Bob Kane and debuted in 1939 in Detective Comics #27. DC Comics, a Time Warner Company, currently owns the rights to Batman.
Batman is probably the most well-known superhero of all time, after Superman. He is notorious, not for spiffy, superhuman powers, but for ingenious gadgets (Baterang, Batmobile, Bat-Shark-Repellant, etc.) and keen intellect.
Batman's most famous partner is Robin. There have actually been three different Robins. The first, Dick Grayson, went on to become Nightwing. The second, Jason Todd, was killed by the Joker in Batman #428. The third, Tim Drake, is still currently serving as the Boy Wonder.
The list of supervillains encountered by Batman includes:
In 1998 Batman took on as apprentice Jean Paul Valley, also known as the assassin Azrael. When Batman was defeated by Bane (Batman #500), Valley masqueraded as Gotham's Dark Knight. Valley eventually sank into insanity under the pressures of defending Gotham. A recuperated Bruce Wayne defeated Valley in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #63, wresting from him the Mantle of the Bat.
At the same time, Sunsoft developed a Sega Megadrive game based extremely loosely on the film. This was successful in Japan, but of course did not reach any other territory in time to cash in on the film or its subsequent video release. The game was still heavily in the 8-bit / PC Engine school of game design. Elements are lifted from Bionic Commando, Ninjawarriors, and Shinobi. This game, although fairly unremarkable in itself, was the first of a protracted series of Batman-based games, each developed by different companies but retaining the same basic premise. The caped crusader was repeatedly called into action throughout the Megadrive's evolution : Sega's in-house Batman Returns (which spawned an enhanced Mega-CD version), Acclaim's Batman : Revenge of The Joker, a very poor Batman Forever tie-in, and the sublime Adventures of Batman and Robin, which also appeared on the SNES, and was developed by Clockwork Tortoise.
"I'm of a mind to make some mooky."
Directed by Tim Burton, this Warner Brothers film replaced America's memory of the campy Caped Crusader from the 60's TV show with a dark, brooding antihero, just in time for the angsty 90's. This tonal shift was inspired by Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (the flashback sequence in which Bruce Wayne's parents are murdered is lifted almost panel for panel) in which Batman has become an ultraviolent behemoth at the age of fifty, and diehard comic fans were aghast at the casting of Michael Keaton in the lead role. The uproar died down considerably after these people actually saw the film.
However, far more fun to root for is Jack Nicholson as the villainous Joker. He paints his name on famous works of art, he wears any garish combo of green, purple, and orange he can imagine, and he grooves to the fantastic soundtrack by Prince. Never before has megalomanical sadism been so hilariously charismatic.
Great in smaller roles are Billy Dee Williams as District Attorney Harvey Dent (the character who becomes Two-Face in Batman Forever), Robert Wuhl as plucky yet virginal reporter Alexander Knox-- basically a substitute Jimmy Olsen, and Jack Palance (before his Academy Award for City Slickers) as slimy crime boss Carl Grissom. Kim Basinger (who would also later win an Oscar for LA Confidential) is here too, as Vicky Vale, who technically is a talented fashion and news photographer, but really she's just the pretty chick who is frequently in peril. She screams a lot.
The screenplay by Sam Hamm and Warren Skarren does a great job of catering to Batman aficionados and newbies by never explicitly revealing Wayne's secret identity in a single moment. They just draw closer and closer to it until you can figure it out for yourself (before, say, Vicky does) and if you already knew, no time was wasted. The dialogue is consistently inventive and fun, while remaining idiosyncratic for each well-drawn character.
If you still need an incentive to see this flick, Batman also has more groovy gadgets than James Bond, from batarangs to the Batmobile to grappling hooks. As the Joker says, "Where does he get those wonderful toys?" This movie is for the kid in all of us.
Tim Burton followed up with a sequel, Batman Returns, in 1991. Joel Schumacher directed two more which were much more colorful and campy, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, neither of which Michael Keaton wished to play the title role in.
Deh neh neh neh neh neh neh neh - BATMAN!
POW!
BAM!
OOMPH!
SPLAT!
What follows is a listing of "villains", some memorable, some not, and the actor/actress, some famous, some not, who portrayed them.
The Archer - Art Carney - better known as Ed Norton from The Honeymooners The Black Widow - Tallulah Bankhead The Bookworm - Roddy McDowall Catwoman 1 - Julie Newmar Catwoman 2 - Eartha Kitt Chandell - Liberace The Clock King - Walter Slezak Colonel Gumm - Roger C. Carmel Dr. Cassandra - Ida Lupino Egghead - Vincent Price False Face - Malachi Throne The Joker - Cesar Romero King Tut - Victor Buono Lola Lasagna - Ethel Merman Louie the Lilac - Milton Berle Lord Marmaduke Frogg - Rudy Vallee Ma Parker - Shelly Winters Marsha, Queen of Diamonds - Carolyn Jones The Mad Hatter - David Wayne Minerva - Zsa Zsa Gabor Mr. Freeze 1 - George Sanders Mr. Freeze 2 - Otto Preminger Mr. Freeze 3 - Eli Wallach Nora Clavicle - Barbara Rush Olga, Queen of the Cossacks - Anne Baxter The Penguin - Burgess Meredith The Puzzler - Maurice Evans The Riddler 1 - Frank Gorshin The Riddler 2 - John Astin - also was Gomez Addams from The Addams Family The Sandman - Michael Rennie Shame - Cliff Robertson The Siren - Joan Collins Zelda The Great - Anne Baxter
In between some rounds the game shifts to a first-person behind-the-wheel mode as the player takes control of the Batmobile and the Batwing. The object in these levels is to shoot the enemy vehicles and, in the Batwing levels, to snag The Joker's Smilex-gas-filled balloons for bonus points.
What makes this game shine are the graphics and audio. Batman is a large, well colored sprite and the world he inhabits is, without arguement, Tim Burton's Gotham City. Dark colors abound with little bits of Joker orange and green for color. Between rounds still scenes from the film are shown in amazing detail, including a close-up of Jack Nicholson as The Joker and Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne. The music is based on tunes from the movie (excluding Prince's soundtrack) and characters speak digitized sound bites from the film, including "The pen is mightier than the sword!" and "Wait 'til they get a load of me."
Overall Batman is a fun waste of an hour. It's difficult to find the game in the arcades these days, but it is fully emulatable in MAME if you can find the romset. Where does he get those wonderful toys, anyway?
Note: There used to be a lot of writeups at the node Batman is over-rated, but they all died painful, painful deaths. This writeup shall attempt an actual analysis of the issue, with words from both the Pro- and Anti-Batman factions.
1. Batman doesn't have any superhuman powers. Batman, Bruce Wayne, used his tremendous wealth to construct things like the Batcave and to build an armored suit with fully equipped utility belt. He uses them to fight crime.
Anti-Batman: Batman isn't really a superhero. Batman got to his station in life and society as a rich man, and how did he get rich? By building the massive wealth of the Wayne Corporation on the backs of the workers. Now he's using those riches to build some armored suit, get a lot of gadgets, and engage in questionable relationships with teenage boys. There's no reason to revere this man as a hero.
Pro-Batman: The fact that Batman doesn't have any powers is what makes him such an intriguing character. Batman was an ordinary kid until seeing his parents gunned down, and he decided to become an effective crimefighter. That's the classical story of heroism, a change of heart that leads the protagonist to do good things for the remainder of their life.
2. The class of villains which Batman has to defeat is different from that of many other heroes. Batman traditionally battles homicidal maniacs rather than superpowered foes. Not always true, but frequently true.
Anti-Batman: The only villains that Batman has to face are other ordinary people. They don't even have the equipped Batman suits and whatnot; very few of them even have gizmos! What this comes down to is that Batman beats up on these poor guys in suits, runs them over with Batcycles and throws them back in Arkham Asylum. If I had an armorized battle suit, I'm sure that I could beat up these emaciated loonies too.
Pro-Batman: The villains that Batman has to face show real dedication to their murders. Batman, as a detective
