Batmen

The Dark Knight Rises is currently doing blockbuster business across the country -- the film pulled in $160 million during its opening weekend, the biggest opening ever for a non-3D film (and the third-biggest opening weekend of all time across the board). But with the character's career spanning over seventy years, the Dark Knight film trilogy is hardly the first time that the Caped Crusader has been front and center in the pop culture limelight. What's more, the darker, gritty overtones of Christian Bale's portrayal of Batman may be faithful to how the character was originally conceived -- but it's hardly the only interpretation of the character to prove popular.

Pulp Fiction: 1939 - 1940s

The "Bat-Man" was the creation of artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger (and we've already mentioned the confusion surrounding exactly who came up with which parts of the character's origin and backstory). Seeped in the pulp detective lore of the day, the Batman was heavily inspired by characters like the Shadow (another black-cloaked crimefighter popular in the 1930s). When Batman burst onto the scene in 1939, he was intended to be a darker fictional counterpart to the first "modern-day" superhero, Superman. 

Camp Batman: 1950s - 1960s

In 1954, Fredric Wertham published his now-infamous book Seduction of the Innocent. It argued, among other things, that comic books were to blame for the corruption of American children. Comic books sales, which had been so popular only a decade before, began to plummet -- and the industry, in an attempt to boost sales, began turning to lighter, quirkier stories than their previous fare.

The 50s and 60s saw Batman abandon his pulp-fiction detective roots for adventures rooted in sci-fi and fantasy. Instead of the streets of Gotham City, Batman patrolled through space and time, battling aliens and dinosaurs more often than the traditional criminal element. 

The zaniness reached its peak in 1966, when Batman came to television with Adam West in the title role (and Burt Ward starring as Robin). This was camp at its campiest, with an array of famous guest stars -- including Burgess Meredith, Julie Newmar, Cesar Romero, and Eartha Kitt -- causing mayhem on the streets of Gotham City. There were high hopes for the show's success, but no one could have predicted the sheer phenomenon the show became. Kids loved it legitimately, college students loved it ironically -- and Batman was popular precisely because of the show's campy ridiculousness. 

But the show only lasted three seasons, and when it was over, sales of the Batman comic book -- which had been boosted by interest in the show -- began to fall again. For Batman to recover, the character would need to be reinvented once more.

Return of the Dark Knight: 1970s - 1980s

Creators like Neal Adams and Denny O'Neil had already begun to write Batman stories that were more gritty urban stories and less campy science fiction, strengthening sales and returning the character to his darker noir roots. And then, in 1986, came the publication of Frank Miller's four-issue miniseries, The Dark Knight Returns. This was a story that was grim even by Batman's standards, telling a what-if tale about a futuristic Bruce Wayne who must come out of retirement to fight not just his old foes, but a completely corrupted society.

The story is regarded as a seminal Batman tale, one that many fans list as one of the all-tine great graphic novels. Others argue that the story -- which paints Batman in an almost fascist light -- misses the point of the character. (I fall into the latter category myself!) But regardless of opinion, the book did have one inarguable effect: the campy days of Batman were over -- for now.

On Screen: 1989 - 1990s

The first Batman movie to have a major director and established stars (Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader, and Jack Nicholson as the Joker), Tim Burton's Batman was released in 1989 and grossed $251 million in the US alone. And after the sequel, Batman Returns, was released in 1992, Batman returned once more to the television screen -- in the Emmy-winning cartoon series Batman: The Animated Series. The films and the animated series were both wildly popular, offering audiences a darker Dark Knight -- if not as grim as Miller's Batman in The Dark Knight Returns, then at least a far cry from Adam West's campy portrayal in the 60s show.

When Burton left the big screen Batman franchise, Warner Brothers brought in director Joel Schumacher to replace him. Schumacher's Batman Forever and Batman and Robin aren't so much terrible films (though fans will tell you otherwise) as they are a return to Batman's campy days. But Batman fans and casual moviegoers alike weren't so interested in a campy Batman anymore, and when the fourth movie brought in disappointing box office returns, the franchise was put on hiatus.

Bale & Nolan: 2005 - Today

When director Christopher Nolan took over the Batman franchise in the new millennium, he was relatively new to the movie making scene. But Warner Brothers' gamble paid off, and Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy has become one of the most popular (and highest-grossing) film trilogies of all time.

The films are touted as creatively inspired and ultra-realistic -- well, as realistic as one can get when telling a story about a guy who dresses up like a bat to fight crime. But if ever a superhero movie strove for gritty realism, it's these films. All traces of camp are gone, and the science fiction element is restricted to technological gadgets and not much else. Yet beyond the dark overtones, director Nolan, writing partners David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan, and star Christian Bale used characters, archetypes, and a mythos seventy years in the making to tell one overarching story of hope and redemption.

Warner Brothers is already making plans to reboot the franchise within several years, and Batman continues to get new adventures every month in the pages of his various comic books. And, as a major Batman fan myself -- who was thrilled with The Dark Knight Rises -- I've still no qualms with seeing where a new filmmaker might take the character next. Because the truth is, with a character this long-lasting, there's plenty of room for everyone's version of Batman.

Yes. Even Joel Schumacher's.

-- Post by Ms. B