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It’s been close to 90 years since Gotham City’s caped crusader first appeared, but to be fair, Bruce Wayne doesn’t look a day over… hey, it’s hard to tell when he’s running around in the shadows during the wee hours of the morning. (Now we know why he’s so fond of being the Dark Knight, I guess.) With close to a century of crimefighting under his utility belt, however, it can be pretty hard for newcomers to get into Batman… but that’s why we’re here.

It’s a busy world, and you don’t have time to read, watch, or even listen to everything that’s out there. Sometimes, all you need is a cheat sheet to help you with the basics. That’s exactly what you’re about to read: a quick, no-nonsense guide to Batman and his extensive mythos. Want to learn everything you need to about DC’s Batman? We’ve got it all for you in four easy steps... but we've also included some extra-credit FAQs at the end to help broaden your horizons.

The Pitch: Who is Batman?

The meaning of Batman is something that has been discussed, studied, and dissected on a regular basis for decades at this point, as is only befitting a pop culture icon. At its core, though, the idea behind Batman is incredibly simple: he’s an idealized human at the peak of human fitness and ability, honed through years of training with one mission — to fight crime and prevent anyone from suffering the same loss that he did as a kid, when a mugger killed his parents. Everything else, including his secret identity of billionaire Bruce Wayne, his extended family of sidekicks and other Bat-themed colleagues, and his amazing rogues gallery, is just gravy. Batman is, in every incarnation, a story about someone being the best they can be to stop other people hurting.

Suddenly it’s pretty clear why he’s survived for so long, isn’t it?

The Backstory: Where did Batman come from, and why should we care about the Dark Knight?

Co-created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in 1939, Batman was one of the biggest breakout characters from the initial comic book boom in the United States in what has since become known as the “Golden Age,” an era that basically coincided with the Second World War. Between the melodramatic derring-do of the stories and the undeniable visual appeal of his costume, Batman didn’t just flourish in comic books, but beyond: he starred in movie serials, television series, and feature films within a handful of decades of his creation, becoming arguably the first comic book hero to transcend the medium he was created for. Such is the success of Batman outside comics, in fact, that it’s very possible for generations of fans to consider themselves Batman die-hards without ever having picked up a comic book in their lives.

Inside the comic medium, however, Batman holds particular significance: it’s not just that he’s been a constant presence in comic books for the past nearly-nine decades, but that his comic books have proven significant to the medium and the industry on more than one occasion. Writer/artist Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns in 1986 helped herald in the “adult superhero” schtick that has remained a mainstay of the business ever since, for example, while 1989’s Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #1 introduced the concept of “variant covers” to an industry that has come to rely upon that idea to maintain sales from that point onwards.

Today, Batman is at the heart of parent company DC’s plans in every arena, whether it’s comic books, movies — Batman: The Brave and the Bold has already been announced as being in development for the big screen as part of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios slate — or beyond. You have checked out the official DC Batman merch store, haven’t you…?

The Essential: What is the one key Batman story to understand the character?

If you’re just going to go for one Batman story, then let it be a classic: 1987’s Batman: Year One is a revisionist take on the character’s origin story from writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli that is grounded, expansive — it’s also an origin story for Catwoman, Batman’s on-again, off-again love interest, and Commissioner Gordon, his best friend and trusted confidant — and centered around an emotional story that is easy to understand and appreciate from even the most suspicious of the superhero genre. (That it has some beautiful artwork from Mazzucchelli and colorist Richmond Lewis helps considerably.) Everything you need to know about Batman is in here, even if some of the character’s most famous villains are not. At least the Joker gets a mention.

For those who truly can’t handle a comic book, the storyline was adapted into an animated movie in 2011; it also heavily influenced the 2022 live-action movie The Batman.

The Takeaway: Why does Batman stand out?

Batman may not have the godlike super powers of his fellow Justice League member Superman, nor the mythical heritage of Wonder Woman, but he’s still managed to become one of the defining pop culture creations of the past century. Chalk it up to the human need to appreciate stories where the bad guys get what’s coming to them married to the unending appeal of both a great design — never underestimate the power of a good silhouette, with those ears and that cape! — and the opportunity to go just a little bit over the top in the name of a fun, gothic yarn.

(Plus, you know, everyone has had that entirely unrealistic thought at least once that they could be Batman if only they’d started training early enough. We can’t discount the wish-fulfillment appeal of the hero. Everyone wants to look that good in cape and cowl.)

Extra credit question #1: What is Batman's Full Name?

While I really want to joke that Batman's full name is The Batman — he can go either way on the definitive article, it seems — the true answer to this is Bruce Thomas Wayne. His middle name comes from his father.

Extra credit question #2: How many actors played Batman?

Batman has been portrayed by 31 actors in movies and television. In terms of live action Batmen, the line-up looks like this:

• Lewis Wilson (1943’s Batman movie serial)
• Robert Lowery (1949’s Batman and Robin movie serial)
• Adam West (1966’s Batman movie and TV show)
• Michael Keaton (1989’s Batman, 1992’s Batman Returns, 2023’s The Flash)
• Val Kilmer (1995’s Batman Forever)
• George Clooney (1998’s Batman & Robin, 2023’s The Flash)
• Christian Bale (2005’s Batman Begins, 2008’s The Dark Knight, 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises)
• David Mazouz (2014’s Gotham TV show)
• Ben Affleck (2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, 2016’s Suicide Squad, 2017’s Justice League, 2021’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League, 2023’s The Flash)
• Mikhail Mudrik (2019’s Gotham TV show finale, uncredited)
• Iain Glen (2019’s Titans season 2, 2020’s Titans season 3)
• Kevin Conroy (2019’s Crisis on Infinite Earths)
• Robert Pattinson (2022’s The Batman)

When it comes to animation, we're looking at the following line-up:

• Olan Soule (1968’s The Adventures of Batman and The Batman/Superman Hour, 1973’s Super Friends, 1977’s The All-New Super Friends Hour, 1978’s Challenge of the Superfriends, 1979’s The World’s Greatest Super Friends, 1980’s Super Friends)
• Adam West (1977’s The Batman/Tarzan Hour and The New Adventures of Batman, 1984’s Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, 1985’s The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, 2016’s Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, 2017’s Batman vs. Two-Face)
• Kevin Conroy (1992’s Batman: The Animated Series, 1993’s Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, 1997’s The New Batman Adventures, 1998’s Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, 1999’s Batman Beyond, 2000’s Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, 2003’s Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, 2008’s Batman: Gotham Knight, 2009’s Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, 2010’s Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, 2014’s Batman: Assault on Arkham, 2016’s Batman: The Killing Joke, 2017’s Batman and Harley Quinn)
• Rino Romano (2004’s The Batman, 2005’s The Batman vs. Dracula)
• Diedrich Bader (2008’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold, 2018’s Scooby Doo!/Batman: The Brave and the Bold)
• Bruce Greenwood (2010’s Batman: Under the Red Hood, 2018’s Batman: Gotham by Gaslight)
• Ben MacKenzie (2011’s Batman: Year One)
• Peter Weller (2012’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1, 2013’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2)
• Troy Baker (2013’s Lego Batman: The Movie - DC Super Heroes Unite, 2014’s Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered, 2015s Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League, Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League - Attack of the Legion of Doom, 2016’s Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League - Cosmic Clash, Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Gotham City Breakout, 2018’s Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash, Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman - Rage of Atlantic, 2019’s Lego DC Batman: Family Matters, 2019’s Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 2020’s Lego DC: Shazam! - -Magic and Monsters, 2022’s Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons, 2023’s Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, Part Two, 2024’s Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths)
• Anthony Ruivivar (2013’s Beware The Batman)
• Will Arnett (2014’s The Lego Movie, 2017’s The Lego Batman Movie, 2019’s The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part)
• Jason O’Mara (2014’s Son of Batman, 2015’s Batman vs. Robin, 2016’s Batman: Bad Blood, 2019’s Batman: Hush)
• Roger Craig Smith (Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts, 2015’s Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem, 2016’s Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants, 2018’s Batman Ninja)
• David Giuntoli (2021’s Batman: Soul of the Dragon, 2023’s Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham)
• Jensen Ackles (2021’s Batman: The Long Halloween)
• Ethan Hawke (2022’s Batwheels)
• Luke Wilson (2023’s Merry Little Batman)
• Hamish Linklater (2024’s Batman: Caped Crusader)

Extra credit question #3: Who killed Bruce Wayne's parents?

The identity of the killer of Bruce Wayne's parents has occasionally shifted depending on the version of the story being told — in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie, it was Jack Napier, who'd later become the Joker, for example — but traditionally, that dubious honor falls to Joe Chill, a mugger who happened to be in the right place at the wrong time. (Again, this has also changed in various retcons; in one, he was an assassin hired to kill the Waynes. It always re-asserts back to his being a simple mugger, however.)

Extra credit question #4: Who trained Batman?

No one person trained Batman. Part of the core Batman mythos is that Bruce Wayne spent years traveling the world, tracking down experts in different fields to learn from them. Perhaps the most well-known of those experts was Henri Ducard, a French detective who would continue to cross paths with Batman in subsequent years in comic books and other media; he even showed up in one form in 2005's Batman Begins as a nom-de-plume for Liam Neeson's Ra's Al Ghul. 

Extra credit question #5: What are Batman's super powers?

In theory, Batman has no superpowers, and is simply the most highly-trained human being imaginable. As 2017's Justice League put it, however, his true super power is that he's rich. After all, surely that would have to be the case for someone planning on traveling around the world to train with the best of the best to become a crimefighter?

He is vengeance, he is the night, he is... one of Popverse's favorite subjects. Learn how to do a Dark Knight movie marathon right with our Batman movie guide, and for the true World's Greatest Detectives out there, dive deep into the heart of Gotham City by getting to know Batman with Popverse.