The CREATION AND ORIGIN OF BATMAN
Batman is a classic. Children and adults across the world know who he is. Children and adults dress up like him for Halloween. We have pop culture references to him and his adventures. The movies, old and new, are popular and loved. But where did he come from, and why was he made a superhero?
Batman was born as Bruce Wayne, the son of a wealthy man and a loving mother in fictional Gotham City, a poor and mostly impoverished place. After seeing a play in the city, Bruce Wayne’s parents were murdered in front of him in cold blood by a petty thief and his life is forever changed. At his parents grave, he promises to fight against injustice as a whole and to help Gotham City. As a teenager, he travels the world becoming experienced for the future, and returns to Gotham City to fight crime with his skills.
Batman is a hero of DC Comics, and was created shortly after the popularity of the well-known Superman. In fact, it was because of this popularity that DC comics started looking for a new hero in 1939 that would be just as popular as Superman- because they saw the opportunity to create more because of Superman’s popularity. Bob Kane was the original designer of Batman, and Bill Finger was the main writer. Because of the time of its creation, (early 1940’s) Batman was heavily influenced by the culture and issues of the time. At the time of creation, WWII had started and the Great Depression had only recently ended, and this created perfect conditions for Gotham City and a moral, justice-seeking hero to be created and become influential. Batman was also influenced by popular movie story lines of the 1930’s that made his creation seem more familiar and less alien.
The name Bruce Wayne was drawn from famous characters in history. Both of these people were revolutionaries and caused great change in the places they lived, which makes Bruce Wayne symbolic of the change that people desired in that time period, and also in Gotham City which was very corrupted.
So the base reason that Batman/ Bruce Wayne was created? Because he was an inspiring figure in the lives of ordinary people who wanted some hope during a time of darkness in the U.S.- and because the superhero era had been introduced, and everyone loved it.
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Batman was born as Bruce Wayne, the son of a wealthy man and a loving mother in fictional Gotham City, a poor and mostly impoverished place. After seeing a play in the city, Bruce Wayne’s parents were murdered in front of him in cold blood by a petty thief and his life is forever changed. At his parents grave, he promises to fight against injustice as a whole and to help Gotham City. As a teenager, he travels the world becoming experienced for the future, and returns to Gotham City to fight crime with his skills.
Batman is a hero of DC Comics, and was created shortly after the popularity of the well-known Superman. In fact, it was because of this popularity that DC comics started looking for a new hero in 1939 that would be just as popular as Superman- because they saw the opportunity to create more because of Superman’s popularity. Bob Kane was the original designer of Batman, and Bill Finger was the main writer. Because of the time of its creation, (early 1940’s) Batman was heavily influenced by the culture and issues of the time. At the time of creation, WWII had started and the Great Depression had only recently ended, and this created perfect conditions for Gotham City and a moral, justice-seeking hero to be created and become influential. Batman was also influenced by popular movie story lines of the 1930’s that made his creation seem more familiar and less alien.
The name Bruce Wayne was drawn from famous characters in history. Both of these people were revolutionaries and caused great change in the places they lived, which makes Bruce Wayne symbolic of the change that people desired in that time period, and also in Gotham City which was very corrupted.
So the base reason that Batman/ Bruce Wayne was created? Because he was an inspiring figure in the lives of ordinary people who wanted some hope during a time of darkness in the U.S.- and because the superhero era had been introduced, and everyone loved it.
Back to Batman
Sources