This article is about the various depictions of the fictional character Batman, the DC Comics superhero. For Batman's comic book depiction, see Bibliography of Batman titles.
Contents |
Theatrical movies
A number of Batman theatrical films have been made. There have also been several attempted projects during the hiatus between Batman & Robin and Batman Begins.
- 1943: Batman, 15-chapter serial starring Lewis Wilson as Batman and Douglas Croft as Robin.
- 1949: Batman and Robin, 15-chapter serial starring Robert Lowery and Johnny Duncan.
- 1966: Batman, feature film starring Adam West and Burt Ward.
- 1989: Batman, directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as the Joker.
- 1992: Batman Returns, directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman and Danny DeVito as the Penguin.
- 1993: Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, animated feature spun-off of Batman: The Animated Series.
- 1995: Batman Forever, directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Val Kilmer as Batman, Chris O'Donnell as Robin, Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian, Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face, and Jim Carrey as the Riddler.
- 1997: Batman and Robin, directed by Joel Schumacher and starring George Clooney as Batman, Chris O'Donnell as Robin, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze, Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl, and Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy.
- 2005: Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred, Gary Oldman as James Gordon, Liam Neeson as Ducard / Ra's Al Ghul and Cillian Murphy as the Scarecrow.
Upcoming:
- The Dark Knight, announced sequel to Batman Begins, set to star Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent and Heath Ledger as the Joker.
- Batman 3
Direct-to-video
- 1998: Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, based on Batman: The Animated Series.
- 2000: Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, based on Batman Beyond.
- 2003: Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, based on Batman: The Animated Series.
- 2005: The Batman vs. Dracula, based on The Batman.
Upcoming:
- Justice League: The New Frontier based on DC: The New Frontier mini-series
- Batman: Gotham Knight, a anime-styled movie set between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
Television
Live action
- 1966 - 1968: Batman starring Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin.
- 1972: "Equal pay" Public Service Announcement featuring Dick Gautier as Batman and Burt Ward and Yvonne Craig as Robin and Batgirl.
- 1979: Legends of the Superheroes by Hanna Barbera, featuring West and Ward as Batman and Robin.
- 2001: "OnStar" commercials featuring Bruce Thomas as Batman and Michael Gough as Alfred, and followed the visual style of the 1989-1997 film series.
- 2002: Birds of Prey, TV series that featured Batman in the first episode, played by Bruce Thomas.
Bruce Wayne
In 1999, Tim McCanlies wrote a pilot script and series bible for a planned series called Bruce Wayne. Taking place in his teenage years, the series would cover his passage into young adulthood, training, and development into becoming Batman. Other characters would include Alfred, Sergeant Jim Gordon, law school student Harvey Dent, and a seductive young Selina Kyle. Planned to run for five to six seasons, it would show how he acquired his martial arts skills, his equipment, and detective abilities he would use in his war on crime. It would also focus on corruption within the board of Wayne Enterprises (an element which found its way into Begins to some extent), police affliation with the mafia, etc. Bruce Wayne was nearing pre-production when Warner Bros. movie division felt it would conflict with the planned Year One movie and scrapped it. The result was Batman Begins.
Smallville
The producers of Smallville wanted to get a teenaged Bruce Wayne onto the show as a recurring character acting as a friend and foe to Clark Kent, while being a potential love interest to Lana Lang. Scripted as being two years younger than Clark, the young Wayne was wandering around America trying to find his purpose in life and training in martial arts. His main story arc was to be involved in a feud with Lex Luthor over Lexcorp and Lionel Luthor's rivalry with Wayne Enterprises. Alfred Gough and Miles Millar had stated as far back as Season One that they would love to have the pre-Batman on the show. Due to legal issues and the production of Begins, the planned idea was cut from the drawing board. Ian Somerhalder was cast as a stranger named Adam Knight (named based on Adam West and The Dark Knight) who served as a boyfriend for Lana in at least seven episodes. This was in response to the plans of Wayne coming undercover to Smallville while investigating Luthor. However, in 2007, Gough stated that while it is impossible to get Wayne on the show, "there are other characters out there we can exploit."
Animated
- 1968 - *1969: The Batman/Superman Hour by Filmation
- 1969: Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder by Filmation, repackaged from previous show.
- 1972: The New Scooby-Doo Movies produced by Hanna-Barbera - Batman and Robin appeared in episodes "The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair" (9/16/72) and "The Caped Crusader Caper" (12/16/72).
- 1973 - 1985: Various Super Friends series produced by Hanna-Barbera.
- 1977: The New Adventures of Batman by Filmation
- 1992 - 1995: Batman: The Animated Series / The Adventures of Batman & Robin by Warner Bros.
- 1997 - 1999: The New Batman Adventures by Warner Bros.
- 1999 - 2001: Batman Beyond, by Warner Bros. Known as Batman of the Future in Europe and Latin America.
- 2001 - 2006: Justice League / Justice League Unlimited by Warner Bros.
- 2004 - (present): The Batman by Warner Bros.
- 2008: Batman: Gotham Knight, anime tie in to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
He also appeared in episodes of Superman: The Animated Series: World's Finest, Knight Time and The Demon Reborn, although in Knight Time he appeared as Bruce Wayne. Since 1997, Warner Bros. has released the entire run of Batman: The Animated Series on video (both VHS, DVD) where Kevin Conroy voices of Batman. There are four volumes total, covering both Batman: The Animated Series and Batman: Gotham Knights (Also known as The New Batman Adventures). Three volumes complete the Superman animated series, and both seasons of Justice League have been released as well, along with all 3 seasons of Batman Beyond. Comic writer Mark Millar wrote in 2004 about a failed attempt by director Orson Welles about a Batman project with himself as both director and title character. Although it has been long since proven to be a work of fiction, it is partially based on a previous Welles to adapt The Shadow onto the big screen.
Newspaper
From 1943 to 1946, Batman and Robin appeared in a syndicated daily newspaper comic strip produced by the McClure Syndicate. Other versions appeared in 1953, 1966, and 1989. The original run is collected in the book Batman: The Dailies. One more comic strip series ran briefly after the success of the 1989 film.
Books
Batman is also slated to appear in a novel by cyberpunk/horror novelist John Shirley, entitled Batman: Dead White from Del Rey books. Many other novels and short story collections featuring Batman have been published over the years, including novelizations of each of the recent movies and several of the more popular comic book arcs. There are also several more scholarly works, aimed at either Batman's history or art, such as Les Daniels' and compilations such as Batman: Cover to Cover : The Greatest Comic Book Covers of the Dark Knight. In 2004 The Batman Handbook: The Ultimate Training Manual, written by Scott Beatty was published by Quirk Books (ISBN 1-59474-023-2). Written in the same style as The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook series, the book explained the basics on how to be Batman. Amongst the skills included in the book are "How to Train a Sidekick", "How to Execute a Backflip", "How to Throw a Grappling Hook" and "How to Survive a Poison Gas Attack". Finally, there are of course countless sticker, coloring, activity, and other children's books [1] featuring the Dark Knight.
Radio
Beginning in March 1945, Batman and Robin made regular appearances on the The Adventures of Superman radio drama on the Mutual Broadcasting System. Efforts were made to launch a Batman radio series in 1943 and again in 1950, but neither came to fruition.
Musical theatre
While a parody of a Batman musical was featured in one of the most recent series' comics, in 2002, Jim Steinman, David Ives, and Tim Burton had worked on a theatre production called Batman: The Musical although it was ultimately cancelled. Steinman has recently revealed five songs from the musical. The first is the opening theme for "Gotham City" and the entry of Batman with his tortured solo "The Graveyard Shift"; followed by "The Joker's Song (Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?)", "The Catwoman's Song (I Need All The Love I Can Get)", "We're Still The Children We Once Were" (the climactic sequence) and "In The Land Of The Pig The Butcher Is King", sung by the corrupt blood-suckers ruling Gotham, recently covered on the Meat Loaf album Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose. These songs can be heard at the Batman: The Musical memorial site, Dark Knight of the Soul A Batman musical is also parodied in the animated series Batman Beyond. The episode "Out of the Past," (first aired October 21, 2000) opens with Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis attending a performance of (a fictional)Batman: The Musical, featuring caricatures of prominent members of the Rogues Gallery (Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn). Series creator Paul Dini, who wrote the episode in question, also wrote a song for the fictitious musical entitled "Superstitious and Cowardly Lot." An episode of the sketch comedy show Mad TV also featured a Batman: The Musical parody
Video games
Several Batman video games were created:
- Batman for the ZX Spectrum, MSX and Amstrad PCW in 1985. Now known as Batman 3D.
- Batman: The Caped Crusader for various 8-bit and 16-bit platforms.
- Batman for Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Atari Lynx, Commodore Amiga, Sinclair ZX Spectrum and other platforms. (In October 1989, the Amiga 500 was bundled with this game as part of the Batman Pack [2], which was sold in the United Kingdom and was a phenomenal success).
- Batman: Return of the Joker for Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Game Boy.
- Batman Returns for Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super Nintendo (Super NES), Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Sega Game Gear, and Atari Lynx.
- Batman: The Animated Series for Game Boy.
- for Game Gear.
- Adventures of Batman & Robin for Super Nintendo (Super NES), Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis, Sega CD, and Game Gear.
- Batman Forever for Super Nintendo (Super NES), Game Boy, Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis, and Sega Game Gear.
- Batman Forever: The Arcade Game for Arcade, Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn.
- Batman & Robin for the Tiger Game.com and the Sony PlayStation.
- for Game Boy Color.
- Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker for the Nintendo 64 and the PlayStation.
- Batman: Vengeance for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, PC, and the Xbox.
- Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu for the PlayStation 2, PC, Xbox, the GameCube and Game Boy Advance.
- Batman: Dark Tomorrow for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube
- Batman Begins for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and Game Boy Advance (2005).
Batman appears in Justice League Task Force Super Nintendo fighting game, a couple of Justice League games for Game Boy Advance, and an arcade game based on Tim Burton's original movie. Also, the 16-bit Sega game The Revenge of Shinobi features a (non-authorized) Batman as boss. He appears in the Justice League Heroes game for PS2, Xbox, and PSP.
Games, action figures, and other toys
Batman is one of the few fictional characters that can be defined by his toys and merchandising. The first boom started in 1966 during the hit television series, and since then, along with every major movie or cartoon series has come a wave of toys, collectibles, and just about any other merchandise imaginable. Over the years, hundreds of Batman action figures, die-cast models, and other miscellaneous items have reserved the store shelves. Of the many companies that have acquired the rights to make Batman merchandise, some of the most well known include:
- Ideal - Captain Action
- Mego - Action figures and dolls
- Corgi - Die-cast metal vehicles
- Remco - Playsets and roleplaying toys
- Toy Biz - Action figures
- Ertl - Die-cast figures & vehicles and model kits
- Applause - PVC figures and dolls
- Hasbro - Action figures
- Monogram - Bobble heads
- Mattel - Action figures and jigsaw puzzles
- Lego - Building bricks and minifigures
Batman has appeared as a HeroClix figure along with other Batman characters in the following HeroClix sets:
For April 2006, Lego introduced a Batman line which also includes characters such as the Joker and Two-Face, at American International Toy Fair.
Theme park attractions
Several Six Flags theme parks, formerly owned by Warner Brothers, opened live-action "Batman Stunt Shows" as the movies increased in popularity. Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey is home to a looping, suspended roller coaster named "Batman: The Ride" (Six Flags Saint Louis has the same ride, as does Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois) as well as twin roller coasters named "Batman and Robin: The Chiller." On the latter attraction, riders may ride on either the Batman or Robin versions of the coaster. Six Flags Over Georgia contains a Gotham City area that contains the same "Batman: The Ride" and also features a looping coaster called "The Mindbender" that was adapted to fit the color tone of The Riddler after Batman Forever came out to fit the Gotham City section of the park it shares with "Batman: The Ride". Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California has two Batman-themed coasters, the suspended coaster "Batman: The Ride," and "The Riddler's Revenge," a stand-up type roller coaster. This Six Flags park also features an entire themed area called "Gotham City" complete with architecture to match that of the fictional Gotham City. Warner Bros. Movie World in the Gold Coast, Australia, also has two Batman-themed rides. Batman Adventure - The Ride, revamped in 2001, is a motion simulator style simulator ride while Batwing Spaceshot is a vertical free-fall ride.
External links
- Warner Bros. official Batman.com
- Batman Begins official site
- The New Batman Adventures — Official Warner Bros. site
- Batman: The Animated Series — Official site
- Batman Beyond — Official site
- Dark Knight of the Soul (Batman: The Musical Memorial) — Collects all known information about this canceled project, as well as Steinman's demo recordings
- Batman Films and TV series at The Internet Movie Database
- Encyclopedia of Television
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| Creators | Bob Kane · Bill Finger · Other writers and artists |
| Supporting characters | Robin (Tim Drake) · Nightwing (Dick Grayson) · Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) · Batwoman · Alfred Pennyworth · Lucius Fox · Barbara Gordon · Commissioner Gordon · Harvey Bullock · Azrael · Huntress |
| Villains | Bane · Catwoman · Clayface · Harley Quinn · Joker · Killer Croc · Mad Hatter · Mr. Freeze · Penguin · Poison Ivy · Ra's al Ghul · Red Hood (Jason Todd) · Riddler · Scarecrow · Talia al Ghul · Two-Face · Ventriloquist |
| Locations | Arkham Asylum · Batcave · Gotham City · Wayne Enterprises · Wayne Manor |
| Equipment | Batarang · Batmobile · Batcycle · Batsuit · Utility Belt |
| Miscellanea | Publications · Storylines · Alternate versions of Batman · Batman in popular media |
