“People can’t live as he does, they wouldn’t survive. I mean, even Superman needs someone to talk to … if only to let off steam, even just a little bit. A friend, confidant or ally. Someone. Otherwise, how can you handle it? How do you keep it from killing you from the inside out? Even excluding freaks like Joker and Ivy or criminals like Moxon. Evil is everywhere and every night he looks him in the eye. Abuse and murder, blood and violence. How can you not consume his soul? “
Yeah, how does it not consume his soul? What drives Gotham City’s most popular and prominent billionaire to wear the cape and armor every night to dispense justice on the streets of the darkest and most corrupt city in comic history? The truth is that there is no single answer, which makes the Batman figure one of the most fascinating, layered and multifaceted to ever appear in print (and, over the years, also in film and video games).
History, after all this time, we all know it. Since that cursed night in the dark alleys of Crime Alley, since the cold-blooded murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, something has broken in Bruce Wayne’s psyche: a pain so devastating that it spawns a deeply disturbed personality, a hooded Crusader who has l is the sole aim of eradicating the corruption that creeps into virtually every aspect of society. Because unlike the vast majority of cartoon characters born in that historical period, the Dark Knight is not a spotless hero but a tormented man, torn apart by an inner conflict that he knows he cannot solve but, at the same time, provided with a unshakable determination and the means necessary to subvert the status quo.
And perhaps this is precisely the secret of the character’s over-ten-year success. It is difficult, in fact, to think of identifying with an extraterrestrial in a blue and red costume capable of lifting a mountain, an Amazon warrior capable of flying and stopping bullets with his hands or a scarlet sprinter who can run so quickly that he can rewind the over time. The Dark Knight, on the other hand, is only a man. Gifted with extraordinary deductive skills and trained in practically all the arts of hand-to-hand combat, he is real, but still a man.
Where the DC comic universe is studded with semi-divine creatures capable of extraordinary feats, Batman is the embodiment of the pure will of the human being who, driven by a strong enough lens, can truly face any kind of danger, without ever folding. your head not even in the face of the most frightening of threats.
It is no coincidence, in fact, that the Justice League, the League of the most powerful beings on Earth, including Superman, Wonder Woman, the Lanterns, The Flash and Aquaman, is headed by the only member without any supernatural power, right? It was therefore inevitable that a character of such depth would become the object of desire for the experiments and reinterpretations of some of the most talented signatures of contemporary figurative art.
Do you want some examples? In the field of comics we have witnessed the advent of graphic novels of the caliber of ‘The Killing Joke’, born from the pen of Alan Moore, already creator, among other things, of real milestones in comics such as Watchmen or V for Vendetta. In the work, Moore and Bolland take on the difficult task of analyzing the complex relationship between Batman and his historical nemesis The Joker by dwelling on delicate issues such as mental illness and on how thin the line actually is that separates the Crusader from the insane Clown. A reading that we can only highly recommend to discover how fascinating the world of the Dark Knight can be.
Or, inevitable, there is the splendid ‘The Return of the Dark Knight’ of 1986, the majestic comic epic created by the legendary Frank Miller that is considered by many to be the true masterpiece of fiction dedicated to Batman. The creator of Sin City, 300 and many other highly prestigious comic books, imagines a decadent future in which Bruce Wayne has left the masked vigilante behind, plunging Gotham into a spiral of violence and crime. He is a man by now tired and disillusioned but, like all obsessions, even Batman’s cannot remain locked up in a dusty closet for long and, soon, Bruce will realize that, after all, the mask is the one he wears when not wanders the streets as the hooded Crusader.
It is a story that had a telluric impact on the characterization of the character from that point onwards as well as being an immovable cornerstone of pop culture: once again, in case you haven’t already read it, we can only advise you to recover it at all costs. .
And what about cinema? Also in the seventh art there have been numerous highly authorial reinterpretations of the character, starting from the one brought to the screen in the now distant 1943 with Lewis Wilson and Douglas Croft up to the modern (and frankly excellent) reading of Matt Reeves in The Batman with Robert Pattinson passing, of course, for the unforgettable Batman by Tim Burton with Michael Keaton, for the highly acclaimed Dark Knight trilogy curated by the award-winning director Christopher Nolan with Christian Bale but also for the less successful Batman & Robin by Joel Schumacher with George Clooney still causing us some thinking nightmares.
These are quite different visions of the character and his character traits that, over time, have sparked strong discussions among the ranks of fans around the world. There are those who prefer the more gothic and comic style adopted by Burton, those who prefer the more realistic interpretation chosen by Nolan and those who recognize in Reeves’ The Batman a more consistent rendering with the archetype of the character built over the last 70 years on the pages of the staples (there are also those who swear they loved Ben Affleck’s Batman that appeared in the ‘Snyderverse’ but that’s another story, ed).
It goes without saying that the world of video games has also welcomed various projects with the Bat as the protagonist, which we have already covered in a dedicated article (LINK: https://www.eurogamer.it/speciale-batman-migliori-videogiochi). Here too, unlike the other members of the Justice League and their incredible powers, Batman’s “limited” abilities and the undeniable aura of charm that permeates the streets of Gotham City, make him the ideal candidate to transpose into an interactive format ( the partial invulnerability of the Man of Steel, the unlimited potential guaranteed by the Speed Force of Flash or the semi-divine powers of Wonder Woman, in fact, do not marry well with the challenges that must be included in a video game to make it at least captivating).
Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham trilogy, which literally set a gold standard for any superhero-themed video game production on PC and console, has in all likelihood reached its peak. While waiting to play the interesting Gotham Knights or the explosive Rocksteady project dedicated to the Suicide Squad coming next year, we advise you to recover the three Arkhams at any cost, now available at prices within everyone’s reach in most of the stores, both physical and digital.
As we said at the beginning, the figure of Batman is among the most charismatic, enigmatic and fascinating in the entire history of American comics. An anti-hero with a deeply tormented psyche but moved by the noblest purposes of the human soul, a solitary Knight capable of putting aside his interests (and his physical integrity) to pursue an idea of justice that is perhaps utopian, perhaps imperfect but damn intriguing.
On the other hand, raise your hand if you can say that you have never dreamed of wearing armor and a cloak to look at the city from the top of some building.
#Special #Batman #including #comics #cinema #video #games