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What Is The History Of Batman, And Why Does He Still Appeal?

independent.co.uk — From the start, Batman was unlike other heroes. His rivals, Superman and Spider-Man, are festooned in the primary colours of the American flag, whereas Batman dresses in dark blues and blacks. And no other superhero has a story quite as bleak

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  • jaypooner, on 07/22/2008, -13/+18two words = bat nipples
    • hydroplane, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1Not my diagnosis.
    • WELLDOITLIVE, on 07/23/2008, -3/+1That bitch on the right in the yellow shirt just pointed at me, *****
  • Ghoztt, on 07/23/2008, -22/+47STOP IT WITH THE MILLION+ BATMAN STORIES ON DIGG.
    Man...
  • jankind, on 07/23/2008, -19/+10You ***** nerds have killed any desire I had to see this movie. Enough already. Buried.
    • Halgy, on 07/23/2008, -0/+6Your loss. I'll see it again to make up for you.
  • Khast, on 07/23/2008, -1/+22Without reading the article, basing off the title.

    I think the reason Batman appeals is for a super hero, he really doesn't have any super powers, just a lot of intuition, and gadgets. (Therefore, asside from the gadgetry (which some can be improvised with household goods.) he is just an ordinary person.)
    • RobotLeAwesome, on 07/23/2008, -1/+4Billionaire ≠ ordinary person.
      • Renian, on 07/23/2008, -0/+12I think by "ordinary person" he means "mere mortal." No superpowers.
      • RobotLeAwesome, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4You've apparently never worked with a billionaire, nothing about them is really anything less than super – they can do what they want, when they want, how they want and not worry about any of it.
      • sadisticmind, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2@ RobotLeAwesome
        i cant even imagine that. is that sad or normal?
      • RobotLeAwesome, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2I don't know to be honest – all I know is that working with someone like that was completely surreal, the dude might as well be ***** magic.
    • TinternAbbot, on 07/23/2008, -1/+7I identify more with Peter Parker, whose insecurities and self doubt are his biggest opponent, than I do with billionaire Bruce Wayne.
      • MavRevMatt, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1Yeah but have you been bitten by a Spider and can swing around your city?

        Ah, didn't think so.
      • prophetpimp, on 07/23/2008, -1/+2Peter Parker is a whinny little bitch and i hate the fact that his enemies aren't really evil but were forced to do bad things. Thats total bull crap. for once he should face a real villian whose heart is as cold as Mr Burns.
    • Halgy, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4The thing about Batman is that even though he is a billionaire, his money can't buy him happiness and security him and his friends. Yes, he is a playboy, but he risks his life of luxury to defend the common folk who can't defend themselves.

      Consider: If you were a born billionaire, you would never fight crime and risk your life; you would sit in your mansion and eat caviar and play polo.
      • RobotLeAwesome, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1I'd buy your house and give it to Mexicans.
  • nypix, on 07/23/2008, -7/+2Batman, swinging on a rubber band, batman.

    Superman, kicked him in a garbage can, batman
    • Feanor, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1In The Dark Knight Returns, Batman is the only person to have ever beaten Superman.
  • dangermouse4, on 07/23/2008, -7/+27Jeez people, can we chill with all the effin' batman stories? How about a few more Obama or iPhone stories instead?
    • RobotLeAwesome, on 07/23/2008, -3/+10Ron Paul.
    • santaliqueur, on 07/23/2008, -11/+2Do you not understand that Batman stories are popular lately because of the movie? Stop getting so pissed for no ***** reason.
  • nicenerd, on 07/23/2008, -12/+7Buried for being a batman story. Seriously guys, move on.
  • mandarin, on 07/23/2008, -8/+6Clark Kent = Peter Parker. Both with powers and both having doubts about themselves.
    They also have ***** personalities.
  • RobotLeAwesome, on 07/23/2008, -0/+10Well he'll probably appeal because being guilty of assault looks bad.
    • asianvietboy, on 07/23/2008, -0/+0Wow, when does being accused make you automatically guilty? Probably just a family dispute, but who knows and who care.
      • RobotLeAwesome, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1Wow, when does duh der de deduuuuh dumb duh der daaaa...

        that's you.
  • AbsurdParadox, on 07/23/2008, -7/+2Iron Man = Batman^10
    • arjie, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2Okay, so Batman was 8 when his parents died. So that's 100b, and 10d is 1010b. So Batman ^ 10d = 0100b ^ 1010b = 1110b = 14d

      So Iron Man = 14!
  • LilJimmyNordin, on 07/23/2008, -3/+32"Why does he still appeal?"

    I dunno, is there some court decision he's trying to get overturned?

    Crappy English FTL.
  • vinceislegend, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1He has a history of ass-kickery, and he still appeals because he kicks ass. It really is as simple as that.
  • 32bytes, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1Who could resist this music?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDc-1zfffMw
  • Magic0, on 07/23/2008, -3/+1this story won't get over 500 diggs
  • Azzi26, on 07/23/2008, -2/+1To all the people complaining about batman stories....how the hell do you expect to come on digg and not see on the front page...i mean really...its digg. If you don't want to see it go elsewhere.
  • ShawnIsCool, on 07/23/2008, -1/+9Batman was influenced by another masked vigilante. In 1919, Zorro was born. Since men during this period of time worked in highly industrial areas, and had little to no literacy, cheap little booklets with mostly illustrations had been highly popular. This led to the modern day comic book, and in turn influenced all the superheroes and comic books made to this day. Zorro represents most of Batman's beliefs and ideologies, it's rather interesting.

    FYI, if you never realized - Bruce Wayne's parents had been watching The Mask of Zorro the night they had been murdered. Good to see the director introduced this little bit to show the roots of Batman.
    • honthraj, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1Excellent Observation which had been duly incorporated into the Batman story -

      In the comic book, Dr. and Mrs. Wayne were leaving a showing of the Douglas Fairbanks movie, the Mark of Zorro when they were killed by Joe Chill.



  • aserer511, on 07/23/2008, -5/+2What Is The History Of Batman, And Why Does He Still Appeal?

    independent.co.uk — From the start, Batman was unlike other heroes. His rivals, Superman and Spider-Man, are festooned in the primary colours of the American flag, whereas Batman dresses in dark blues and blacks. And no other superhero has a story quite as bleak More… (Movies)
    25 Comments Share
    Bury
    OptionalDuplicate Story Spam Wrong Topic Inaccurate OK, This is Lame
    Favorite? maingmaing made popular 19 min ago

    * 176 diggs
    * digg it

    The Cure For Rampant Sequel-Itis

    io9.com — We don't need our future-scope to know what the future of mass entertainment holds: more sequels. Every hit movie has to spawn more movies with colons or numbers in their titles. Every awesome book has to become a series. And every great TV show has to go on and on. And on. There's no stopping the deluge of continuations. More… (Movies)

    right next to one another.
    ironic, hehe, considering Dark Knight was just as good as Begins.
  • TinternAbbot, on 07/23/2008, -3/+2Am I the only one who likes Batman primarily because of Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale? I mean, honestly, other than that I couldn't care less.
  • timrb, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1Why are there so many batman stories?
    Here's why:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

    Do your part and bury this.
  • mlagana, on 07/23/2008, -4/+4ENOUGH WITH THE BATMAN STUFF OK IT'S OVER, IT WAS JUST A MOVIE LETS MOVE ON
  • mlagana, on 07/23/2008, -2/+1or perhaps it's the millions of dollars spent on marketing
  • jkoski, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1I'm glad that Bill Finger is starting to be added as one of his creators without any kind of mention of controversy. Although it should be told how he got screwed until he's 'official'.
  • Hax0rJimDuggan, on 07/23/2008, -5/+2Batman sucks. Get over him already.
  • MarvelZombie, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1Maybe we're seeing all this Batman news simply because Digg nerds are also comic book / sci fi fans. (see: Occam's Razor)
  • koonchu, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4"From the start, Batman was unlike other heroes. His rivals, Superman and Spider-Man, are festooned in the primary colours of the American flag, whereas Batman dresses in dark blues and blacks."

    Spider-man was Batman's rival from the start? A superhero who was created thirty years after Batman?
  • erichw1504, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3It's simple, kill the Batman!
  • brainscab, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1The batman/robin dynamic is interesting to me, Bruce Wayne's parents were killed when he is 12, there is a big part of him that is stuck as that 12 year old, which is why he keeps choosing guys around that age as his sidekick.
    • koonchu, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1Pedobear luvs u too.
    • blckng, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1Actually, both Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson were only eight when their respective parents kicked the bucket. While some writers have tried to push Robin's original age up to 12 (or even older) when his parents died, Bruce's has always stayed somewhere from six-to-eight years old.
  • Namakemono, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1I'm Batman. No really, I'm Batman.
  • Hax0rJimDuggan, on 07/23/2008, -8/+2 T T
    | |
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    .' '.
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    | .. '
    | /__. |
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    |___|_,,,/ | | _..--.
    ,--_- | /' ../ / /
    ,'|_ I---| 7 ,,,_/ / , / _
    ,-- 7 | / ___..,,/ / , ,_/ '-----.
    / , |/ ,____,,,__,,__/ '
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    .:' | (-_ _--') : L !
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    . / . .
  • Schreck1, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1It still appeals because of some badass acting and writing
  • slayersotaku, on 07/23/2008, -1/+4I don't think Sam Raimi had any inspirate from Tim Burton when he did Spiderman.

    Batman is DCs best hero because he's the only one who is somewhat normal. That still doesn't make him a great "hero" by any means. He is rather flat and boring. The article made it sound like Batman was the only character starting out with revenge, so let's ignore The Punisher and even Spiderman.

    I'm sorry (not really) but Marvel heros are far more interesting. The majority of them are people with alter-egos as heros while DC is rather opposite.

    (preparing for digg down)
    • Halgy, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2I can agree with that.
    • nellshini, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2I find most comic characters, DC or Marvel, boring. Especially Marvel, where the villains aren't memorable for the most part and mostly everyone can be describes in a mere sentence or two. Not to say the same isn't true for DC, but the Batman universe seems to have more depth in its characters. Much as there's more character behind the Punisher, Bruce Wayne turns himself into a superpower through motive and authors flesh out his character to show it.

      Heroes who are handed powers on a silver platter don't seem to have as detailed backgrounds.
      • slayersotaku, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1What makes a comic character memorable is when they as a person have to overcome obstacles that their powers cannot help with. Also with villains if they show human characteristics and not some pure cold hearted obsession they tend to be a lot more interesting.

        It’s really easy to cite Spiderman 2 as a prime example. Peter was struggling with having a normal life or being a crime fighter. Meanwhile Doc Oc wasn’t a bad guy, simply an ambitious scientist who lost sight of what’s really important.

        There were also a lot of these human qualities during the Marvel Civil Wars which amounted to an incredible story.

        However the last couple of years I grew distaste for Batman and Batman Begins just didn’t impress me. I can tell all the Batman fans have enjoyed the recent movie and that’s good for them. I just grow tired of everyone telling me to see the Dark Knights.

        Strangely my favorite hero is Thor, and he’s pretty far out there as super heroes go.
    • TimDigg, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1I rank it like this...

      1. Batman Universe
      2. Marvel
      3. DC

      Other than Batman DC sucks, they could make Green Lantern Badass if they wanted to...
  • clickwir, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1I really think this movie only did so well because people were really in the mood for a movie, I haven't heard from one person that went to see it that it was really all that great of a movie. They just seemed to really be in the mood for a movie and this just happened to be big enough and at the right time.

    Batman sucks.
  • TripcodeMel, on 07/23/2008, -1/+0"Lois Lane and Mary-Jane Watson, female foils to Superman and Spiderman, have no equivalent for the Caped Crusader (unless you count Robin, of course)"

    Batgirl. Catwoman. Even *Poison Ivy* sometimes. Come the ***** ON.

    "And no other superhero has a story quite as bleak."

    Yeah, what the *****, Superman? It's not like your home planet BLEW UP or anything.
    • Halgy, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2It is far more traumatic for someone sitting right next to you to get shot than a thousand people halfway around he world.

      Example: Imagine that you just learned that 250,000 Americans died in WW II. Now imagine that your best fiend gets shot when you are walking down to the corner store. Which one would you care more about?

  • mistermaster, on 07/23/2008, -0/+0http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20071005.html
  • Betogonza, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3Oh i didn't know batman was out, see i live on the moon, in a cave, with my ears and eyes closed.
  • LuckyEMS, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2lots of viral marketing
  • Arghblarg, on 07/23/2008, -1/+0BURIED for effin' Batman.
  • apollomurga, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1no more batman articles...
  • blckng, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1"*Lois Lane and Mary-Jane Watson, female foils to Superman and Spiderman, have no equivalent for the Caped Crusader (unless you count Robin, of course)"

    How is that a negative? Batman isn't tied down to just one woman, which means we can get scenes like that thing on the boat with all those dancers! And hey, any DC fan will tell you that you'd be hard-pressed to find a better (Night)wing-man than Robin.
  • quanor, on 07/23/2008, -0/+0I'll tell you why Batman appeals. He appreciates other cultures: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/b42ac27d70
  • honthraj, on 07/23/2008, -0/+0BURIED!!!!!

    Because there is nothing worse than a reporter that tries to pass himself/herself off as an expert when its quite clear to anyone who truly does have such expertise and knowledge of the subject matter, that the reporter's research is cosmetic at best.

    "From the start, Batman was unlike other heroes. His rivals, Superman and Spider-Man. . . " - doofus, Spiderman was created in 1963. Batman was well-established by then with a quarter of a century history.

    "Superman's arrival from another planet is kids' stuff in comparison. " an orphaned baby who provides hope for fearful and paranoid world? Kids' stuff? Try biblical - moron. As in Moses. Siegel and Shuster had revamped the story from an earlier story that they had written together in high school to base the character on Moses during a time when their fellow Jews in Europe were being slaughtered in the millions - kid's stuff? Maybe your lame attempt at trying to seem intelligent and comprehensive is kid's stuff.

    ""Batman is about angst; Superman is about hope." - quote is attributed to Kevin Smith whose knowledge I respect, but it is a single statement and I imagine it is taken out of context. Batman was about angst in the 70s, 80s, 90s. Prior to the 60s television show revamping (which was more due largely to the Comics and Delinquency panel in New York, during the 50s, not the television show) Batman inspired every kid reading his adventures that - "If I dedicated myself, studied hard, trained hard - I could be the Batman!"

    "For the next 20 years, the series floundered through numerous relaunches without ever shaking off the high camp reputation of the series." - WRONG!! The series was not at the top of the market but it was doing significantly better than the majority of titles. The character held onto Detective Comics Line as well as the Batman series and also was used to introduce new characters from the DC line by teaming them up with Batman in the Brave and the Bold series. So Batman was hardly a failing line. His popularity has not always been consistent, I'll grant that, but failing - that would be an exaggeration.

    This reporter's observations about Frank Miller's "Return of the Dark Knight" is so confused with "Batman: Year One", that it would take too long to comment on how to straighten out his/her mishmashing of the two.

    For those bewailing the repeated postings about Batman, I can agree with you to a point. Most of these articles are just fluff and don't add much at all about Batman or claim to do so and only know very little.

    I would prefer postings that know something about their subject matter as opposed to just some superficial knowledge that they scraped up from a 15 minute Google.search.
  • dnyhan, on 07/24/2008, -0/+0Superman has to be all noble and nice. He has to represent the tradtionally good values, as you would read them in the bible. His power is far beyond human capabilities and if he were not on our side then he would scare us into an attempt to destroy him.
    He is balanced, fair and hands criminals over to th authorities.

    Batamn is more like the original psycopath. The lines are blurred between good and evil. Where Superman is black and white, Batman is the shades of gray. Batman is a self made judge, jury and executioner. Batman represents reality and something achievable to all of us.
    Essentially Batman is a vigilante.
    While he upholds justice, his means may not necessarily be as admirable as Superman's, but he gets the job done.

    Spiderman is a superhero for wimps, nerds and losers. They need somebody to believe in. Like the serfs who worked the land for the lords during Feudalisim - "the meek shall inherit the Earth....yadayadayada".

    Batman is more of a "Fcuk being meek, I'm not taking this sh*t any longer" kinda guy.
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