“The Dark Knight Rises” is about Batman, but not all Batmans are alike.
He's as different in tone and temperament from Adam West's campy ‘60s television Batman as he is from the batboy in the Pirates dugout. Yet, they're both the crime-fighting alter-egos of billionaire industrialist Bruce Wayne. Then there's Tim Burton and Michael Keaton's late-'80s reinvention of Batman, which is kind of it's own thing entirely.
Confused? Well, Batman is a complicated guy.
Batman, who first landed in comic books in 1939, has had multiple incarnations, or “reboots,” as the movie business calls it. The names of the characters are the same, but their personalities can be quite different, as old stories are reinvented and new stories are born.
Writer/director Christopher Nolan's trilogy — which began in 2005 with “Batman Begins,” continuing with “The Dark Knight” (2008) ends with “The Dark Knight Rises” — is one of the most successful and convincing reboots of the Batman franchise. Perhaps it's best to think of the current film Batman as simply the Dark Knight, who inhabits a moral and physical universe separate from previous incarnations.
“I think we're going to see the darkest ‘Dark Knight' yet, with Bane (the new film's villain.) I'm delighted that dark sinister place is Pittsburgh,” says Joe Wos, curator of Downtown's Toonseum.
“The funny thing is that from the beginning of ‘Batman,' the Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson years, he always was the darker superhero,” Wos says. “He had a very dark origins, and his villains had severe mental anguish that tormented them. Batman was tormented by the same origins. He was two-faced, too. Two sides of the same coin, and had it flipped the other way, he could have been a villain.
“The TV show took it into a campier space. That was the era. Dark was not doing well. We were in a pretty dark time in America (the ‘60s/Vietnam) people really wanted something light and laughable. We wanted heroes, but wanted them much brighter. It was the superhero equivalent of ‘Laugh-in.' That was Batman socking it to us.”
Tim Burton and Michael Keaton took Batman in another direction in the ‘80s.
“Tim Burton's take was a nice transition back,” Wos says. “It had the campy elements, costume and set design of the earlier Joker. But took it back to darker place. Then Nolan took it to a much darker place — I think for the better.”
Off-screen, Batman's most significant reboot came from several series of comics by Frank Miller (“Sin City,” “300”), starting with the epic “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” in 1986. Miller's brutal neo-noir style mapped out a new take on Batman — as an aging, bitter Bruce Wayne returns to crime-fighting, with even the police and government often arrayed against him. Miller also added a much darker take on Batman's origins story in “Batman: Year One” (1987).
“Any of us put into a dark situation, as human beings, can respond with vengeance or heroics,” Wos says. “Frank Miller was exploring those origins — from the darker side of the human soul, not the brightest. Superman isn't human — he's here out of his benevolence. But Batman does this because he has to. He's human. He knows what we're capable of.”
“That may have been a turning point for the comic book world,” says Todd McDevitt, owner New Dimension Comics, which has five stores in the Pittsburgh area. “(Miller's ‘Batman: The Dark Knight Returns') showed that they aren't just for kids — it was a more sophisticated version of Batman.
It's not surprising, says Wos, that the Burton and Nolan takes on Batman also prominently feature the Joker.
“The character is so pliable and fascinating. Ultimately, what drives him is the pure joy of malice. That's something that comic books and films stay away from. The motivation needs to be money when it comes to our villains. For a character to actually enjoy evil — that's fascinating.”
With “The Dark Knight Rises” Nolan's cycle of Batman stories draws to a close. That doesn't mean we've seen the last of Batman on the big screen — a “reboot” of the Batman franchise, starting with his origin story, is more likely than not. But will anyone want to go see the Batman story, started from scratch yet again?
Well, just ask the millions who showed up for “The Amazing Spider-Man,” (the second-biggest opening of 2012 so far) which rebuilt the Spider-Man story from the beginning.
Batman through the ages (simplified)
Golden Age Batman (1939-56): Batman first appears in Detective Comics No. 27. Creators Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson developed a hard-boiled detective Batman, influenced by the pulp fiction of the times. The character started to soften with the inclusion of his young sidekick, Robin,an orphaned circus acrobat, in 1940.
Silver Age Batman/DC Comics era (1956-70): Fleshes out the character. Science-fiction elements and parallel worlds emerge, then Batman returns to detective work. He hooks up with the Justice League and has frequent team-ups with Superman and others.
"Batman" television series (1966-68): Bright, sunny, campy with cartoonish sound effects and action scenes, the "Batman" series stars Adam West. Pittsburgh's Frank Gorshin is memorable asThe Riddler.
Bronze Age DC Comics era (1970-85): More mature themes. Police corruption makes Batman more necessary.
Graphic novel/Frank Miller/Alan Moore era (1986-88): The darkest Dark Knight vision is born, coinciding with the rise of the graphic novel.
Tim Burton era (1989-92): A dark, disturbing, yet humorous and stylish take. Pittsburgh-born Michael Keaton is Batman in two movies and Jack Nicholson makes The Joker hilariousand menacing.
"Batman: The Animated Series" (1992-95): The square-jawed Batman television cartoon has a 1940s retro-inspired look, and received critical praise for its often surprisingly mature themes and characters' psychological development.
Joel Schumacher era (1995-97): "Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin" take a much lighter, campier kid-friendly approach, with Val Kilmer and George Clooney trading the signature role.
Christopher Nolan era (2005-2012): Starts with "Batman Begins" in 2005.
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