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[[Image:ARoss Batman.png|right|300px|thumb|''Batman'', by Alex Ross]]

[[Image:ARoss Batman.png|right|300px|thumb|''Batman'', by Alex Ross]]

'''Batman''' is a fictional [[superhero]] who has appeared in [[movie]]s, [[comics]], and [[television]]. Unlike many superheroes, Batman has no superpowers. His abilities come from his intelligence, [[martial arts]] skill, and equipment. Batman was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Unlike his ally [[Superman]], Batman is a dark figure whose motivation for fighting crime is his witnessing of his parents being [[gun]]ned down by a [[criminal]] when he was a boy.  He chose the guise of a large bat to strike fear into the hearts of criminals, who he views as a "superstitious and cowardly lot".  Batman's alter-ego is Bruce Wayne, a successful [[capitalism|capitalist]] who runs Wayne Industries; he secretly fights crime by night.  His partner is Robin, Tim Drake. Drake is the third Robin, the first being Dick Grayson, whom Bruce Wayne took into his home when the boy's parents died under mysterious circumstances. The second, Jason Todd, was killed by the Joker, and was recently resurrected and has taken on the persona Red Robin. The apparently [[pedophile]] [[homosexual]] relationship between Bruce and young Dick was described by Dr. Fredric Wertham in his book ''Seduction of the Innocent'', which led to censorship of the comics medium as it was supposedly getting out of control in the 1950s. Batman is one of the few prominent superheroes without any superpowers.  

'''Batman''' is a fictional [[superhero]] first appearing in ''Detective Comics'' in May, 1939. The creation of artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, Batman remains one of the most famous and recognizable of the superhero genre, resulting in the creation of several television series, motion pictures, and graphic novels.  The original comics are highly-prized by collectors and routinely fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars on the auction block.

 

The man who was to become Batman is Bruce Wayne, a Gotham City multi-millionaire who inherited his wealth from his father, a prominent doctor and philanthropist named Thomas Wayne.  A trip to the movies with the family ended in tragedy: Thomas and his wife are murdered by a common thug in front of Bruce, who's childhood is effectively ended at the age of eight.  Growing up in the care of his father's butler, Alfred Pennyworth, he inherits a fortune, his father's business and philanthropic empire, and a seething anger directed at the criminal world. Realizing that criminals are superstitious as well as cowardly, he goes after them one by one, costumed as a bat.

 

*Kane, Bob (with Tom Andrae). ''Batman & Me'', Eclipse Books, Forestville, California (1989).

*Goulart, Ron. ''Comic Book Encyclopedia'', Harper Entertainment, New York (2004).

[[Category:Entertainment]]

[[Category:Entertainment]]

[[Category:Superheroes]]

[[Category:Superheroes]]

[[Category:Comic characters]]

[[Category:Comic characters]]