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lonelywretchjervistetch · 1 year

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My DC Cinematic Universe: Batman (Part I)

Prologue: The Endless Night

...How the hell am I supposed to start this one? I mean, Jesus Christ, it's Batman. Comparing Batman to Superman, this is a much harder film to plot out for me. Why? Well, frankly, Batman's been a lot luckier in media than Superman has. Some of the greatest comic book movies of all time are Batman films, after all. Not to mention the fact that we all know Batman as a character by now, and Superman's never really been that lucky. So, again...how the hell am I supposed to do this?

Well, I guess I just start in the same way that I did the last one, right? Defining my version of Batman/Bruce Wayne. And that's not terribly difficult...but it also isn't exactly new territory at the same time. Still, I'll give it a shot here. So, I'll start with exactly that: Who is Batman?

Chapter One: Redefining the Defined

The simple answer to this question is as such: Batman is the real identity, while Bruce Wayne is the mask. A hot take? No, most certainly not a hot take at this point. Most interpretations of the character realize this to a certain degree, although that degree is highly variable in some cases. But the point here is that Batman is essentially the reverse of Superman, in most ways. Day vs. night, colorful vs. greyscale, lawful vs. chaotic, and hope vs. fear. But both are still good. And I think movies seem to forget that about Batman.

Look, Batman walking the edge of the abyss isn't a fresh take either, but more often than not, filmmakers tend to throw him a little bit into it. Moreso than I think they should. Batman is chaotic or neutral good alignment, yes, but he's still good aligned, no matter what. And he's also an extremely complex character, almost absurdly so in many cases. Because of that, a lot of his character is simplified, and frankly, the character is usually pretty Flanderized in media nowadays.

Ah, yes, Flanderizing. The idea of taking a complex character, full of nuance and personality and a past of their own, and simplifying them into base characteristics to the point of absurdity and exaggeration. It's what happened to Ned Flanders in The Simpsons, but it happens to a LOT of superheroes. Superman's one of the worst affected by this, mostly being simplified to his powers and goodness, with the personality and character completely lost in the shuffle. But even then...Batman is WAY worse.

Whenever people think of Batman, their minds go to a few places. A tough brooding loner, instilling fear into the hearts of criminals, still mourning the loss of his parents to a near-sociopathic degree, and taking out his grief on the faces of clowns and wrestlers alike. Also, his voice is gruff and raspy. And OK, that's a take on the character, sure, but goddamn is that an oversimplification. And that oversimplification leads to...other issues.

But before I go into too much detail there, let me define what my Batman is once and for all. Batman is justice, teetering on the edge of vengeance. He believes in a true moral right, but doesn't trust the systems in place in Gotham to enforce that right, placing it into his own hands as a result. Makes him a bit of a control freak, but it also makes him scarily efficient and proficient. He's a brilliant man and self-trained detective and expert in many field. He's a worldly man and proficient athlete, honing himself for the singular purpose of exacting justice like no other person possibly could.

However, he's also a very damaged person, in desperate need of therapy, but with the singular purpose of mind that makes him confidently believe in self-control over his own mental state, to the point of obsession and exaggeration. Yes, he walks on the edge of the abyss, but he's always aware of that edge, and doesn't actually want to fall into it. However, he embraces the darkness that lies within it as a tool for justice, rather than a part of his self-perception.

With that said, some of you may be thinking...haven't we already seen this in other versions of the character? And we have...partially. But let's get into it, and I'll try and explain my specific version of the character a little better. Because every version got something right...but nobody got everything right. And I do mean every version.

Adam West's Batman, despite the goofy-ass Silver-Age Universe he was in, definitely got the hero and do-gooder part of the character down pat. Other than the superficial stuff, like the gadgets and the Batcave and all that, West's silly iteration of the character wanted to do good for no other reason than it being the right thing to do. And yeah, that's accurate. Batman wants to do the right thing because too few people in Gotham want to or can, and somebody fucking has to. Batman being in alliance with a moral good is an important and often overlooked part of the character.

Michael Keaton's excellent turn as Batman in the Burton films definitely got the damaged billionaire thing right. Maybe a little too right, in fact. This version of Batman was a detective and crusader of the night, as well as a crusader for justice, but he was way more damaged than most versions of the character tend to be. The line between Bruce and Bat was appropriately blurred, but it also made it very obvious that they were the same person. Still, Keaton correctly played the character as teetering on the edges of madness and obsession. His "Bruce" left a little something to be desired, though.

I'd bring up Kilmer and Clooney here, but they sort of copy West in terms of their Batmen. Even then, they barely had personality to begin with, and they definitely aren't quite worth talking about.

Hoo boy, Christian Bale. This Batman is a truly interesting one, because he embraces fear far more than most of the rest do. Sure, Keaton's Batman is a little spooky, but Bale's Batman really dials up the idea of a fear-generating force of the night. His Bruce Wayne truly is a mask, distancing himself greatly from the identity of Batman, in almost a direct response to the Keaton Batman. However, this Batman also loses most of the detective angle, and instead leans into the vengeance-seeking vigilante who actively murders people. And yes, I mean that. Not saving somebody is effectively the same as murdering them, Bruce. Not that Keaton's Batman is any better, since he actively kills a few people. We'll, uh...we'll get to that problem later.

Anyway, Bale's Batman is good for a lot of things, but he's a simplified version of the character. Like, I can call that Batman a lot of things, but he's not particularly smart, for one. And for two, he's not particularly heroic, either. I mean, yeah, he saves the city three times, but it's usually based off personal stakes or a challenge to him directly. It's not really about doing the right thing in these instances. But that's NOTHING compared to...

Fuck Batfleck, if I can just say that right now. Batfleck is a really shitty version of this character, and has ESSENTIALLY NOTHING that Batman should have. He's a murderer, his actions are inherently cruel, he's a stupid and easily manipulated IDIOT who never does any difficult detective work, and he's a brute and a cad. Fuck this version of Batman. Fuck him, fuck him, fuuuuuuuuuck hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim. The depths to which I hate this stupid, STUPID moron cannot be overestimated. Take the rightfully lambasted Martha scene.

I know the Martha scene is an easy target, but it's far easier than most people realize. Yeah, the fact that he stops fighting Superman immediately because of the coincidence of their mom's names is really stupid, but it also shows just how little Bruce thought about this shit, or about Superman in general. Not only did that catch him by surprise, but the fact that Superman HAD A MOM caught him by surprise, because he hadn't considered to think of him as a person. Think about that. Like, really think about that.

Every incarnation, and I mean EVERY incarnation of Batman that's interacted with Superman has deduced his secret identity as Clark Kent, quickly and easily. For fucks sake, it wouldn't even be that hard, THEY TALK TO EACH OTHER AS CLARK AND BRUCE IN THE MOVIE. But Bruce clearly didn't realize that Superman was Clark Kent at the time, and if he did...what, he did NO fucking research on the dude? This version of Bruce was thoroughly unprepared to face of against Superman, and didn't look into him AT ALL, before immediately jumping to conclusions while wearing that fucking Frank Miller armor of his. And don't get me STARTED on Frank fucking Miller's culpability in the Flanderization of Batman, because we'll be here ALL FUCKING DAY. FUCK THIS BATMAN WITH ALL OF MY HEART AND SOUL.

...OK, I think I got it all out of my system. For now. Seriously, I could keep going on about it, but I got other shit to talk about. Like, for example, a Batman I actually like. A lot.

Is Robert Pattinson's Batman perfect? No. He has issues that plague many of the other Batmen listed here. However, good goddamn, is this version fucking close to perfect. He's intelligent, he's a detective, he uses fear as a tool to fight the underworld, he's clearly a proficient fighter and gadget-user, and maybe most importantly, he actually becomes a hero by the end. Think about this. How many versions of Batman have you seen actually directly save the citizens of Gotham? He usually saves people from afar, or indirectly. Rarely does he save individual people from a crisis like he does in this movie, multiple times. He's a mostly well-balanced version of the character. Mostly.

And that's because...we'll, he's clearly not fucking OK. Look, I like Battinson as much as the next guy, but he's the only Batman who I can confidently say listens to My Chemical Romance on the regular. The dude is the most unstable of the Batmen by far, outpacing even Keaton for the role. But while Keaton seems more like Bruce Wayne dressing up as Batman, and Bale is the opposite, Pattinson is CLEARLY fusing the two identities into the same person. Bruce Wayne is absolutely subsumed by Batman, and he makes no effort to hide that, nor does he seem to care. And honestly, that's an interesting take! He's a very psychologically damaged character normally, and this version makes that far more prominent.

The other major problem I had is the whole "Vengeance" thing. Not calling himself that, necessarily, although it's a little emo for my tastes. It's the fact that he definitely leans more towards vengeance than he does justice. But then again, I say I had that problem because that's actually sort of the point. When we see this version at first, he calls himself Vengeance and acts as such. But by the end...he's just actually helping people. He's a hero, and he acts for justice, not just vengeance. It's his story arc. And that's something that Batman usually doesn't get: actual character development.

I mean, think about it: what do the Batmen actually learn in their journeys? Keaton doesn't really change throughout his films. He's still an eccentric loner who opens up to women out of desperation, but doesn't really learn anything from his struggles. Bale has stuff happen to him most of the time, but I can't say that he changed much between movies. Maybe in the last one, where he gives up the crusade to pursue a life of peace, but is that really the right story for Batman? Affleck...learns not to be an absolute douche-nozzle, I fucking guess. Not a lesson. Just not being a dick. But Pattinson learns to be a hero, and gains a slightly new view of his mission at the end, as well as of Alfred. It's an actual character journey, even though it isn't the strongest one ever. So yeah, he's near perfect, even if he is also a whiny emo teenager who shouts "YOU'RE NOT MY REAL DAD" at Alfred a few times. Yeah, he's good, but he ain't perfect.

So, with all of that said, who is Batman? He's a little emotionally closed off, from himself and from others. He's still a human being with likes and desires, but those likes and desires come second to the journey. He's not a constant brooding loner, but he struggles with his own mental issues and his own obsessions. He's in desperate need of therapy, but prefers to solve his own problems, as he does with most things. He's controlling to sometimes pathological degrees, but never with ill-intent. And he's always prepared as much as he reasonably can be, for any contingency.

Batman doesn't take his nights off much, and overworks himself constantly to fulfill a goal which doesn't truly exist. He's a crusader for justice with and without the mask, and is fiercely devoted to his city and his people. But when he does take a night off, he watches film noir and Zorro. He reads the newspaper, to minimize his screen time and relax a little bit. He likes obscure coffees and beverages, leaning more towards the bitter than anything else. His tastes are obscure and seemingly rich, but are actually worldly and well-informed. He's a brilliant man who hides his brilliance behind silent actions and clever words. And to those who share his vision of a better world, he may be critical, but is also fiercely loyal.

I mean, in a word...he's Batman.

It's funny, but I think Batman has a similar problem to Superman, in an unexpected way. Like Superman, people tend to forget that he's human. Batman, despite his journey and trauma and mission, is absolutely a person, with the same flaws and foibles as a regular person has. And that seems to go without saying, since all versions of Batman have been flawed, right? But if that's the case, why is the character so over-idolized in the public eye, especially by bros who say he's the coolest character ever, who can take anybody in a fight? That limited view and mentality of the character is what gave us the dumbass meathead murderer in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Jesus Fucking CHRIST This Name Never Gets Less Stupid.

But who's to blame for this? Is anybody to blame for the dehumanization of Batman? Yes. Yes, there is somebody to blame.

Allow me to throw in an emphatic "FUCK YOU, FRANK MILLER" into this essay post, real quick. Is Batman: Year One an influential narrative masterpiece? Honestly, yes. And yes, it informs the modern version of the character. However, this and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (another great story for the most part, I'll admit) RUINED the character for generations to come. Batman was broken down into a gadget wearing edgelord, with Miller's dialogue and characterization exemplifying that image. Batman: Year One was great, to me, because it brilliantly contextualized Gotham for a new era, not because of "Yes, Father; I will become a bat." Great line, but real edgy.

And by the way, that's not even talking about Miller's rampant misogyny in those books, or the horrendous racist tendencies he would display later on in life. It's also not talking about his horrible artwork, his misunderstanding and horrid mishandling of any character that isn't Batman, or his DISASTROUS modern take on the character that revealed how he ACTUALLY saw Batman as a character. Miller's...not great, and even if these stories gave us some iconic lines and takes, they also caused a lot of harm down the line. After all, the issues with Snyder's Batman can be directly traced to Miller's take on the character.

So, then, with all of that said...how the hell am I supposed to start this one? Yeah, I'm still in the same boat as I was when I began this shit! See, it's all well and good to define my version of Batman, but that's not the only problem here. Because, after all, we've had 8 cinematic iterations of the character and the world he lives in, as well as 10 stories told about the character. And that's not accounting for the numerous animated series, radio plays, serial films, and the COMIC BOOKS. So, how do you tell a story that's interesting to newcomers (of which there can't be many at this point), and faithful to the character and his stories?

Well, I have some ideas on that, of course. But before anything else, let's flesh out the world that he lives in. Last time, I started the Superman essay series by talking about Lois Lane, the Kents, and other supporting characters. And I'll start similarly here, with four major supporting characters getting their own chapters, then going into the world of Gotham and its citizens, the vast gallery of rogues against Batman, and then finally getting into the story of this theoretical movie.

That's the plan, anyway. We'll see how well that holds up, huh?

Part One: Batman Part Two: Alfred and the Waynes Part Three: James Gordon and the GCPD (Coming Soon) Part Four: Gotham City (Coming Soon) Part Five: Joker (Coming Soon) Part Six: The Usual Suspects (Coming Soon) Part Seven: And the Rest (Coming Soon) Part Eight: The Story - Act One (Coming Soon) Part Nine: The Story - Acts Two and Three (Coming Soon) Part Ten: The Story - Climax and Ending (Coming Soon) Part Eleven: Epilogue (Coming Soon)

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