Jul 30, 2021
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The origin of Batman, which was not revealed to readers until the character’s seventh comic book appearance, is now a familiar tale. As prosperous physician Thomas Wayne, his wife, Martha, and their young son, Bruce, exited a Gotham City movie house after a nighttime showing of The Mark of Zorro, they were robbed by a thief brandishing a pistol. Dr. Wayne attempted to protect his wife, but the panicky gunman murdered the adult Waynes as their horrified son watched. The grief-stricken boy dedicated his existence to avenging his parents’ murders by “spending the rest of my life warring on all criminals.” After years of training his mind and body to perfection—Bruce, having inherited his father’s millions—mulled over a crime-fighting disguise that would terrorize lawbreakers. A bat flapping through an open window was deemed an omen, and the original tale’s end caption heralded, “And thus is born this weird avenger of the dark...this avenger of evil. The Batman.”
Batman was an immediate sensation. In his earliest adventures (he was alternately called “Bat-Man” until the hyphen was dropped for consistency), Batman was quite brutal: he tossed a thug off a rooftop and executed a vampire by shooting him with a silver bullet. As Batman’s acclaim swelled, the character’s publisher recoiled, fearful that the sinister elements in the comic book would be emulated by its young audience. DC eliminated Batman’s use of firearms and extreme force: never again would Batman take a life.
Just under a year after the hero’s debut, DC softened him even more by introducing a young sidekick. Dick Grayson, a circus aerialist, observed the mob-ordered murder of his parents and became the ward of a sympathetic Wayne, who trained the lad to become Robin, the Boy Wonder. Exuberant and wisecracking, Robin had a profound influence on the brooding Batman. The former “weird avenger” stepped smoothly into the role of father figure.
