Batman: 50 Craziest Facts of All Time
For Best Reading Experience, Checkout the Original Article on ‘The Boring Superhero’.
In the Superhero universe, Batman is one of the most well known and one of the most badass character ever created. This character was created by two friends Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Bob was the artist whereas Bill was writer of Batman comic series. This character first appeared in ‘Detective Comics #27’ in the year 1939. So now let’s discuss some of the craziest facts of this character we have been encountering since last 80 years.
50 Craziest Facts about Batman
World’s Greatest Detective
When this character was first created, it was named “Bat-Man”, but within the course of time this character also got some fancy names and designations such as the Caped Crusader, the Dark Knight, etc, But the most famous name for Batman till date is ‘World’s Greatest Detective’.
Batman is Gay
During the 1950s Batman was referred as a ’Gay’ by pubic. This was because of his habit of adopting and spending his time with teenage boys like Robin, which led some people to state that Batman is gay. It became more viral after Dr. Fredric Werthem’s book ‘Seduction of the Innocent’. This book was also further responsible for the creation of the ‘Comics Code Authority’
Robo-Bat Gordon
Batman’s most notable informer ‘Jim Gordon’ has helped Batman in may issues since his arrival in comics. But since Gordon has no such powers or talents like Batman, hence in many issues he used to wear a robotic bat suit to help Batman which is often referred comically as ‘Botman”.
Gotham Jewellers
We have encountered with many iconic imaginary cities in DC comics like Metropolis, Amazon, Atlantis, etc. But the most popular DC city will always be ‘Gotham’. But when this city was first named, it was not based on any mythology or epic but instead it landed its name by the writer randomly picking a name from the telephone directory named ‘Gotham Jewellers’.
Batmen
We know Bruce Wayne is the original Batman, but he is not the only one. Within the comic timeline, many characters have taken his mantle which includes Commissioner Gordon, Damian, Nightwing, Alfred and his enemy Bane.
Murderer Batman
Batman is usually identified for his instincts like fighting without guns and not killing anyone. But in the end of ‘Batman #1’, Batman killed Joker brutally. But Joker was again retrieved in later issues due to its insane popularity.
Batman weighting system
It is crazy but the Ottoman Empire actually used the term ‘batman’ as a measuring unit before they adopted the metric system. As per this system, our Batman would weight about 13 batman.
Bat “Thomas Wayne” man
Bruce’s father Thomas Wayne is also portrayed as a masked vigilante in many of the flashbacks of Batman comics. So we can probably say that Batman was inherited in Brue Wayne’s blood.
Mash up of Famous names
The name ‘Bruce Wayne’ was given by writer Bill Finger, which actually was adopted from two great leaders. One being Scottish national hero Robert the Bruce and the other was American revolutionary “Mad” Anthony Wayne.
Insane Batmobile
In the user manual of Batmobile, it is clearly stated that it has 10,000 horsepower (hp). It is like 8 Bugatti Chiron’s engines fitted in one car that too with the strength of a truck.
Batman is Poor
Batman’s net worth is estimated to be somewhere around 10 Billion, which is far more than a lot of comic characters, but not as much as Tony Stark (Iron man) or Black Panther.
The Dark Knight without Robin
For the Christopher Nolan’s movie ‘Batman Begins’ released in 2005, Christian Bale demanded that there shouldn’t be any Robin in the entire trilogy. This was due to the super flop T.V. series of 1997 ‘Batman and Robin’.
Superman is a loser
Yeah, Superman has an arsenal full of super powers but when it comes to making strategy, no one can defeat Batman. Batman always carries a sack full of Kryptonite in his belt, which makes him win every time they face off.
Damian Wayne
Since the ‘Detective Comics #38’ we have seen Batman adopting teenage orphans and training them to be his sidekicks. But this count finally stopped at his own biological son ‘Damian Wayne’.
Batman Everywhere
Batman has an association named as ‘Batman of all Nations’, which consists of England’s Knight (and his sidekick, Squire), Argentina’s El Gaucho, and the French Nightrunner. Man-of-Bats of South Dakota, and the Ranger of Australia. Their job is defend their respective areas like Batman does.
Batman as a Criminal
Batman sometimes disguises himself as ‘Matches Malone’ an underworld crook who was killed accidentally while fighting with Batman. Batman does this to keep a close look at Gotham’s underworld activity.
Batman’s Utility Belt
Batman’s whole outfit consists of a special component without which Batman will lose his 50% power, his Utility belt. Batman’s utility belt has ten compartments which he fills with various tools depending on type of opponent. Among the items Batman carries in his belt are batarangs, knock-out gas, tiny cameras, hooks, spybots and yes, Kryptonite.
Batman’s Justice Buster Suit
Batman has also created a special “Justice-Buster” suit. It’s estimated worth is more than half the world’s estimated military budget, and also it’s rigged with all manner of weapon for fighting members of the Justice League.
Big Budget for Penguins
For the movie ‘Batman Returns’ real Penguin were used. For this purpose a huge budget of $1,000,000 was raised. It was used for cooling components, food, accommodation and shipment of the penguins.
Bat-cave on TV
It was first time in 1943 that the Batman introduced the concept design of the ‘Bat-Cave’ to public, and that too in a TV serial.
Hugh Hefner inspired Batman
In the early 1960s, at the Chicago Playboy Club, Hefner and his friends had dressed up as Batman and his enemies. Inspired by this, an executive at the party dialled the call and pitched the idea for 1960s Batman TV series.
Lewis- The First Batman
Over the period of time we have seen many actors portraying the role of Batman, but Lewis Wilson was the first person as the Dark Knight. He appeared in 15 war-time serials for Columbia Pictures in which Batman fights Japanese spies.
Wayne Enterprises
The net worth of Wayne Enterprises is approx. $32 Billion, and it consists of many subdivisions too. Technically it is present in almost every industry in DC. Like there’s Wayne Medical, Wayne Biotech, Wayne Automotive, Wayne Food, etc.
The Batman City
No, I am not talking about Gotham or Arkham, but a real city in Turkey named ‘Batman’. The city’s name was changed in 1957 (from Iluha) after 18 years of the release of Batman comics. Nolan was also sued for using the city’s name in his movie.
The Pen Pal Penguin
When Bruce was a kid, he had a long distance friendship with a boy with whom he used to play virtual chess, checkers, etc. That boy grew up and became one of Gotham’s most wanted criminal ‘The Penguin’.
Hate for Keaton
When Michael Keaton was selected for the role of Batman, there was a lot of hate among the public regarding this decision. This was because Keaton was a comedy actor at that time and fans predicted that he may ruin Batman’s character. But for everyone’s surprise, the movie became a massive hit, earning $100 million in its first 10 days at the box office.
Keaton wasn’t the first Choice
The role of Batman in 1989’s movie was first offered to Pierce Bronsan and not to Michael Keaton. But ultimately the role went to Keaton because of his opinion of the hosiery-clad hero.
Longest Batman
Within the course of time many actors have played the role of Batman in different versions, but ‘’Kevin Conroy’’ is the man who has played the role for the longest. He has starred in about 31 different versions of Batman, including 10 video games, 8 animated series and 13 TV series.
Discrimination with Finger
The iconic Batman character is the creation of two legends: Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Bob was the artist whereas Bill was the story writer. But Finger didn’t get recognition for Batman until 2015. Wow! What a long time in misery.
Robin is not a Bird
We all know that Batman’s most favourite sidekick is Robin, Right? But contradictory to all Batman fans’ imagination that Robin is the name derived from a bird of the same name, its creator Jerry Robinson actually stated that the character’s name is derived from the iconic character ‘Robinhood’.
Multilingual Characteristics
Batman can actually speak total 42 languages including 4 alien languages and 1 animal language. Insane!
Feminine Company
During the hard anti-comic period of 1950s, when everybody was protesting against Batman and Robin for being gays, the writers introduced a short lived character in the comics ‘Aunt Harriet’ who was like a caretaker of Robin. This was done only to clear that they are not gays.
Mulligatawny
According to a Batman comic issue ‘Batman #701’, Batman’s favorite dish is ‘Mulligatawny soup’.
Real World Batman
Once a University professor calculated the cost of being Batman including all his weapons, and it was around $300 Million. A Lot of Money is required to be Batman. Batman wanna be guys, take some notes.
The 60s Batmobile
The Batmobile of the 1960s first Batman television series was based on Lincoln Futura and was designed by a custom car designer George Barris.
Batplane came first
The Batplane which Batman uses was actually introduced earlier than the Batmobile. The Batplane was introduced in the ‘Detective comics #31’ whereas the unauthorised Batmobile was introduced as a red sedan in ‘Detective comics #48’.
Death of Bruce’s Parents
Everyone who knows Batman today also knows his back story about how his parents were killed and that directed him to be Batman. But in the comics universe, we were first told this in the ‘Detective comics #33’which was almost one year after batman’s debut in the comics world.
Superman’s Boss
In a comic book issue, batman actually buys the maximum shares of ‘The Daily Planet’, the place where Superman (Clark Kent) works. This technically makes Batman the boss of Superman.
The Batman Course
There’s a real course in the University of Victoria named ‘The Science of batman’, in which the extreme range of adaptability of a human’s body is explored via the life of the Dark Knight.
One Man, Many faces
Troy Baker (voice actor) is the only person who has played the character of Batman as well his archrival Joker multiple times in multiple media. He has also provided the voice of the villain Two-Face in the video game Batman: Arkham Knight.
Never Trust the Bat
Batman is one of the founding members of the Justice League of America, but still he doesn’t trust them at all. Batman has also created ‘Brother Eye’ to monitor all the members of Justice League at all the time and also to kill them if needed. So Dark Batsy.
Extraordinary Bat-suit
We all know that Batman doesn’t have any huge super power, Right? But his suit is not ordinary. The suit is fire-resistant, insulated from electric shock and bulletproof. His cape can act as a parachute or a hang-glider. His cowl contains a lot of high-tech tools like communication systems, built in mini oxygen tank and night vision, and is lined with lead to keep certain super-powered individuals from seeing his true identity. Damn, Batman doesn’t have super powers, but his suit definitely does.
Back Broken Batman
During a very popular event of the comics ‘Knightfall’, Batman has actually broken his back while fighting with Bane and he went under a therapy session. At that time Batman’s anti-hero Azrael took the mantle of Batman and also became one of the most notable Batman substitute of all time. This event also inspired Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.
The Lost Batman
In the year 1964, Andy Warhol directed a Batman movie named ‘Batman Dracula’, which didn’t do well at the box office and it was totally erased from the history of Batman movies since 2006 when it was again discovered from the internet by a fan.
Batcave’s Password
Near the entrance of the Batcave from inside the Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne has placed an antique clock, which he refers as his Grandfather’s clock. To unlock the entrance of the Batcave, he turns the hands of the clock to 10:48, the exact time of his Parent’s death. Super depressed fellow.
Batman: A Yellow Lantern
The Yellow Lanterns of the Sinestro Corps are powered by Fear. Once in an issue, when a yellow lantern ring attempted to choose the most terrorizing person on the entire Earth, it chose Batman.
Killer Bat
One the most well known policies of Batman is ‘No Killing Policy’. Though today we know Batman as a humble protector and not as a murderer, but it was not always the same. In the initial days of Batman comics, Batman was a gun-toting vigilante who used to shoot his enemies, hang them from Batplane, put them in acid pools, etc.
Batman had a child with Catwoman
In one of the standalone series of Batman ‘Earth 02’, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle (Catwoman) actually got intimate and also had a child named Helena Wayne (The Huntress).
Batman meets Superman
After just one year of Batman’s debut in the ‘Detective comics’, it became a super hit. So the writers Jerry Robinson and Dick Sprang decided to portray the two cornerstones of their industry (Superman and Batman) together in one comic issue. Hence, we got to see the alliance of Batman and Superman for the first time in ‘World’s Finest Comics’ (Originally named as World’s Best Comics) released in fall 1940.
Batman has Defeated Darkseid… Twice!
Darkseid is basically the ultimate villain of the DC universe, who have also defeated Superman on several occasions. But Batman, being just a mere mortal, has managed to defeat Darkseid not just once but twice. Once Batman shot Darkseid with a God killing Gun in mid battle, and Darkseid shot him with his Omega beam, which sent Batman back in time. Second time he defeated Darkseid by using the ‘HellBat’ armour, made for him by the members of the Justice League.
So these were some of the most craziest and unknown facts of the Dark Knight. I hope you liked it and if you did, then do share this with more Batfans.
For More Such Amazing Articles, Visit ‘The Boring Superhero’.
