How did Batman become such a big franchise? What is it about

>>93013480
human

>>93013480
he piggybacked off the fans of Zorro, The Phantom, and the Scarlet Pimpernel

>>93013480
He kicks Superman's ass like all the time. People love that.

>>93013480
https://youtu.be/u5Cdguyut8s?t=1m12s

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A great core concept anchored by a mythic origin, a striking design and a great supporting cast / rogues gallery. All of which is able to change and adapt to the times as necessary.

>>93013480
>bat is scary, creepy, unusual animal. a mammal like a bird

its why people like vampires, for instance

>does most crime fighting at night

night is eerie, dreamlike, exciting

>billionaire

>leads a double life

average people live double lives or want to live double lives if they arent

>has traumatic live changing event as a child, but doesn't become a victim because of it instead he helps victims

this is the most important thing. trauma from any age usually causes someone to become a victim, bruce wayne uses the trauma as strength.

Continued success across generations.

>Classic old school comics fans love him.
>Old people liked him in that 60s TV show when they were kids
>The general population got their first taste of him with the Burton movies and liked it
>The 21+ generation loved Batman TAS
>Justice League show brought in another generation
>Nolan movies turned Batman into mega blockbuster movie franchise

Batman just keeps building and building. WB is smart to keep introducing Batman to younger audiences via kid friendly media such as Lego Batman and Batman: The Brave and Bold so they can always have a fresh supply of consumers.

Because Superman is too boring and overpowered.

>>93013722
There have been times when Batman was irrelevant, like in the 50s and in the 70s-80s. The Burton movies happened at a time when the franchise hadn't been in the public consciousness for almost a generation.

>>93013762
This. People don't seem to understand that outside the Bat-craze of the late 60's Batman wasn't really a very big franchise, and the announcement of the Burton movie to most people was like if they announced Michael Bay was going to do a Flintstones movie today.

The popular conception of Batman being the corny show with the Batusi even prevented people from taking the comics seriously. DC fans in the 70's and 80's knew he had been reinvented to be cool again, but until TDKR got really big most Marvel fans didn't. There's a reason to this day you hear a lot of people from that time say they got into DC through TDKR.

Batman's current popularity is due to three key things: being already well-known from the show, the '89 movie being the first big "gritty reboot" and making him even more well-known, and TDK being the first of the even GRITTIER reboots. Three really well-timed moments.

I don't think there's anything really intrinsic about the character that made people like him like many people say. He was just at the right place at the right times, so everyone knows him.

>>93013480
It's a character with really good defined limits and traits, also he has the best villains of DC.

TL;DR:Bill Finger.

>>93013480
Well, unlike Superman or Captain Amercia, he doesn't suck.

>>93013529
>he piggybacked off the fans of Zorro, The Phantom, and the Scarlet Pimpernel
I'll take 3 superheroes that haven't been popular for 80 years for $500, Alex.

They gave Batman a black leather outfit in the Burton movies because his blue and gray duds had been too linked in the public consciousness with Adam West. The ironic thing was that the cheesy 60s Batman started when Carmine Infantino got put in charge of the comics in 1963. He didn't really like Batman that much and deliberately did stupid, almost self-parodying stories.

>>93014585
He was already campy under Weisinger in the 50s.

>>93014138
I KNOW this, but it still feels weird as a 30+ guy to never know a time when Batman WASN'T huge, and Superman was the guy getting all the juicy good stories and media.

>>93013762
The 1997 Batman & Robin kind of killed the movies for a while until the Christian Bale stuff.

>>93014138
>Not mentioning BTAS.

>>93013480
>Elegant design
>Has a dreary and gothic atmosphere close behind me
>Versatile (Adam West Batman is an example)
>Iconic and clear cut villains and supporting cast
>His gadgets were easy to market to as toys

>>93014585
Adam West actually offered to come back and play the character again. They told his fat 60 year old ass where to go.

So he was just all like "Oh well, I've already played Batman. Someone else can do it."

>>93013722
>>Old people liked him in that 60s TV show when they were kids

I'm not old you're just a brat screw you millenials get off my lawn and find a job dammit. Adam West is the single best, most definitive Batman ever. Was any other Batman elected Mayor as a pinch hitter candidate in the most ridiculously obvious subversion of democracy imaginable WHILE deliberately and slowly delivering morals about the greatness of the very institution he was shotting all over?

>>93014138
What you are misidentifying is successful property management. Bats keeps coming back for each generation and he and his rogue's gallery are redefined for each generation.
Yeah, that means that the last Bats is always seen as an embarrassment and there are interregenums on a regular basis, but that is part of his success.

>>93014956
Yeah the Flintstones comparison didn't really work since that's an example of a franchise that has never successfully been updated to appeal to contemporary tastes.

>>93014956
>that means that the last Bats is always seen as an embarrassment
I don't quite have as much experience with this wave pattern as you but I was there for the 90s movies and all, and you know when Nolan came around and I got word (not sure where now that I think about it) about this sort of thing I found it hard to believe.

It just seemed to me odd that anyone would recoil from a grounded Batman.
Then came the memes. Now technically that's less byproduct of the grounded thing and more the contrast those scenes have to the rest. I mean the idea of Batman to begin with is silly so it can't be helped either way but still it was an eyebrow raiser for sure.

What really made me a believer was Snyder Batman. I figured in the comics when Batman became grimmer and edgier it could be tolerated since it would just come and go, and in the games it's A GAME so it's fine to have tank mode Batman for the kick.

But when I saw Snyder trying to play this whole thing straight and the reaction I couldn't help but see that yes every take will have its oddities. I don't know what the next wave will look like, but I can see how fans of it might look at MARTHA and think it a bit much, much the way some people might see the Batusi or Ice Puns and raise an eyebrow.

It's an interesting thing to watch this cultural paper plane effect through a character. The way we can start shaky, soar, spiral and then sharply nose dive. It's like moderation does not exist in our DNA. Something has to give eventually. Of course one could say it has nothing to do with some invisible natural human force from our psychology, and more to do with directors like Schumacher and Snyder eventually getting their hands on things when everyone sensible before walks off. Still, curious.

>>93013480
is Burton's failt!

>>93015217
The Flintstones was based on a one-note joke about a 1950s sitcom which is why it hasn't translated to today's audiences.

>>93014319
>I'll take 3 heroes that haven't been popular for 80 years
Uhh how old do you think Batman is?

>>93013557
This is so important. When a Marvel movie or cartoon isn't 100% accurate, I bitch. When a Batman/DC movie or cartoon is inaccurate, it feels totally fine. I think it's how easy Batman is to learn, remember, and then take out there like a jazz song is what keeps him working.

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>>93013480
he's very malleable. he can fit in all sorts of genres.

he works in detective stories, horror, all sorts of super hero stuff, sci-fi, pulp, etc.