He鈥檚 the hero Gotham deserves, not always the one it needs, but certainly the one that filmgoers are clamouring for.
The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in director Christopher Nolan鈥檚 acclaimed take on the Batman mythology, comes out this Friday, entering a summer movie season already dominated by superheroes.
But Rises is perhaps the most anticipated of them all, building as it does on two films鈥�Batman Begins and The Dark Knight鈥攖hat managed to rack up both massive box-office dollars and the sorts of critical raves generally reserved for Oscar contenders. Nolan鈥檚 modern, realistic Gotham grounds Batman at the centre of political intrigue and danger, raising questions of power, order and justice that echo the times.
Todd McCallum, assistant professor in Dal鈥檚 Department of History, is something of a Batman aficionado; he鈥檚 even planning a book on the character鈥檚 legacy, titled Boss Bruce Wayne. He says one reason why Nolan鈥檚 take on Batman has been so popular is that it taps into the character鈥檚 elemental darkness.
鈥淧ersonally, my take is that we love Batman because he suffers so much,鈥� he explains. 鈥淗e has dedicated his life to fulfilling a childhood vow made to his dead parents, and he understands everything he does in relation to the progress of his campaign. As Bruce Wayne, his personal relationships are destined to remain superficial and dishonest to the core, sublimated to the larger goal of eliminating crime, especially those involving violence.鈥�
A vigilante through the ages
That said, we haven鈥檛 always loved Batman. In fact, DC Comics contemplated cancelling the franchise in the 1960s because of lagging sales compared to those of the Superman family of characters. And while the campy 60s live-action television series introduced a new generation to the Caped Crusader, its tone was decidedly at odds with the character鈥檚 origins, and it took until Tim Burton鈥檚 1989 film for Batman to return to the screen.
In the comics, Batman has had his share of evolutions. He first appeared in Detective Comics in 1939, and was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. He was a violent vigilante: using a gun, letting criminals die, and Bruce Wayne鈥檚 playboy antics were dialed way up. You could even say that the character was a bit of a one percenter, focused on recovering missing jewels and other treasures of Gotham鈥檚 elite. But soon, the character was refocused on more populist, patriotic ends, though never quite to the degree of his counterpart, Superman.
鈥淎t the end of the Great Depression, a time that most historians believe represented the peak of leftist activism in America, Bruce Wayne鈥攖he embodiment of the idle rich man who profited from the labour of others but did no useful work himself鈥� becomes a 'Caped Crusader,'鈥� says Dr. McCallum. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a variant of the American Dream: that the louche playboy is really a hero, who spends his wealth not on conspicuous consumption but fighting criminal gangs and aiding the citizenry.鈥�
Over the years, the character has flirted with science fiction and psychedelica. He鈥檚 had many sidekicks, including various Robins and Batgirls. There鈥檚 been alternative or imaginary stories, including a Batman who fights vampires and werewolves in Victorian Gotham and a libertarian Batman fighting a futuristic totalitarian state. In the 1970s and 80s, the character was modernized, and iconic arcs by writers such as Steve Englehart and Frank Miller told stories that were darker, more adult, and highly influential on Nolan鈥檚 take on the character. Miller's The Dark Knight Returns seems particularly relevant to The Dark Knight Rises, dealing as it does with an aging Bruce Wayne who returns to the Batsuit after a long hiatus.
Bane: Batman鈥檚 physical threat
Nolan鈥檚 first two Dark Knight films relied on classic villains from Batman鈥檚 rogues gallery: The Joker, Two-Face, and The Scarecrow all date back to the 1940s, whereas Batman Begins鈥� Ra鈥檚 Al Ghul first appeared in the 1970s, a stereotypical Arab articulating America鈥檚 rising fears of the Middle East.
The Dark Knight Rises adds another classic character in Catwoman, but its primary villain is a far more recent creation. The monstrous Bane first appeared in the comics in the early 1990s, with physical capabilities scientifically engineered by a chemical called 鈥渧enom.鈥� In the famous Knightfall story arc, Bane breaks Batman鈥檚 back, crippling him (see left). This leads to Bruce Wayne being replaced as Batman by a character named Azrael, though eventually Wayne returns to the post.
The fact that Bane sounds like Bain Capital鈥攑residential candidate Mitt Romney鈥檚 former firm鈥攈as even generated halfway-serious speculation that the movie might influence the American election.
鈥淩ush Limbaugh has weighed in on it, so you know it must be an important issue!鈥� says Dr. McCallum, with a laugh. 鈥淎nyway, the funny thing about this for me lays in the fact that writer Chuck Dixon, co-creator of Bane with artist Graham Nolan, is one of the most conservative comic-book writers out there.鈥�
Dr. McCallum鈥檚 favourite of Nolan鈥檚 two films thus far is The Dark Knight, to which he largely credits the performances of Heath Ledger as the Joker and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. He鈥檚 intrigued to see how Nolan wraps up the series, and says it鈥檚 fitting that Nolan鈥檚 superhero francise feels darker and deeper than most of its contemporaries.
鈥淯nlike [fellow DC characters] Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman, Batman represents both human suffering and the equally human attempt to bring about its end.鈥�