Superhero Week - Featuring Batman

I am starting the SUPERHERO WEEK a little earlier than planned. The hype about the Batman movie - "The Dark Knight" has forced me to move up my timetable. I am featuring Batman today for SUPERHERO WEEK!

Alter Ego:
Bruce Wayne

Team Affiliations:
Batman Family
Justice League
Wayne Enterprises
Outsiders

Partnerships:
Robin

Abilities:
Genius-level Intelligence
Master Detective
Master Escapologist
Peak Human Physical Condition
Martial Arts Master
Access to High-Tech Equipment
Extensive Monetary Resources

Secret Identity: Bruce Wayne

In his secret identity, Batman is Bruce Wayne, a billionaire businessman who lives in Gotham City. To the world at large, Bruce Wayne is often seen as an irresponsible, superficial playboy who lives off his family's personal fortune (amassed when Bruce's family invested in Gotham real estate before the city was a bustling metropolis) and the profits of Wayne Enterprises, a major private technology firm that he inherits. However, Wayne is also known for his contributions to charity, notably through his Wayne Foundation charity. Bruce creates the playboy public persona to aid in throwing off suspicion of his secret identity, often acting dim-witted and self-absorbed to further the act.

Skills, Abilities, and Resources

Unlike many superheroes, Batman has no superpowers and instead relies on "his own scientific knowledge, detective skills, and athletic prowess." Batman is physically at the peak of human ability in dozens of areas, notably martial arts, acrobatics, strength, and escape artistry. Intellectually, he is just as peerless; Batman is one of the world's greatest scientists, engineers, criminologists, and tacticians, as well as a master of disguise, often gathering information under the identity of Matches Malone. Rather than simply outfighting his opponents, Batman often uses cunning and planning to outwit them. Superman describes Batman as "the most dangerous man on Earth," able to defeat a team of superpowered aliens all by himself in order to rescue his imprisoned teammates (during his affiliation with the Justice League).

Costume: The Batsuit

Batman's costume incorporates the imagery of a bat in order to frighten criminals. The details of the Batman costume change repeatedly through various stories and media, but the most distinctive elements remain consistent: a scallop-hem cape, a cowl covering most of the face featuring a pair of batlike ears, and a stylized bat emblem on the chest, plus the ever-present utility belt. The costumes' colors are traditionally thought of as blue and grey, although this colorization arose due to the way comic book art is colored.

Equipment

Batman utilizes a large arsenal of specialized gadgets in his war against crime, the designs of which usually share a bat motif. Batman historian Les Daniels credits Gardner Fox with creating the concept of Batman's arsenal with the introduction of the utility belt in Detective Comics #29 (July 1939) and the first bat-themed weapons the batarang and the "Batgyro" in Detective Comics #31 and #32 (September; October, 1939). Batman's primary vehicle is the Batmobile, which is usually depicted as an imposing black car with large tailfins that suggest a bat's wings. Batman's other vehicles include the Batplane (aka the Batwing), Batboat, Bat-Sub, and Batcycle.

In proper practice, the "bat" prefix (as in batmobile or batarang) is rarely used by Batman himself when referring to his equipment, particularly after some portrayals (primarily the 1960s Batman live-action television show and the Super Friends animated series) stretched the practice to campy proportions. The 1960s television series Batman has an arsenal that includes such ridiculous, satirical "bat-" names as the bat-computer, bat-scanner, bat-radar, bat-cuffs, bat-pontoons, bat-drinking water dispenser, bat-camera with polarized bat-filter, bat-shark repellent bat-spray, and bat-rope. [This was my favorite part. I had a laugh at this mostly because I remember the reruns of the 1960s Batman tv show!]

Batman keeps most of his field equipment in a utility belt. Over the years it is shown to contain a virtually limitless variety of crime fighting tools. Different versions of the belt have these items stored in either pouches or hard cylinders attached evenly around it.

In some of his early appearances, Batman uses guns (see especially Detective Comics #32, September 1939). However, this soon changed. In Batman #1 Batman is depicted as using a gun, stating "Much as I hate to take human life, I'm afraid this time it's necessary." Soon after this the editor of the Batman comic books did not like the direction that Batman used guns or took a human life and declared that Batman would no longer carry guns or kill the villians. There have been occasions since then that have made it almost necessary to take dispose of the villians permanently. In the 1989 Batman film, firearms figure more prominently in the Dark Knight's arsenal; machine guns and grenades are mounted on the Batmobile, and missiles and machine cannons on the Batwing.

Batcave

The Batcave is Batman's secret headquarters, consisting of a series of subterranean caves beneath his residence, Wayne Manor. It serves as his command center for both local and global surveillance, as well as housing his vehicles and equipment for his war on crime. It also is a storeroom for Batman's memorabilia. In both the comic Batman: Shadow of the Bat (issue #45) and the 2005 film Batman Begins, the cave is said to have been part of the Underground Railroad. Of the heroes and villains who see the Batcave, few know where it is located. The cave is also home to a large colony of bats which Batman can summon to a scene with a sonic device. Batman also has several little caches throughout the city, linked together through his computer, where he stores extra equipment.

Batman's Enemies

Stay tuned for Super-Villian Week!