I'll start this tirade off by saying I saw Batman Begins, just like the rest of the free world, last week and thought it was an excellent movie. That being said there was one thing that just didn't sit right with me, why do the keep making Batman into a superhero?
Ok right about now your saying to yourself "Is this guy daft or what? Batman is a superhero, hell he wears tights and a cape right?"
Well yes and no. Batman has been lumped into the superhero line up from the days he got involved with the Justice League but he was never a "Super" hero. What I mean is that Batman didn't have any super powers that you usually associate with the other comic book heroes. Basically Batman was a regular guy who, due to emotional scaring, got pissed and wasn't gunna take it anymore. Think Charles Bronson in Death Wish, but with a cowl. Vigilante, city style -- Judge, Jury, and Executioner.
The appeal of Batman for me was the fact that he was human. He was F'ed up in the head due to seeing his parents gunned down in a back alleyway and going out and beating on criminals was the only way he could make sense of the world.
So what changed in the past few years? Well for some reason they keep giving the Bat this super cool armor that makes him all but invincible against bullets and knives (why no one ever aims for his unprotected face I'll never know). Also Bats can now use all kinds of "hyper-light" cloth in his cape that will allow him to fly. He has all kinds of nightvision, bat hearing, and even scanning devices so he can see through walls. The more they pile on these stupid "bat-extras" the more they strip from the original idea of The Batman being a hero because he's just a man who decides he's going to change the world or at least beat it into submission.
Oh well, I'm sure they'll be able to sell a lot more toys this way.
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Ok right about now your saying to yourself "Is this guy daft or what? Batman is a superhero, hell he wears tights and a cape right?"
Well yes and no. Batman has been lumped into the superhero line up from the days he got involved with the Justice League but he was never a "Super" hero. What I mean is that Batman didn't have any super powers that you usually associate with the other comic book heroes. Basically Batman was a regular guy who, due to emotional scaring, got pissed and wasn't gunna take it anymore. Think Charles Bronson in Death Wish, but with a cowl. Vigilante, city style -- Judge, Jury, and Executioner.
The appeal of Batman for me was the fact that he was human. He was F'ed up in the head due to seeing his parents gunned down in a back alleyway and going out and beating on criminals was the only way he could make sense of the world.
So what changed in the past few years? Well for some reason they keep giving the Bat this super cool armor that makes him all but invincible against bullets and knives (why no one ever aims for his unprotected face I'll never know). Also Bats can now use all kinds of "hyper-light" cloth in his cape that will allow him to fly. He has all kinds of nightvision, bat hearing, and even scanning devices so he can see through walls. The more they pile on these stupid "bat-extras" the more they strip from the original idea of The Batman being a hero because he's just a man who decides he's going to change the world or at least beat it into submission.
Oh well, I'm sure they'll be able to sell a lot more toys this way.
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