Does DC only care about Batman?

[CTTT]

First off, I'm a Bat-fan, I think he's a great character. Seems like the solicits that I'm reading here and for DC have a few keywords: Gotham, Batman, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, etc. Even with other media it seems like he's front and center. Even Superman gets shoved a little bit and he was the pioneer for DC. In canon, they always have Bats outsmart Superman with his tech even though Supes can overpower him out of his mech suit, easily. Seems like with DC editorial they want to flood the market with more Bat books. Again, I love Batman, but the Justice League has other heroes that deserve good promotion and comics. It's called the Justice League not the Batman League. I'm not saying he should be cancelled but toned down a little bit. Marvel has the same problem with Wolverine and Spider-Man by comparison.

[Lee Stone]

Since 1989, yes.
Although, they did have a fascination with Lobo briefly and with Harley Quinn most recently.

[Vampire Savior]

I believe this comes down to somewhat of a chicken or the egg argument. Batman sells, so DC gives buyers what they want. Though, I guess you can argue that Batman sells because DC prioritizes him above every other character. It's somewhat of a combination of both, but I'm going to give the former an edge. Especially when I see comics fans complaining about reboots, but that's what they buy, and I see them complaining about events, but that's what they buy, and they complain about variants, but that's what they buy. They complain about Batman, but that's what they buy.

If you want to blame someone, blame the people who are buying so much Batman and so little of everything else. If they changed their ways, I have a really strong feeling DC would change its ways.

[lemonpeace]

no, they care about Superman, Harley Quinn, and (sometimes )Wonder Woman too.

[Korath]

Plus I would say that the Bat-corner is kind of sick right now. Sells are hardly what they used to be for all the Bat-titles.

The only two consistently good titles since 2016 have been Red Hood and the Outlaws and more recently Batman and the Outsiders, and both of them are largely left alone by and distanced from the main Batman series.

[Vordan]

He sells and sells consistently. He’s the only one who has had huge success in all outside media: Cartoons, TV, movies, toys, etc. His closest second is Supes who has struggled to have a film success post-Donner (although I was surprised to see Returns made more than Begins), hasn’t had a cartoon in decades, had a long running and successful TV show, but will probably never get a video game. So yes DC focuses on Batman because his fans put their money where their mouth is and buy his stuff. It’s annoying but what can you do?

[scary harpy]

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Yyyeeesss.

In truth, DC could greatly reduce the number of heroes it showcases (think iconic members of the Justice League and their ‘families’). In more truth, they could even do less than that.

Until recently, characters like the Doom Patrol and Hawk & Dove were known only comic book gee...uh, enthusiasts. I doubt most people could name 35 to 40 of DC's heroes and villains.

And then there’s Batman…and his family…and his villains.

[superduperman]

Yes.

Look, a character is only as popular as the people who own them allow them to be. Look at Snyder and Superman. MOS was a divisive movie. But who greenlit it? Everyone looks at the Nolan Bat-movies and generally agree that was a good way to go. But Snyder's "destroy half a city and kill his enemies" version of Superman was something they had to know would divide fans and they did it anyway. Superman has been rebooted how many times? They COULD make a good Superman TV show but they're choosing not to. They DID make a good Flash TV show. They DID make a good WW movie. So we know they can work with characters other than Batman, they simply choose to prioritize Batman above all other characters. Even something like Arrow is just Batman with a bow.

I don't know if the "Batman above all else" mindset has truly been around since '89 but has definitely been around since the 1990s. Look at the DCAU. Batman is the smart leader and everyone else are pawns or worse. Superman can barely lift a car over his head and gets manipulated by everyone from Luthor to the government to Darkseid and Batman has to talk him down. WW is gaga over him. A Supergirl clone destroys the JL satellite and Batman is the only one who can guide it down safely. I mean, this isn't that hard to see. Even something like Batman Beyond. You made a cartoon about Old Man Wayne before a Justice League cartoon?

Even most of their reprints they've been doing lately are Batman stuff. First appearance of Ras' Al Ghul. First appearance of Poison Ivy. Frank Miller is given carte blanche to do what he wants even though he's not nearly as talented as he was 30 years ago. And why? Batman. Most of their Elseworlds are about how much smarter Batman is than everybody else. That one from the nineties where everyone loses their powers and Superman becomes a drunk and WW becomes a drug addict. Yes, that was an actual Elseworld that DC signed off on. Guess who was the one character who turned out fine? How many cartoons has Batman had? How many animated movies? When you have fans of one particular character running a company, that particular character will get prioritization. It's not a secret Didio was a fan of the Batman TV show when he was a kid. I imagine Lee and some of the others were too. To be fair, some people like Johns have tried to expand outside the Bat-box, as it were. But it's hard to move past your highest selling character when you've pushed him for so long.

[DCStu]

Yeah. To be honest I do think DC put Batman first. And I've thought it for years. In fact - back in 2016 when "BvSoJ" and "SS" were disappointments - I thought that after "JL" they'd just carry on making Batman and Harley Quinn movies with Affleck and Robbie, and use the other Justice League members in occasional guest appearances in the films. I really thought that's how it was gonna go.

[cranger]

Those terms might stick out especially if you are honed in on them being a fan and are also probably the most common, but more than enough books have nothing to do with Batman.

[caj]

Not sure if DC commissioned this or not, but Entertainment Weekly has a story on Batman artist Clay Mann and Bruce Wayne's beefcake beach-bod in Batman #79. Batman seems to be everywhere these days.

https://ew.com/books/2019/09/17/batm...yne-magnum-pi/

[qwertyuiop1998]

Now Batman is basically in DC's every single franchise.....So yes, DC really wants to extract all this character profit.

[Frontier]

I think it's a stretch to say that DC only cares about Batman, but given he is one of their most popular and successful heroes I also don't think it would be remiss to notice that he and his line of characters tend to get more effort, merchandise, media, and promotion put into them then the average DC hero.

[LifeIsILL]

You can read a whole bunch of DC books and not even know Batman exists, I believe that there is a lot variety in DC.

[Dred]

They care about anything they can put in a movie.