When did Batman surpass every other DC hero in popularity? And Why did he?

[Nomads1]

I don't think that it's something that can be reduced to a single event. It was a sum of circunstances that spread out throughout a few decades. First. Batman was one of the few DC characters to survive relatively unscatched the transition between the golden and the silver age. But so did Superman and Wonder Woman. It's arguable if the Adam West Batman TV show did more damage than good to the characters image, however, it's undenieable that it kept him standing out in the public's eye. However, in the early 70's he already got a leg up on those competing characters, when Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and, to a lesser degree, Irv Novick started handling the character. The storyline around the birth of the characters of R'as Al'Ghul and Talia Al'Ghul was really groundbreaking, quite often even overshadowing the "hip" competition of Marvel, and catapulted the Dark Knight to the forefront of the DC pantheon of characters, even if Superman still struggled stay at his side (Supes was still, then, the most recognizable comic book character in the world). At least, comicswise. Let's not forget the success of Donner and Reeve's Superman. Then came the 80's and not only the groundbreaking TDKR, but also Tim Burton's Batman managed to push Bats into the silver screen, with undenieable success. Aftyer that, I think it was just a matter of sedmenting the character's status as DC's top dog. A slew of graphic novels, prestige formats and comicbook events, many of them of excelent quality, gave us an overdose of of Batman. The 90's highly successful Batman animated series was another step up the ladder. Until, finally, Grant Morrisson's JLA gave us the "Batgod" who was always oprepared and that stood shoulder to shoulder with gods as the epitome of human potential and ingeniousness. After that, it was just a matter of endlessly milking the character.

Peace