Why Is Batman So Popular?

[CEOjo]

A recent video on YouTube was uploaded explaining why Batman is so popular. Check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acVBwValOVE

So what is YOUR personal take on why Batman is one of the most popular superheroes of all time?

[Tony]

For basically 30 years now they have jobbed the entire DC universe for him. He's actually the worlds most powerful meta human that alters reality at will. Batman died somewhere in the 80's now he's Super Batman who makes others stupid and weak when they get near him.

[GreenLanternRanger]

Because he is the character that DC has pimped the most for decades now.

And because bats are cool.

[oasis1313]

We've been waiting all these decades and decades for Duke Thomas.

[Pohzee]

Batman is popular because he was popular.

It is sort of a self-perpetuating thing. He's popular so he gets the best artists/ writers/ movies/ games. Because of this presence, he becomes more popular.

Plus there's probably sonething to be said about the fact that he has no superpowers and hides in darkness.

[ComicBookNoob]

Preach, finally a black Robin

[godisawesome]

Batman is popular because he was popular.

It is sort of a self-perpetuating thing. He's popular so he gets the best artists/ writers/ movies/ games. Because of this presence, he becomes more popular.

Plus there's probably sonething to be said about the fact that he has no superpowers and hides in darkness.

This, but I'd like to add another query to this discussion: when and how did Batman become so much more popular than Superman?

Because for about 50+ years, Superman was still very much the biggest superhero; he got to comics, radio, movie serials, cartoons, tv, and modern cinema all before Batman, and at one point held 5 seperate solo series (so that there was "A Superman comic for every week of the year!"). He even found success in spin offs before Batman did; while Robin was codifying sidekicks, he was still relegated to back up stories, while Superman launched the massive (at the time) Legion of Superheroes, and had another spinoff that could be described as "literally the exact same formula and clichés as the regular book, but everyone's about 15 years younger, and it's in Kansas!"

And that's why, even into the 90's Batman was still in second place and tended to draw the bets creators after the Superman books got them. But, the 90's was also the last full surge of Superman's popularity above Batman: while he started out holding those 5 solo series and having four spin offs from his universe featuring his "Team Superman", by the end of the 00's he was down to two solos, and Supergirl and Legion as rebooted spin offs, while Batman still maintained roughly 4 titles that focused on Batman and Gotham, and still had Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, and eventually expanded even more. And nowadays, getting the Batman title is basically a coronation as top writer for DC (or at least tied with whatever project Geoff Johns is on), and just writing one of his spin offs gets you serious street cred, while Superman is cursed with a rotating list of writers desperately trying to re-excite the fanbase.

And to me, the reason why Batman now reigns supreme at DC is because he and his associated properties almost never lost momentum, either in comics or in other media. Superman and Batman both had a four film series which ended on a sour note, but Superman got stalled in development for so long afterwards that Batman had finished his 4 film run despite a late start and still beat Superman Returns to the theater with Batman Begins, and while SR petered out in spite of being successful, BB launched the hugely successful Dark Knight Trilogy, which managed to get completed before Superman rebooted again. And while both Batman and Superman were part of the Timmverse DCAU, Batman also got two more highly respected cartoon that ran for about four seasons apiece, while Superman only managed to get a Legion of Superheroes cartoon that died after 2 seasons. The only area where Superman still holds a merchantile advantage over Batman is in live action TV, since we literally have had a Superman show for every decade since the 80's.

And the comics is where you see the momentum thing carried on even more. Both Batman and Superman had "The Hero is Gone!" mega events in the 90's that served as a platform to expand their books and create spin offs. But at some point, the guys in charge of Sueprman started having arguments about where to take the character; you had guys trying to slam on the bakes and reverse any major events and run back to the Silver Age, and you had guys launching Electric Superman. Meanwhile, in the Batman offices, everything just kept getting bigger, and characters kept building on their previous stories. And even though the New 52 came in a ned played havoc with both properties comic status quo, there's a reason why the Batman Rebirth seems to still be accepting the vast majority of Gotham related stories from the New 52, while Superman is now involving multiple realities and still rebooting its spin offs from the ground up.

[Nite-Wing]

Batman is the only character that DC has that can work when stretched
DC made a lot of changes in the 80s coinciding with the trends in storytelling at the time becoming popular
Batman fit and other characters couldn't
You wonder why Bryne's Man of Steel or Perez's Wonder Woman weren't as successful as a run from Doug Moench(which imo wasn't that good) its because you can't force versatility.

So now we have 30+ years of Bat dominance
Also diversity has been ushered into the line so more minority characters around Bruce helped too

[JBatmanFan05]

Batman is as popular as he is because he is an old character that's been Superman-level popular for a long time and he's versatile, he has fit every trend in comics and fiction. You can be a depressed nihilist in your basement wearing your Punisher or Sandman or Watchmen shirt and identify and with the stoic tough dark detective, or you can be a happy go lucky superhero fan and still like the colorful Batman and his world.

[darkseidpwns]

For basically 30 years now they have jobbed the entire DC universe for him. He's actually the worlds most powerful meta human that alters reality at will. Batman died somewhere in the 80's now he's Super Batman who makes others stupid and weak when they get near him.

That doesn't explain his popularity.

[Tony]

That doesn't explain his popularity.

Sure it does. He steals the agency of those around him. He's the one everyone looks too instead thinking of things themselves as they do when they are not propping up Batman. He takes down threats when the other heroes can't except if Batman wasn't there they would. Look at batman issue 2. You basically have Superman types trading punches with Grundy with little effect then Batman does a judo flip and he's defeated.

Or Batman Superman and Wonder Woman standing together punching out parademons as if they would be having the same effect.

Or in else worlds like injustice where the Joker grabs Lois. In any Superman comic he would spring into action. In a comic with Batman he has an emotional breakdown and begs for help. When Flash questions if the whole JLA is overkill for 1 woman they all look at Batman and he says not for this woman now go and they snap to action.

Or all the hundreds if not thousands of times out of character moments suddenly don't know how to react to things or solve problems until Batman tells them how or he survives encounters from not only the Joker but Darkseid.

They have made him the Ultimate male power fantasy. He's always right, he's always in charge, and most importantly he always wins. He's a Gary Stu. I still like good Batman stories but it's laughable to say he has no powers when reading Justice League comics. If he wasn't a godlike being he'd have died long long ago.

I half agree with Matt Wagner that thought Bruce doesn't work in modern day. I get that everyone would know who he is (
cameras, Satellites, computers) and don't mind suspending disbelief for that. I just think he gets silly when you pretend the Martian Manhunter or Flash or Green Lantern need him to win fights.

Bad writers do it with other characters as well look at Brad Metzler having Deathstroke take out the league. Flash wins all on his own if he's not getting completely screwed by bad writing.

[darkseidpwns]

Sure it does. He steals the agency of those around him. He's the one everyone looks too instead thinking of things themselves as they do when they are not propping up Batman. He takes down threats when the other heroes can't except if Batman wasn't there they would. Look at batman issue 2. You basically have Superman types trading punches with Grundy with little effect then Batman does a judo flip and he's defeated.

Or Batman Superman and Wonder Woman standing together punching out parademons as if they would be having the same effect.

Or in else worlds like injustice where the Joker grabs Lois. In any Superman comic he would spring into action. In a comic with Batman he has an emotional breakdown and begs for help. When Flash questions if the whole JLA is overkill for 1 woman they all look at Batman and he says not for this woman now go and they snap to action.

Or all the hundreds if not thousands of times out of character moments suddenly don't know how to react to things or solve problems until Batman tells them how or he survives encounters from not only the Joker but Darkseid.

They have made him the Ultimate male power fantasy. He's always right, he's always in charge, and most importantly he always wins. He's a Gary Stu. I still like good Batman stories but it's laughable to say he has no powers when reading Justice League comics. If he wasn't a godlike being he'd have died long long ago.

I half agree with Matt Wagner that thought Bruce doesn't work in modern day. I get that everyone would know who he is (
cameras, Satellites, computers) and don't mind suspending disbelief for that. I just think he gets silly when you pretend the Martian Manhunter or Flash or Green Lantern need him to win fights.

Bad writers do it with other characters as well look at Brad Metzler having Deathstroke take out the league. Flash wins all on his own if he's not getting completely screwed by bad writing.

That's just baloney,no body cares about all this, if companies could make their characters popular like that they'd take turns to make one guy look good for a few years at the expense of others all the time. Batman is popular because he has the Nolan movies, BTAS,the Arkham games and runs from industry big wigs like Morrison, Snyder and soon to be King. There that explains his popularity, a few other animated movies and cartoon series dont hurt and neither does Burton Batman.
Superman conversely isn't as popular because he hasn't had anything on par with Nolan movies or Arkham games nor has he had lengthy and well regarded runs, if anything constant exposure has actually hurt him because the material is sub par in the eyes of fans and critics, take MOS and Superman Returns as examples.

[mathew101281]

He has the most developed rogue's gallery and supporting cast. When it comes down to it Batman isn't all that different from old time characters like the Shadow and Zorro, its the villains and supporting cast that really add the uniqueness to his franchise. Most DC characters just don't have as much energy put into their supporting cast consistently.

[Nite-Wing]

Sure it does. He steals the agency of those around him. He's the one everyone looks too instead thinking of things themselves as they do when they are not propping up Batman. He takes down threats when the other heroes can't except if Batman wasn't there they would. Look at batman issue 2. You basically have Superman types trading punches with Grundy with little effect then Batman does a judo flip and he's defeated.

Or Batman Superman and Wonder Woman standing together punching out parademons as if they would be having the same effect.

Or in else worlds like injustice where the Joker grabs Lois. In any Superman comic he would spring into action. In a comic with Batman he has an emotional breakdown and begs for help. When Flash questions if the whole JLA is overkill for 1 woman they all look at Batman and he says not for this woman now go and they snap to action.

Or all the hundreds if not thousands of times out of character moments suddenly don't know how to react to things or solve problems until Batman tells them how or he survives encounters from not only the Joker but Darkseid.

They have made him the Ultimate male power fantasy. He's always right, he's always in charge, and most importantly he always wins. He's a Gary Stu. I still like good Batman stories but it's laughable to say he has no powers when reading Justice League comics. If he wasn't a godlike being he'd have died long long ago.

I half agree with Matt Wagner that thought Bruce doesn't work in modern day. I get that everyone would know who he is (
cameras, Satellites, computers) and don't mind suspending disbelief for that. I just think he gets silly when you pretend the Martian Manhunter or Flash or Green Lantern need him to win fights.

Bad writers do it with other characters as well look at Brad Metzler having Deathstroke take out the league. Flash wins all on his own if he's not getting completely screwed by bad writing.

welcome to the shared universe of dc comics
Also most of what you are saying is possibly a symptom of his popularity and not what you would say is the reason for it

[darkseidpwns]

Wonder why CW Flash is a jobber and moron even after 2 seasons or why Black Canary sucked so much in that universe,it's Batman's fault folks.