7/27/2014 Batman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman 2/29
Catwoman
Superman
Wonder Woman
Green Arrow
Notable aliases Matches Malone,[2] Sir
Hemingford Grey, Mordecai
Wayne, The Insider, Lefty
Knox,[3] Minuteman[4]
Abilities
Genius-level intellect
Peak physical and mental
conditioning
Master martial artist,
acrobat, detective,
escapologist, strategist,
swordsman, tactician, and
marksman
Use of high-tech
equipment, weapons,
armors, & gadgets
Master of stealth
Master of disguise
Highly proficient with
technology
Excellent observational
skills
Access to vast wealth and
criminal records
Trained computer hacker
Photographic memory
5 Supporting characters
5.1 Robin
5.2 Enemies
5.3 Others
6 Cultural impact
6.1 In other media
6.2 Gay interpretations
7 Notes
8 References
9 External links
Publication history
Creation
In early 1939, the success of Superman in Action
Comics prompted editors at the comic book division
of National Publications (the future DC Comics) to
request more superheroes for its titles. In response,
Bob Kane created "the Bat-Man."
[5]
Collaborator
Bill Finger recalled "Kane had an idea for a character
called 'Batman', and he'd like me to see the drawings.
I went over to Kane's, and he had drawn a character
who looked very much like Superman with kind of ...
reddish tights, I believe, with boots ... no gloves, no
gauntlets ... with a small domino mask, swinging on a
rope. He had two stiff wings that were sticking out,
looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign ...
BATMAN."
[6]
The bat wing like cape was suggested
by Bob Kane; who was inspired by seeing Leonardo
Da Vinci's sketch of an ornithopter flying device as a
child.
[7]
Finger offered such suggestions as giving the character a cowl instead of a simple domino mask, a cape instead
of wings, and gloves, and removing the red sections from the original costume.
[8][9][10][11]
Finger said he
devised the name Bruce Wayne for the character's secret identity: "Bruce Wayne's first name came from Robert
Bruce, the Scottish patriot. Bruce, being a playboy, was a man of gentry. I searched for a name that would
suggest colonialism. I tried Adams, Hancock ... then I thought of Mad Anthony Wayne."
[12]
He later said his
suggestions were influenced by Lee Falk's popular The Phantom, a syndicated newspaper comic-strip
character with which Kane was familiar as well.
[13]
Kane and Finger drew upon contemporary 1930s popular culture for inspiration regarding much of the Bat-
Man's look, personality, methods and weaponry. Details find predecessors in pulp fiction, comic strips,
newspaper headlines, and autobiographical details referring to Kane himself.
[14]
As an aristocratic hero with a
double identity, the Bat-Man had predecessors in the Scarlet Pimpernel (created by Baroness Emmuska Orczy,