There have been three generations of Batman on the screen. There was the comedic Batman of 1966–68 (one of the first TV series in color); the movie Batman of 1989–97 (which suffered from a lot of bad acting); and the dark Batman of 2005–12 (which explores the origins of the title character). Inspiration came from the original Batman comic from 1940 onwards (pictured, left) and the Dark Knight illustrated novel from 1986.
Each “re-imagining” took a very different approach to the character of Batman (and Robin). That kept things interesting. But for 70 years, there has been a constant in the Batman universe: the villains. Not the specific villains, but the kind of personality they have.
Like many Americans, I’ve been saddened by the killing of moviegoers at last Friday’s premiere of the latest Batman film in a Denver suburb. The incident is puzzling from beginning to end. A Ph.D. student buys a movie ticket, sits in the front row, watches 20 minutes of the film, then goes outside, puts on body armor, and returns with an assault rifle, a shotgun and handguns. He creates some smoke, then opens fire and tries to kill everybody. He is caught right away — but he expected to be caught. He had taken the trouble to booby-trap his apartment, but told police about it before they went there. Photos of him in custody show he’s dyed his hair orange. An earlier photo shows him sporting a wicked grin.
Where have we seen this all before? In Batman — every episode, every film.
James Holmes, the 24-year-old killer, supposedly told police he had dyed his hair orange to resemble Batman’s archenemy, the Joker (although the Joker has green hair). When investigators were finally able to enter Holmes’s apartment, they found a Batman mask there. What would Batman make of this?
Like I said above, Batman’s villains all have a similar personality. They are all misunderstood geniuses with untreated mental illnesses. If they can’t get the fame they deserve, they will settle for notoriety, which they can get by killing enough people at once.
The character of Batman is able to solve the crimes, predict the villains’ next move and capture the bad guys because he knows how their minds work. He has no sympathy with villains of this sort because he knows they can’t be reformed.
How does he know this? Well, Batman himself is a little unhinged. He saw his parents be killed as they were being robbed, so he decided at a young age to become a vigilante and snuff out all criminals. He’s so obsessed that if he weren’t the good guy, he’d be pretty dangerous.
Holmes, if he talks, may turn out to be one of the most fascinating killers of our time. “Let’s keep in mind that he was studying neuroscience,” Marissa Randazzo, a former chief research psychologist for the US Secret Service, told ABC television. “He was studying exactly the type of brain issues that we’re going to be talking about throughout this whole case.”
Batman lore is fascinating because it is so psychological. It’s just tragic that it’s now part of real life.
