http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/Batman

Advertisement:

The Dark Knight. The Caped Crusader. The World's Greatest Detective. The Most Dangerous Man on Earth. One half of The Dynamic Duo. The iconic Cowl.

The Badass Normal Superhero.

The Goddamn Batman.

Created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger (who until 2015 was uncreditednote The New '10s led to DC finally negotiating official acknowledgment for Finger who is now considered the major creative force of the character), Batman is also one of the greatest Trope Makers and Trope Codifiers in not just comics, but all visual media; one of the oldest superheroes still in print — having debuted in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) — Batman is one of the three best known Superheroes ever (alongside Superman and Spider-Man), one of the flagships of DC Comics and one of the most popular comic book characters ever created.

Advertisement:

At the age of eight, billionaire heir Bruce Wayne witnessed the murder of his parents at the hands of a mugger. Swearing vengeance against all criminals and vowing never to take a life, Bruce used his parents' vast fortune to travel the world and hone his fighting abilities and detective skills. When he felt he was ready, Bruce returned to his beloved Gotham City, intent on removing the criminal element that had overrun the city in his absence. Donning a costume with a bat motif to strike fear into criminals and armed with his keen intellect and arsenal of crime-fighting gadgetry, Bruce protects the streets of Gotham as "The Batman" at night while pretending to be a clueless playboy billionaire by day.

In addition to this appealing and unique origin story, Batman has an iconic supporting cast and, more crucially, the single largest and most iconic Rogues Gallery in all of comic book history, as well as one of the most beloved. Many of them are up there with the Dark Knight himself in terms of pop culture relevance and recognition. While his Arch-Enemy, The Joker, is the most recognizable, villains such as Two-Face, The Penguin, The Riddler, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, and Mr. Freeze are recognizable even to those with only the most basic knowledge of comics. Over time, many of his enemies began to be written as dark reflections of certain aspects of Batman's personality, such as The Joker with overall sanity, Two-Face with duality and identity, Scarecrow with the use of fear, etc.

Advertisement:

The Batman mythos has expanded into virtually every medium in the decades since the character's debut, and there's a good argument to be made for Batman being the most critically and culturally successful superhero in history. To put it simply, he has never gone out of style. Further proven by the wide variety and range of mediums he has been adapted into over 80 years and counting. He has been different things in different times. A pulp-fiction costumed hero modeled on The Shadow in his early stories, a campy pop-art TV Show in The '60s, a Darker and Edgier post-apocalyptic anti-hero in the mid-80s, Art Deco retro Genre Throwback in late eighties and early-mid 90s, modern neo-noir in The Oughties and the ultimate spectacle fighter in The New '10s. Initially, Batman swung between a bright, shiny Cape and a dark, nightmarish Shadow Archetype and the iconic Cowl. Since The '80s, the latter has been the main default trend, albeit varying in degree of darkness. Of course, since the character is inherently appealing, versions friendlier to children continue to be produced and made well into the current era, standing alongside the darker take on the character.

This series has a (very long) Character Sheet.

Batman Media:

open/close all folders

Ongoing Series

Comic Storylines

One-Shots & Limited Series

Anime

Batman Ninja (2018) - A Japanese-made animated movie involving Batman getting transported into an alternate version of feudal Japan where Joker has reigned there and once again, Batman must stop him, helped with Sengoku period figures re-imagined or molded with characters from the franchise. Kōichi Yamadera is confirmed to voice Batman in this animated feature for the Japanese version, and in the English dub, Roger Craig Smith reprised his role from Batman: Arkham Origins.

Literature

Live-Action TV

Films — Live-Action

Music

Radio

As That Other Wiki notes, two attempts at a U.S. series during the Golden Age of Radio never got off the ground, though the Dynamic Duo did make guest appearances on The Adventures of Superman, both in crossover stories and solo ones to give the regular star playing Superman, Bud Collyer, some time off. Decades later, award-winning producer Dirk Maggs created two acclaimed radio series for the BBC starring the Dark Knight. The first, The Lazarus Syndrome, is a completely original drama. The second, an adaptation of Knightfall, ran as short segments within the DJ show hosted by Mark Goodier. Both are noted for Michael Gough reprising his film role as Alfred.

Manga

Pinball

Tabletop Games

Theater

Batman The Musical. No, really. It never made it onstage, but you can still read about What Might Have Been here and listen to the demo recordings.

Batman Live: a big-budget arena show that premiered in the UK July '11 and toured Europe and North America. It focuses on the relationship between Batman and Robin, and is a fusion between theatre, circus, and hand-drawn animation.

Theme Parks

The Six Flags chain features Batman-themed rides in at least nine of its parks as of 2019; the ones in Texas, Georgia and Maryland have full "Gotham City" sections.

Video Games

Web Animation

Web Comics

Western Animation

Various parts of the franchise have provided the name for:

Tropes among all versions:

Tropes A-M

Tropes N-Z