“Why Batman?” Almost everyone who interviews me asks that question, meaning either “Why is Batman so popular?” or “Why did you write a book about the psychology of Batman?” In other words, why do we and why do I find the Caped Crusader so intriguing?

Modern Mythology and Grim Tales

Psychiatrists (e. ., Bender, Kambam, & Pozios, 2011; Wertham, 1954) and psychologists (e.g., Daniels, 2008; Dreyer, 2009; Killian, 2007; Langley & Rosenberg, 2011; plus others interviewed in the History Channel documentary Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of the Dark Knight) analyze Batman more than any other superhero — the character himself, that is. Looking at Superman psychologically means looking at modern mythology. He's the modern demigod myth. While there's something mythic about Batman too, to be sure, he's more akin to the mortal legends like Robin Hood and pulp heroes like Zorro and the Shadow, extraordinary men but men nonetheless.

In bright, shining Superman, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster drew inspiration from divine heroes throughout the ages, "like Samson, Hercules, and all the strong men I ever heard of rolled into one — only more so" (Siegel, quoted by O'Neil, 2008, p. 1), to create not only Superman himself but the very concept of the costumed superhero. They made the meme. Where Superman drew his might from the Earth's sun, Batman found his in a city's darkness. Jerry and Joe played with the bright and impossible. Bob Kane and Bill Finger, in creating Batman, expanded the meme by adding the coin's other side, the dark and improbably possible.

Me and My Shadow

(1964) and Joseph Campbell (1949) looked at how archetypes, universal themes we inherit as part of our collective , symbolically shape myths and legends of heroes in similar ways throughout every culture in the world. According to them, the so-called "Hero's Journey" represents individuals' own psychological growth as they confront features of their personal and collective unconscious in order to grow, mature, and fulfill their potential as human beings.

The Shadow archetype represents your own dark side, not necessarily your evil side but the part of you that is hidden, out of the light, the sum of those characteristics you conceal from both the world and yourself. Bruce Wayne confronts his own darkest nature early in life, chooses to work with it, and uses it to instill in others. His bright and dark sides work together to fight evil. From a Jungian perspective, therefore, Batman appeals to our own need to face and manage our own Shadow selves. We want Batman in our shadows.

The Bat's Humanity

Regardless of possible mythical or archetypal reasons for the Dark Knight's appeal, we like him because he's fully human. Batman’s the superhero with no superpowers. He can walk into a room full of people who fly, read minds, and run faster than light, and yet he’s the one who intimidates them. His defines him, not superpowers.

His origin defines him as well, so much so that it’s part of his personality. Bruce Wayne doesn’t hail from some alien planet or mythical island, and his abilities don’t come from any magic ring, secret formula, or radioactive mishap. He was — and in many ways is — a little boy whose parents got gunned down in front of him.

Self-Made Man

Spider-Man and Superman are heroes because of their great upbringing, because their adoptive parents taught them through word and deed that with great power comes great responsibility. Bruce Wayne's parents similarly taught him to help those who have less than himself. Upbringing helped make heroes of all three, but a radioactive spider and extraterrestrial biology made superheroes of two of them. Batman made himself super. Through years of hard work and sheer determination, he built himself into the person he wanted to become, and that's inspiring. We know we can't become Spider-Man or Superman. Maybe we know we can't become Batman either, but Bruce Wayne nevertheless helps us feel that we can become something great, something of our own choosing.

Bats in His Belfry?

Because Batman is fully human and because a horrible trauma leads him to wear a mask and wage his war on , we can contemplate real psychological issues that drive people to do extreme things. Psychologists can examine how well he does or does not fit the symptoms of a variety of disorders. Nobody thinks it's weird for Superman to apply his natural gifts to help the members of this human race in a manner that keeps him above it all. When a guy runs around dressed like a bat, we have to wonder: Why the mask, the bat, and the underage partner? Why does he really wear a costume to fight crime? Why are his most intimate relationships with "bad girls" he ought to lock up? And why won't he kill that homicidal clown?

Is Batman ? ? Does he have , , or any other mental illness? Whether Batman has any specific mental disorder is a topic for another time. The point right now is that his characteristics and fictional biography provide plenty for anyone to mull over from a psychological perspective.

Enemies

Duality and obsession, his enemies’ and his own, fill Batman's stories. His enemies reflect and distort facets of himself. What psychopathologies lurk in the minds of supervillains like the Joker, the Riddler, Two-Face, and Catwoman? Are they really rogues and villains, or simply misunderstood victims of a heartless society? Do Batman and his foes depend on each other?

After the arrival of its mysterious hero, Gotham City sees a proliferation of costumed characters, some of them vigilantes but most of them criminals whose theatrics and preoccupations rival the Dark Knight's. Does Batman inspire their histrionics no less than he inspires new heroes, or does he attract creative crooks to his city? The Riddler and The Dark Knight Rises' antagonist Bane, for example, each moved to Gotham City specifically because they thought Batman would offer them each a worthy challenge. Maybe the city itself draws them all.

Like the hero who pursues them, most of Gotham City's supervillains are human beings defined by their personalities instead of superpowers. We describe many of Spider-Man's enemies first and foremost by referring to abilities like becoming a lizard, turning into sand, or wielding cybernetic tentacles. We define most of Batman's foes by behaviors like their killer pranks, riddling compulsions, themed obsessions, ruthless environmentalism, or via coin toss to do right or wrong. No other superhero sees an entire mental hospital, Arkham Asylum in this case, become best known for housing his fanciful foes.

Primal Fear

When this character’s creators decided what must drive this man to dress like a bat and make his city's criminals cower at the sight of him, Bob Kane and Bill Finger tapped into our most primal fears. A father, mother, and son, after a night out at the movies, walk together down the street. A gunman demands the wife's necklace. The husband moves to protect her. Gunshots. A scream. He dies. She dies. Their son stands alone in tears. Within the fictional biography of Bruce Wayne, this page-and-a-half scene from Detective Comics #33 (1939) is where Batman begins.

"Bill and I discussed it," Kane recalled (Daniels, 1999, p. 31), "and we figured there's nothing more than having your parents murdered before your eyes." Losing one's parent or parents when old enough to know about it ranks as the single most common life event children can experience (e.g., Monaghan, Robinson, & Dodge, 1979). Uncommon traumas like torture or terrorist attacks are not universal experiences, not things most of us can anticipate, but sooner or later we all learn that our parents can and will die.

Justice

We want justice. People who believe in a just world suffer less stress and , and enjoy life more than people who do not (Lipkus, Dalbert, & Siegler, 1996). Many cultures teach their members from childhood to believe the world operates with natural order and justice — the just-world phenomenon that psychologist Melvin Lerner says comforts us because most of us, even the worst of us, consider outselves basically good and worthy of fair treatmetnt (Lerner, 1980; Lerner & Miller, 1978). Our need to believe justice will prevail even when the system fails, even when criminals evade arrest or avoid conviction, makes us want there to be somebody out there who can get them anyway.

Conclusion: What Batman Really Is to Us

Why don’t children fear this hero who dresses like a monster? Because he’s their monster. He’s ours. Even when children learn that magic will not save them nor will a hero in blue fly out of the sky, so they develop more realistic hopes, they can still hope that when they can't find the strength to stand up to life's bullies, someone who is strong and capable might do the right thing and help. In Batman, they see the wounded boy who makes himself big and strong enough to turn fear against the fearsome. With both brain and brawn, he’s the part of us that wants to scare life’s bullies away.

Why Batman? A child can wish for superpowers. An adult, who may have given up that particular dream, can still wish for strength enough.

Portions of this article come from the author's book, Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight (Langley, 2012).

References

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Dreyer, R. (2009). Clap if you believe in Batman: The Dark Knight. Perspectives in Care, 45, 80-81.

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