September 26 is, according to DC Comics, Batman Day. A day where all things Batman should be celebrated and reveled in, and with good reason. Outside of Superman, Batman has received more mainstream media attention than any other comic book property. But while Superman has fallen out of favor, over and over again, the mythos of Batman continues to persist with greater and greater fervor. While it would be easy to say that this is because he’s a straight-up bad ass, that’s not entirely true. Why does Batman continue to be a touchstone for comicbook and movie fans alike? Why is he the one ideal that everyone holds dear? Why does the story of a broken boy—turned vigilante—persist almost a century after its creation? Here are just a few reasons...

Batman Doesn’t Save The World...He Saves You

Though he does work with The Justice League, Batman is best known as a solo act. He is the defender of one single city; Gotham City. Batman isn’t focused on building a suit of armor around the world like Iron Man. He isn’t concerned with being the messiah to the human race, showing them how to rise above their petty differences and lead them into the light of a new day like Superman. He’s not here to police a quadrant of space like the intergalactic policeman Green Lantern. Batman is here to defend Gotham City and, by immediate extension of that, its citizens. Not the government. Not the special interests. Just the citizens of one city who are incapable of defending themselves.

Batman’s foes aren’t super villains, in the classic sense of the term. They aren’t Lex Luthor or Doctor Doom—intent on taking over the world and becoming its one true leader. Batman’s villains are mad men that prey on those who can't protect themselves. They’re gangsters who prey on the poor, the weak and the small business man. They’re racketeers who are desperate to gain their power from the subjugation of regular people. In short, Batman stands up for you and me—regular people who are just trying to live their lives, as best as they can, in irregular circumstances. He’s the guardian angel of Gotham and, in turn, of wherever we are.

He Fights The Embodiments Of All Our Fears

If you were to poll any group of comic book fans as to who has the greatest rogues gallery, the immediate answer would be Batman. Batman’s villains are the best for one reason: each of them represent all of our real world fears. They aren’t aliens or demi gods or creatures from beyond the great abyss. Each and every one of Batman’s villains are the embodiment of the worst fears that we—mere mortals—face everyday.

Two Face — The blind, unseeing, uncompromising, unfeeling face of the criminal justice system. A system that imprisons people due to lack of resources and poor political chicanery. A system that can turn on any of us at a moment’s notice.

The Penguin — Born of the one percent who seeks to continue to build his power-base at the expense of the citizenry that, much like you and me, do not have the resources (monetary or politically) to fight back against those with the ability to sway power.

Scarecrow — Fear. Oh god, the fear. It’s everywhere. From the evening news, to the Internet, to the emails that your mother continues to forward you that will “CHILL YOU TO THE BONE.” In this post 9-11 terror world, everyone is scared. There’s probably something in the room you’re reading this in, right now, that could kill you.

Mr. Freeze — Death. Cold, uncalculating, uncaring, inevitable death. We all, no matter how delusional we are, are going to face the cold embrace of death. We will cease to be.

The Joker — Chaos. Bold faced, unmitigated, nonsense. School shootings. Theatre shootings. Crime’s of passion. Casey Anthony. Terrorism. The whole world that you thought was okay except for a few crazies? It’s more crazy, and more random, and more fucked up than you could ever imagine.

He Always Punches Above His Weight Class

As the man who has dedicated his life to defend those who are incapable of defending themselves, Batman does something we all wish that we could do: he fights up! Yes Batman fights street level crime, but the people behind this crime are megalomaniacal, oft times psychotic, monsters who are well above the abilities of a normal man. But he never backs down because he’s not fighting for himself. He’s fighting for you, and you can’t fight this fight.

Superman could throw The Joker into the sun. Green Lantern could create a construct that could stop the rampage of Killer Croc. The Flash could take out an army of 150 Two-Face henchmen in a matter of picoseconds. Batman? Batman has to do it on his own. With training, and persistence, and the indomitable will of a man who simply will not, can not, stop. His enemies have greater power and resources than he can muster, but that doesn’t stop him from standing in the path of all that destruction on your behalf; even if he is only a man, facing greater odds than any man could be expected to endure.

He’s Just A Man, Like You And Me

There’s a meme that’s popular with some of your friends on the internet that says, “You should always be yourself...unless you can be Batman. Then you should be Batman,” and we wholeheartedly agree. In spite of the fact of how badass he appears, and is, Batman is just a man. A regular flesh and blood human like you and me. Yes he has armor, and toys, and various bat related, insignia adorned vehicles but he is, at the heart of it, a regular man. Hell even you could be Batman. And that’s the beauty of his enduring legacy.

He's The Embodiment Of The American Dream

For years it was said that Superman was the embodiment of the American Ideology: Truth, Justice and the American Way. But, realistically, a white, blue eyed, all powerful super being that acts like a Christ figure to shepherd along the supposed greatest society on earth? That sounds a little more masterracey than most Americans would be comfortable with. American exceptionalism has always been identified by rising above your circumstances, being better than the next guy and surpassing the generation that came before you. Who else, in American mythology (and make no mistake our comic books and movies are our mythology), has done that with more aplomb than Batman?

A boy who witnessed the tragedy of his own parents death, immediately in front of him, due to a random act of violence. Instead of being paralyzed by this scarred visage of a childhood and delving into Snooki levels of self medication and indulgence, he dedicates himself to the betterment of the future. No one in the city that he lives in should ever have to endure the pain that he suffered. He gives up his billions and ensconces himself among criminals in order to learn what it’s like to exist with the people he fears. He trains his body to fight the bad guys. He trains his mind to out think the criminals. He could have started a trust fund, or a scholarship, and rested on his laurels by assuring himself he was making a better future through the money at his disposal. Instead he chose to make a difference, personally, with his god damned fists by assaulting the element that changed the tone and tenor of his life. He set out to face fear on its territory and scare it back into the fucking bronze age. THAT is America. THAT is rising above adversity. THAT is being better than the next guy. THAT is the Fucking Batman. And you are LUCKY to have him.

Even if he is only a story.