Urban Legend?

[Nics23]

How is Batman still an urban legend at this point. I read somewhere, that at this point he is still a myth and many people think he is something made up by the police. How can he be a myth at this poiunt. HE shows up with the JLA all the freaking time. And there are so many people he has taken down. So how could dc have him do so much and still say he is a myth/ urban legend?

[MythicBrawn]

He's not anymore. I forget the story but he was caught on television when coming out in the day. DC's decision to go with the whole urban legend thing was idiotic from the start. Of course, this could all be made moot by the DCU's current crisis event.

[PamGrierOverdrive]

It would not have been idiotic if DC had remained true to Batman's essence. The character should not be teaming up with the JLA on galactic missions and such. He is a street-level crusader who works best in the shadows.

[Choppa]

I believe it was War Games where he was "outed" (no homo)

[Utility Belt]

Quite frankly the whole notion of Batman being perceived by the general public as an urban legend is just plain ridiculous and it was a bad idea from the get-go. I'm glad it was discarded.

[PamGrierOverdrive]

It's not ridiculous to the character, but it is ridiculous within the context of the DC Universe. If DC didn't need to spread him all over the place to increase sales on secondary books, then he could still maintain that sense of mystery. What is ridiculous is that the sworn defender of Gotham City still finds time to run around with the JLA and The Outsiders while still being available for countless adventures in his hometown.

[Nics23]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I didnt know if he was still a myth type hero. I agree that he could have been a very good myth/urban legend but having him team up with everyone under the sun klilled that., Would be kinda cool to see a story where not only do the villains he fights think he is a myth but some of the heroes as well.

[DonC]

Batman being in the JLA and still being an urban myth in Gotham is one of those things you aren't supposed to think about. You're just supposed to roll with it.

Like how Clark Kent can disappear for weeks and months at a time and still have a job.

[BoosterBronze]

Batman being in the JLA and still being an urban myth in Gotham is one of those things you aren't supposed to think about. You're just supposed to roll with it.

Like how Clark Kent can disappear for weeks and months at a time and still have a job.

If I was reading "Batman" and they told me he was an urban legend, while at the same time I read "JLA" and they said he was a world renown hero, I'd be fine with it.

If I was reading "Detective" and he's a public figure, and "Batman" he's an urban legend, it would bother me more.

Frankly, I think the 'urban legend' idea is pretty cool if they ran with it. "Ultimate Batman?"

[dreyga2000]

I think he's like Big Foot yeah there has been footage and some pictures but people are still skeptical. Then there's the fact that no one knows exactly what he is or where he come from. The common criminals are not sure whether or he has powers, or is even human. Thus their all sorts of rumors and stories about his origins that build to that confusion.

Some say he's a monster from hell, others believe he's ghost, a giant bat-monster, maybe he's a unit GCPD sppok crooks, maybe it's all one big conspiracy, he's goverment black-ops taking advantge of superstition. (All the above rumors are taken from actual Batman issues)

Honestly the idea that villains have knowledge that he's just a man in a mask and still fear him qould seem ridiculous.

From what I've read of JLA Vol 3. Batman is officially not apart of the team as far the public is aware though rumor spreads. He avoids all the cameras and press. The fact that he is on the JLA builds to the rumor that he may be more than human.

[nepenthes]

Really it depends on what angle on Batman you're reading. Sometimes he's myth, sometimes he isn't, even in the same continuity/timeframe. It's up to the writer, the circumstances of the story and your own personal preference. One story might show a junkie trembling in fear at the thought of the Bat-Demon while on the next page he's standing their talking to hookers so it also depends on the perspective of the characters themselves.

Also, even though it can be certain he exists it doesn't mean the man still can't have mythic qualities. Gotham Central is a good example - the police know he's out there but they don't know jack all about him, which makes his presence as unnerving as it is reassuring. He's still a legendary figure.

That said the urban legend definitly works best in early period Batman stories, where it's most plausible.

[HaroldAllnut]

What is ridiculous is that the sworn defender of Gotham City still finds time to run around with the JLA and The Outsiders while still being available for countless adventures in his hometown.

I asked Batman for a comment on this, and he replied "Anything Wolverine can do, I can do better."

Like how Clark Kent can disappear for weeks and months at a time and still have a job.

He's on assignment. Guy's a foreign news correspondent. Always on the go.

[mattx110]

I asked Batman for a comment on this, and he replied "Anything Wolverine can do, I can do better."



He's on assignment. Guy's a foreign news correspondent. Always on the go.
"How can you forget Perry? You sent me to Bosnia... and Darfur... and China...":redface:

[filthysize]

I like the Gotham Central take, where everyone and their mother know that Batman's out there, but nobody will ever go on the record saying that he exists. "The GCPD does not issue comments on the Batman."

And for some reason every discussion about the urban legend thing brings me back to Peter David's treatment of Robin in Young Justice. I wish that they had editorially mandate writers to take the same approach with Bats on JLA books.

[carabas]

And for some reason every discussion about the urban legend thing brings me back to Peter David's treatment of Robin in Young Justice. I wish that they had editorially mandate writers to take the same approach with Bats on JLA books.Not everybody's read that. Could you expand a little, please?

[filthysize]

Not everybody's read that. Could you expand a little, please?

Sure. In Young Justice, Robin was the head of the group, but they had to designate Wonder Girl as the official leader whenever they have to deal with the press or the public, because Robin was forbidden from ever being seen with the team. I like the fact that they're a public superhero team just like the JLA, but they have this secret member (who's the leader, no less) that no one knows about.

The reason given in the book was that it's a direct order from Batman, because the existence of Robin would confirm the existence of Batman, and in Peter David's take they're both urban legends. So Robin had to respect that.

The whole Batman being an urban legend while still being an active alien-fighting member of the JLA isn't really contradictory, if handled in this manner.

[carabas]

Thanks. That is a very good set-up.

It's a moot point now, really, the urban myth thing.

DC firmly established that Batman is very much real by having him appear on live television in War games, and later on Bats even commandeered the Gotham PD. War Games had three goals: do away with the urban myth thing, turn him back into a loner, and bumb off a bunch of Chuck Dixon characters.

So far, only the 'no more urban myth' thing seems to have stuck.

[JCAll]

"How can you forget Perry? You sent me to Bosnia... and Darfur... and China...":redface:

Perry White is up there with Jim Gordon as guys that have probably figured it out by now.

[dancj]

The whole Batman being an urban legend while still being an active alien-fighting member of the JLA isn't really contradictory, if handled in this manner.
As far as I'm aware this is the approach they always did take.

Personally I liked the Urban Legend thing and I'm sad to see it go

[IamtheRock3]

I think the BAT SIGNAL killed the ubran ledgen

I mean the cops going plenty far to make an hoax


not he may be sold as a ledgend, in a sense people dont know what he is.

[mattx110]

Perry White is up there with Jim Gordon as guys that have probably figured it out by now.
So maybe it's more "If I fire you, would you spiral into a depression and stop saving the world every other day?


Okay, you can be a superhero on company time, but just keep your deadlines please."

[the-wolf]

This topic always confuses me. He dresses up like a bat for a reason. If everyone knows it's just some guy in a Halloween costume then he loses his effect.

Not to say that the criminals he encounters all think he's supernatural. Rather, as gossip and rumour spread, he takes on a larger-than-life reputation. So that those who do encounter him, in the shadows and the dark, are often defeated psychologically before the battle even begins.

[The Batman]

not he may be sold as a ledgend, in a sense people dont know what he is.

This is the way I've always seen it. The mystery isn't so much that there's something out there, it's a mystery about what exactly it is that's out there.

[Chad]

Knowledge of his existence should not be one of Batman's weak points. Once the urban legend angle was introduced, so were stories in which it was made clear that Batman MUST operate in darkness, for if he were to appear in the daylight, his effectiveness as a crimefighter would be rendered null and void (the Penguin Detective Comics two parter - issues 683-84 or so). If criminals knew that he was real and wasn't some supernatural creature or whatever, then they would have the knowledge required to see that Batman is just some guy in a Bat costume who they shouldn't be afraid of.

Instead, I prefer the Batman who relies on criminals being terrified of who they know for a fact he is rather than relying on criminals own superstitions to be their undoing. Yeah I know, "superstitious and cowardly lot" and all that, but if there's a crime happening in broad daylight, Batman should be able to stand in front of cameras, in full view of the public, and say "Yeah I'm just a guy in a costume, but you all know what I'm capable of" rather than spend 20 minutes trying to figure out a way to disable the lights and recording equipment and then letting criminals run from his shadow.

There was an Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle issue (with the Queen of Hearts/Idiot Root storyline) in which while operating in another city, Batman lets a cameraman photograph him. He states that he letting the criminal element know that he's in town, wouldn't hurt. I liked that better than "Oh my God a camera! Run!"

[prodigy]

It's not ridiculous to the character, but it is ridiculous within the context of the DC Universe. If DC didn't need to spread him all over the place to increase sales on secondary books, then he could still maintain that sense of mystery. What is ridiculous is that the sworn defender of Gotham City still finds time to run around with the JLA and The Outsiders while still being available for countless adventures in his hometown.
All wrong. It's ridiculous and over-the-top ass STUPID that a mass murderer/psychopathic nutjob (Joker) is still alive.

That dude should've been put down a long time ago.

[Nics23]

I am sure in e real world he woulda been. But he is just too much fun to read to kill him in the comics :)

[carabas]

If criminals knew that he was real and wasn't some supernatural creature or whatever, then they would have the knowledge required to see that Batman is just some guy in a Bat costume who they shouldn't be afraid of.People definitely know by now that the Batman is very real. What is less known is wheteher he is just a guy in a costume, a powerfull meta, or some vengence demon.

But peopl do know that whatever he is, he exists. And pretty much everyone who is somebody in Gotham organised crime has seen him at one time or another.

[Ratwedge]

For me, the biggest part of the Myth of Batman is that he uses the half truths of what he can do run their way around the criminal elements. People know he is real, what they don't know is what he is capable of. Some think hes a vampire, some a super meta, some a super ninja/ghost, spirit of vengence etc etc. Thats the Batman myth right there.

People not knowing that he is just a plain old human (abeit a human at the peak of physical and mental abilities) is what is the real Myth. How many times has his advanced body armour stopped a thugs bullet and then said thug gets three broken limbs, you think hes gonna say "Oh bad shot" more like "Crap, he shrugged off three bullets and then wiped out the entire operation, he cant be human" then you spread that around and now it sounds like hes a meta with superhuman endurance and fighting abilities. Batmans also famous for causing massive physical damage to large groups of men, how would they explain they got taken out by one single man? Easy, say hes some kind super freak and say the shadows were his minions. As pointed out this works on regular joe criminals, not your super criminals who have fought batman a bit more personally but for them they have a different understanding of Batman.

I honestly wish he would take a more covert/stratgetic role in the JLA thus making it easier for him to perpetuate the myth. Last thing he needs is JLA press coverage. I like the ones were hes out by himself stalking some new rumors and then calls in the big guns to do the fight. Or where hes sitting in contemplation while trying to work out a plan to take the bad guys down and then calling the shots while working with the other brains of the JLA to make up some fancy new device/weapon. End of the day I prefer my JLA batman sitting in the chair of the Watch Tower calling the shots or being a ninja, not Karate Chopping Manhunter Robots and fighting alien/demon/human armies alongside the Meta's.

[metalhead_dave743]

People definitely know by now that the Batman is very real. What is less known is wheteher he is just a guy in a costume, a powerfull meta, or some vengence demon.

But peopl do know that whatever he is, he exists. And pretty much everyone who is somebody in Gotham organised crime has seen him at one time or another.

For me, the biggest part of the Myth of Batman is that he uses the half truths of what he can do run their way around the criminal elements. People know he is real, what they don't know is what he is capable of. Some think hes a vampire, some a super meta, some a super ninja/ghost, spirit of vengence etc etc. Thats the Batman myth right there.

People not knowing that he is just a plain old human (abeit a human at the peak of physical and mental abilities) is what is the real Myth. How many times has his advanced body armour stopped a thugs bullet and then said thug gets three broken limbs, you think hes gonna say "Oh bad shot" more like "Crap, he shrugged off three bullets and then wiped out the entire operation, he cant be human" then you spread that around and now it sounds like hes a meta with superhuman endurance and fighting abilities. Batmans also famous for causing massive physical damage to large groups of men, how would they explain they got taken out by one single man? Easy, say hes some kind super freak and say the shadows were his minions. As pointed out this works on regular joe criminals, not your super criminals who have fought batman a bit more personally but for them they have a different understanding of Batman.

I honestly wish he would take a more covert/stratgetic role in the JLA thus making it easier for him to perpetuate the myth. Last thing he needs is JLA press coverage. I like the ones were hes out by himself stalking some new rumors and then calls in the big guns to do the fight. Or where hes sitting in contemplation while trying to work out a plan to take the bad guys down and then calling the shots while working with the other brains of the JLA to make up some fancy new device/weapon. End of the day I prefer my JLA batman sitting in the chair of the Watch Tower calling the shots or being a ninja, not Karate Chopping Manhunter Robots and fighting alien/demon/human armies alongside the Meta's.

I'd give my take on how Batman should be percieved but I think you guys summed it up for me.