When did Batman became the Chuck Norris of all superheroes?
 

Hello everybody,

I was wondering when Batman get this "aura" of superiority over everyone else.

I know he's one of the most iconic and popular superheroes, but he seems to do everything:

- He knows all 454338 martial arts on the planet
- He seems to out-think everyone, either on a scientist level or a deduction level (as a detective)
- He seems to always be 12 steps ahead of everyone else when a menace comes.

I just don't know at which moment it was decided Batman would be THIS guy. He seems to be the Deus ex machina superhero.

Even the popular catchphrase "Because I'm Batman" prove it: doesn't need other explanation that "it's Batman".

He already was when I got into comics a decade ago so I'm guessing a long ass time.

Somewhere around the Grant Morrison run on JLA that began around 1997, I think. There simply didn't exist that aura around Batman until then, and even then it took a few years to really cement in.

When casuals started liking him at time of Batman Begins' release. This doubled during TDK's release

Nah, that didn't do anything to elevate Batman to the Chuck Norris level. If anything, Begins did the opposite... it humanized him more than ever, made him weak, vulnerable.

Though, perhaps, things like the Nolan movies opened people's eyes to stuff like the Morrison JLA stories. The "Batman will defeat anyone, he is always the smartest guy in the room" started there.

I'm not talking about the movies themselves, but they certainly gave rise to the "BATMAN CAN DO ANYTHING" folk.

I'm not sure I'm seeing it. The movies are great, but the Christian Bale Batman could barely even fight off dogs. If the "BATMAN CAN DO ANYTHING" thing was born around then, it wasn't because of anything that happened in those movies.

I thought it's been like this since at least the 80's? Even when I was a kid Batman was always the most popular DC superhero.

It's definitely not, but it's certainly when the Batman franchise had the biggest influx of fans since the Burton movie. It's probably unlikely that comic readers only spread this to the point of it becoming fact.

Nah. Beyond isolated stuff like the Miller mini-series TDKR and Batman: Year One, there really wasn't that going on anywhere. Batman 1989 certainly kicked in the door for a whole fandom to agree, "Batman is COOL!" but the whole "Batman can beat anyone/he's the smartest man in the room/he is 10 steps ahead of everyone" wasn't even on the radar back then.

These days, Batmans even beating superman which I think is ridiculous. As the fanboys say, give Batman enough prep time and he can beat anything.

It's pretty funny how "prep time" is often a deciding factor in "CAN BATMAN BEAT GOKU/SUPERMAN/GOD/CYBERCUBED/X" questions.

But can Batman beat Super Saiyan Blue Son Goku?

Batman's been overcompensating for decades, it's nothing new. If anything the Nolan movies tried to humanize the God King of Mary Sues.

That's a big part of why I never got too into Batman. They always bill him as the underdog because he's just a man, but when his whole shtick is to overcome all odds, then he's never really the underdog.

I like it though because Batman is pretty much the only mortal in the justice league. Him having such a reputation comforts the fans and pretty much gives him more respect and power. Also he has had many feats that earned him his reputation.

I'd say the seeds were planted at least as far back as the Adam West Batman series. He always had the right gadget to get him out of a death trap, he always knew that obscure piece of trivia that lead to the villains downfall, he and Robin could takeout a room full of goons with nothing more then their fits, etc. Though I don't think things got completely ridiculous until around the time Batman started keeping detailed lists on how to kill his fellow super heroes should they ever go rouge.

Though "normal man with extreme knowledge, intelligence and fighting prowess" is nothing new. Sherlock Holmes was doing it 52 years before Batman

I noticed it a lot in Justice League/Unlimited.

Batman, the Chuck Norris of superheroes? Surely that wouldn't be Merryman?