Happy 80th Birthday Batman

[Autbot_Benz]

https://i.imgur.com/GRRFxsC.jpg

Today is 80 years of the Dark Knight the Caped Crusader everyone's favorite vigilante

[IndigoErth]

Gotta say he's still looking pretty good for his age. Unreal to think the likes of Batman and Superman are 80+. I was shocked a few years ago when I learned what years they first appeared. Hope the Turtles follow in their footsteps and that most of us get to be around to see it happen.

[neatoman]

Oh right, this means DC only has 15 years left before the character officially enters the public domain. Unless of course more alterations to American copyright law is made, but that would literally raise the constitutional "limited period of time" to at least 120 years...

[Prowler]

Happy birthday, Batman...

What can I say? he's one of the most iconic fictional characters of all time. Batman is a household name. He's on pretty much the same league as Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Super Mario, Superman, Donald Duck, etc. in terms of global recognition. Anyone from a 10 year old kid to a 90 year old grandma will know the name Batman.

Didn't grow up with DC or Marvel stuff myself. Here in the Old Continent we grow up reading European comics such as Tintin, Astérix, etc. or reading Disney comics(at least back in the 80s-90s). Most of my exposure to Batman and such was through TV. I watched a couple of the Tim Burton movies back in the day, but no longer remember them that well.

Still gotta finish the Arkham games one day.

[CyberCubed]

For an 80 year old man, Batman sure doesn't look a day over 35!

:lol:

[Redeemer]

Oh right, this means DC only has 15 years left before the character officially enters the public domain. Unless of course more alterations to American copyright law is made, but that would literally raise the constitutional "limited period of time" to at least 120 years...

As an American I am embarrassed I did not know this..... :lol:

[Autbot_Benz]

Tweeted 4 of my favorite BatMen and got 2 of the four to respond.

Got Dedrich Bader aka Batman Brave and the Bold who said First and Will Fredile Batman Beyond who said Seconded to my tweet

[neatoman]

As an American I am embarrassed I did not know this..... :lol:

Yeah, a lot of the Golden Age superheroes will become public domain in roughly 15 years or so. This includes characters that are still really popular (or had subsequent popular variants) such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Shazam (mostly DC characters) and Captain America. I believe the earliest example (that can somewhat charitably be called a comic book superhero) is Buck Rogers, who'll go public domain in 2023, so that'll be fun.

The amusing thing is that public domain varies from country to country. Popeye is not considered public domain in the united states but he has been in most of the world for a decade. I'm not sure but my earlier example of Buck Rogers might have been public domain since 2010 outside of the united states. Then there are examples of characters that companies claim but aren't necessarily still under copyright protection in the states, such as Namor or the Blue Beetle, it's just that it seems like poking a sleeping bear to use them.

[Leo656]

So in about 15 years, any random ficc'er will be able to take their Batman or Wonder Woman stories and sell 'em?

...Yeah, that's gonna turn out just fantastic for everyone.

[Prowler]

So in about 15 years, any random ficc'er will be able to take their Batman or Wonder Woman stories and sell 'em?

...Yeah, that's gonna turn out just fantastic for everyone.

Not that I'm concerned about it since I've never really touched Batman beyond a surface level, but considering how much I know you love Batman, it'd suck to see something you hold so dearly get ruined. Plus, we're talking about a character and property with a phenomenal legacy. Batman deserves respect regardless.

[Leo656]

Oh, I simply can't wait for the commercial hardcover release of "50 Shades of Blue & Grey", an exploration of Bruce Wayne's secret bondage fetish written by some bored and pent-up housewife.

[Redeemer]

Yeah, a lot of the Golden Age superheroes will become public domain in roughly 15 years or so. This includes characters that are still really popular (or had subsequent popular variants) such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Shazam (mostly DC characters) and Captain America. I believe the earliest example (that can somewhat charitably be called a comic book superhero) is Buck Rogers, who'll go public domain in 2023, so that'll be fun.


I think this will have good and bad consequences. I believe that with a majority of DC's big names going into public domain it will force DC to invest in new characters and even a new universe.

[neatoman]

So in about 15 years, any random ficc'er will be able to take their Batman or Wonder Woman stories and sell 'em?

...Yeah, that's gonna turn out just fantastic for everyone.

Not that I'm concerned about it since I've never really touched Batman beyond a surface level, but considering how much I know you love Batman, it'd suck to see something you hold so dearly get ruined. Plus, we're talking about a character and property with a phenomenal legacy. Batman deserves respect regardless.

Oh, I simply can't wait for the commercial hardcover release of "50 Shades of Blue & Grey", an exploration of Bruce Wayne's secret bondage fetish written by some bored and pent-up housewife.

I think this will have good and bad consequences. I believe that with a majority of DC's big names going into public domain it will force DC to invest in new characters and even a new universe.

I think "now people will ruin Batman with terrible ideas!" is sort the wrong attitude to take here. Think of more like Batman becoming more like Dracula, Tarzan or Sherlock Holmes. DC/WB won't be able to prevent bad Batman stories, but they can't reject potentially good ideas either because it'll "hurt the brand". To bring up more concrete examples, are there bad adaptations of public domain characters like Dracula? Sure but that hardly matters when anyone can use the character, just pick one of the good ones. There's literally over 70 Dracula movies, I think bad ones don't matter in that case.

Oh and Redeemer, DC Batman will still well quite well, there's plenty of material that won't enter the public domain for a long time. Do not underestimate the power of Ra's Al Ghul still being copyright protected. Though they will still have to worry about someone else doing a more popular Batman regardless.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Oh, I simply can't wait for the commercial hardcover release of "50 Shades of Blue & Grey", an exploration of Bruce Wayne's secret bondage fetish written by some bored and pent-up housewife.

For a second, I thought we were gonna launch into homoerotic Civil War BDSM fiction.

We dodged a fvcking bullet there.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

To bring up more concrete examples, are there bad adaptations of public domain characters like Dracula? Sure but that hardly matters when anyone can use the character, just pick one of the good ones. There's literally over 70 Dracula movies, I think bad ones don't matter in that case.

Did Bram Stoker ever have the rights to Dracula? He is based on Medieval prince Dracula of Wallachia and the myths around him.

[neatoman]

Did Bram Stoker ever have the rights to Dracula? He is based on Medieval prince Dracula of Wallachia and the myths around him.

Of course he owned the rights to Dracula, his widow managed sue the makers of Nosferatu for copyright infringement.

[IndigoErth]

Oh, I simply can't wait for the commercial hardcover release of "50 Shades of Blue & Grey", an exploration of Bruce Wayne's secret bondage fetish written by some bored and pent-up housewife.
But what if it's so horribly written that it's hilarious? At the very least I'd be looking for dramatic readings of it on YouTube. :tlol:

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

But what if it's so horribly written that it's hilarious?

You mean like the real fifty shades of grey? :tlol:

[ZariusTwo]

Batman is the first inductee into the Comic Con Hall of Fame

https://www.newsarama.com/44542-batman-first-inductee-into-comic-con-museum-s-character-hall-of-fame.html

[CyberCubed]

Is Batman still the most popular superhero? I wonder if he's still more popular than Spiderman or Superman.

[Prowler]

Is Batman still the most popular superhero? I wonder if he's still more popular than Spiderman or Superman.

Dunno. Hard to say. Those are the three classic superheroes everyone knows.

I guess who's the most popular at the moment can be measured by who's starring in their latest movie or something. Batman definitely definitely felt huge when the Heath ledger and Christian Bale Batman movie came out. But a few years before that, Spider-Man felt bigger with the Tobey Maguire and James Franco Spider-Man trilogy.

I'm gonna guess Batman also was huge in the 80s and early 90s with the Tim Burton movies and the Batman TAS, but then dropped off a for about a decade until the Nolan movies again.

None of the big 3 stop being famous, but clearly each have had their peaks in popularity. Easier for the general audience to remember their existence and care about them when their newest big blockbuster movie is coming out.

I always felt Spider-Man was slightly inferior to Superman and Batman. No reason in particular. I just feel that way. I could be wrong. He's huge but always seemed like the smallest of the big 3.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Well, to be fair, he hasn't been around nearly as long. His first appearance was only in 1964, so he's relatively "young" compared to those two. And he is more street-level hero than Supes, so not as many big "saving the world" type stories, but he's got powers, unlike Bats, so he tends to go up against bigger threats, which puts him somewhere in the middle of the two in terms of what can be done with him. That, and his rogues gallery is not as well known as Batman's, but better than most of Superman's.

[CyberCubed]

Batman, or BatGod as I like to call him, probably would have been my #1 franchise had the Ninja Turtles franchise never been created. Like say PL and Kevin Eastman never created the Turtles back in 1984 and they never existed, I probably would be some huge Batman fan right now posting on some Batman forum for the last 20 years.

Batman 1989 movie came out when I was 4 years old, and then Batman: TAS came out in 1992, so I was the kid target audience when all this was happening. I always liked Batman, but of course TMNT was my #1 all throughout the 80's and 90's so I was swept up in that instead.

It actually really puts into perspective how your fandom interest really depends on what was around when you were a kid growing up and what you got into. Had I been born a decade earlier or a decade later, I'd probably like completely different things.

[sdp]

How long before he's public domain?

[Prowler]

Batman, or BatGod as I like to call him, probably would have been my #1 franchise had the Ninja Turtles franchise never been created. Like say PL and Kevin Eastman never created the Turtles back in 1984 and they never existed, I probably would be some huge Batman fan right now posting on some Batman forum for the last 20 years.

Batman 1989 movie came out when I was 4 years old, and then Batman: TAS came out in 1992, so I was the kid target audience when all this was happening. I always liked Batman, but of course TMNT was my #1 all throughout the 80's and 90's so I was swept up in that instead.

It actually really puts into perspective how your fandom interest really depends on what was around when you were a kid growing up and what you got into. Had I been born a decade earlier or a decade later, I'd probably like completely different things.
I'm not even sure if the Turtles are still my favourite thing anymore.

If I had never gotten into the Turtles... I dunno. Would I even have a number 1 thing or just cycle through several different properties depending on my mood? But I'm gonna make a wild guess and say Nintendo in general.

[Candy Kappa]

How long before he's public domain?

probably never, WB will most likely pull a Disney

[neatoman]

How long before he's public domain?

15 years.

probably never, WB will most likely pull a Disney

Eh... It's entering "not even worth it" territory now. It might even be considered unconstitutional to lebby for the extension of copyright at this point.

[Redeemer]

probably never, WB will most likely pull a Disney
??????
Can you please explain

Is Batman still the most popular superhero? I wonder if he's still more popular than Spiderman or Superman.

I would probably say Batman if you look at monthly comic book sales or at least when I last looked. Batman was regularly on top unless a new #1 came out also Marvel has been doing bad from what I am understanding. If we are talking outside of comics IDK its hard to say who the most popular, but its safe to assume its one of those three.

[Leo656]

Lots of different factors go into the discussion of popularity. One could cite comics sales, but those have been down across the board for some time. Likewise, movie tickets are one indicator of popularity but not the largest or only one.

Toys are a reasonable indicator of popularity. On any given day between 1989 and Right Now, you could go into any place that sells toys and buy a Batman figure, often having many to choose from. That's not always true for other popular characters like Superman, Iron Man, Captain America or Spider-Man, who mostly get space on toy shelves when there's a new movie out, but are not a constant presence otherwise. There's not a constant flood of new toys out for them; meanwhile, Mattel has had a new Batman line out for several months that's not even connected to anything specific. Seemingly, "Batman sells, let's do a new toy line" is the only real reason, and that happens all the time, whether there's a new movie or show or not.

Adding everything together, I have to say that Batman is most likely the most popular super-hero, if not the most popular fictional character, period. BUT, I think there have been brief windows in the last 20 years where Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Iron Man have each been more popular, but only for a Hot Minute, and it's usually when a new movie comes out.

I prefer Superman, but credit where it's due.

[Prowler]

The idea I've always had is that Marvel overall has more popular characters than DC, but Batman and Superman are more popular than any Marvel character. Marvel seems to have a lot of quite well known superheroes who are all more or less on the same level of popularity and only below Spider-man in the totem pole, while DC seems to have a big drop-off after Batman and Superman. Who are the biggest DC superheroes after Batman and Superman? Wonder Woman? Aquaman?

[Leo656]

At the moment probably Wonder Woman and Aquaman, but a year ago Aquaman wouldn't have been part of the conversation at all.

After Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern have consistently been the most popular DC characters. The "Trinity" are the only super-hero characters to have been published non-stop since 1940 or before, while Flash and Green Lantern have been consistently in print since the 1960s. Aquaman, by comparison, may have had a hit movie very recently, but before that he's never been a big seller and has always had trouble staying in print. He's often gone several years without having a book; either he's "dead" or just not doing anything important.

So Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern are the undisputed DC Top 5, but after that it's very tough to say. Partly because a lot of the more popular characters like Nightwing are consistently part of a team book, which makes it hard to determine individual popularity. There have also been far fewer DC cartoons, TV shows and movies than Marvel ones, so it's tough to gauge from that angle as well. Green Arrow's popularity got a bump with the TV show, but he's another character whose comic has never been very popular and doesn't move any toys, so it's like he's only "popular" with one specific audience. On the flip side, Harley Quinn has skyrocketed in popularity due to her constant media exposure in recent years, but frankly, her character is rather crap, objectively, and a lot of comics fans are thoroughly annoyed with and sick of her. So she moves a lot of merchandise but she also triggers a lot of resentment. She's inarguably very popular right now but who knows if that will still be the case in 20 years.

DC is a lot like the WWE. It's easy to tell who the Top Stars are, but after those 5 or 6 the entire "midcard" is kind of on the same level.

[Prowler]

At the moment probably Wonder Woman and Aquaman, but a year ago Aquaman wouldn't have been part of the conversation at all.

After Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern have consistently been the most popular DC characters. The "Trinity" are the only super-hero characters to have been published non-stop since 1940 or before, while Flash and Green Lantern have been consistently in print since the 1960s. Aquaman, by comparison, may have had a hit movie very recently, but before that he's never been a big seller and has always had trouble staying in print. He's often gone several years without having a book; either he's "dead" or just not doing anything important.

So Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern are the undisputed DC Top 5, but after that it's very tough to say. Partly because a lot of the more popular characters like Nightwing are consistently part of a team book, which makes it hard to determine individual popularity. There have also been far fewer DC cartoons, TV shows and movies than Marvel ones, so it's tough to gauge from that angle as well. Green Arrow's popularity got a bump with the TV show, but he's another character whose comic has never been very popular and doesn't move any toys, so it's like he's only "popular" with one specific audience. On the flip side, Harley Quinn has skyrocketed in popularity due to her constant media exposure in recent years, but frankly, her character is rather crap, objectively, and a lot of comics fans are thoroughly annoyed with and sick of her. So she moves a lot of merchandise but she also triggers a lot of resentment. She's inarguably very popular right now but who knows if that will still be the case in 20 years.

DC is a lot like the WWE. It's easy to tell who the Top Stars are, but after those 5 or 6 the entire "midcard" is kind of on the same level.
Tbh I just randomly named Aquaman because he was one of the few non-Batman or Superman DC characters I could remember. Chances are, if this thread had been made a couple of years ago, I'd still have named Aquaman. So yeah, it was a total accident :P

Right Green Lantern is from DC. I know him only because you and Andrew had a long discussion about him last summer or so. Had no idea Flash was from DC and I honestly had to google the guy to remember who he was.

Anyway, DC comes more across as being more adult while Marvel comes across as being more childish. Dunno why, but I always had that feeling. The very few batman and Superman movies I've watched seemed rather well grounded and more appealing to older audiences, while Spider-Man's and X-Men's movies I watched when I was a kid/teen seemed to cater more to younger audiences. I can't help but notice that older adults seem to have more respect for Batman and Superman compared to other superheroes...

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Dunno. Hard to say. Those are the three classic superheroes everyone knows.

Superman is a symbol for superheroes with powers. Batman is the symbol for detective heroes.