In recent years, Batman has been everywhere, on our movie screens, in our game consoles and of course in the pages of our comics. He is one of the most beloved heroes of our time, but also one of the most famous. Yet do you know the origins of the Dark Knight? What are the inspirations that led to its creation?
A knight in the shadow of a god
Creates a caption
Batman appeared in 1939, just one year after Superman's launch. Proud of its success, National Publication, the ancestor of DC Comics seeks to create a new hero, a modern-day knight. For this, he turned to the cartoonist Bob Kane who decided to radically break with the traditional imagery of the knight. He then emancipates himself from the type of warrior in armor with a spear, like the one present in the painting Saint George slaying the dragon. 
Inspired by the appearance of Superman and Flash Gordon's Birdmen, he created the character of Bird-Man. It was when he saw a sketch of Leonardo Da Vinci's flying machine that the cartoonist had the idea to rework his character to make him look like a bat. As for the personality of the hero, the screenwriter Bill Finger, a great fan of Pulps Magazines, was inspired by the adventures of The Shadow. 
The idea was to propose a hero who is the opposite of Superman: while the Man of Steel acts in full light and wears a flashy costume, Batman hides behind a mask. He fights crime at night, in a dark costume evoking the bat. Finally, unlike Superman who is distinguished by superhuman powers, Batman is only a man. Closer to readers, the bat was a rapid success and, as early as the 1940s, its first film adaptations enriched its legend.
A Black Knight
From his first adventures, the authors emphasize the filiation of the character with the medieval knights. During his presentation, in issue 27 of Detective comics, the hero appears as a real crusader in a cape, a righter of wrongs acting in the shadows, where the police can not intervene. 
Moreover, at the end of the six pages of this first adventure, the reader learns that behind Batman's mask is Bruce Wayne, a noble philanthropist heir living in a mansion. However, from the thirteenth andfourteenth centuries, chivalry was intrinsically linked to the nobility. 
Batman is a dark and mysterious character. This aura of mystery is partly due to the fact that unlike his contemporary, Superman, his first appearance does not explain his origins. Each superhero has an " origin story ", which explains his personality, his powers… Very often, this original story refers to a trauma, often, the loss of a loved one. Without this founding flaw, there can be no hero! Regarding Batman, this " origin story " only appears after several issues. The murder of Martha and Thomas Wayne is now well known… 
This trauma engenders a desire for revenge in young Bruce Wayne. He satisfies it with a certain violence, like the black knight whom Arthurian legend describes as a demon. Of course, the origins of the masked hero were very often reworked in cinema, television, but also in comics such as Batman year one, which helped to enrich the legend of the vigilante. 
Batman, a company, a brotherhood!
From Robin to Batman Inc.
By 1940, with the publication of Detective Comics No. 38, Batman was no longer alone in fighting crime. Like any self-respecting knight, he has at his side a squire, the young Robin, whose name is an assumed tribute to Robin Hood, legendary hero of the English Middle Ages. 
By introducing this character, the authors energize the comic: the two characters can directly dialogue and comment on the actions to be performed. They also establish a teacher/student, father/son relationship that should make it possible to reach young readers. In medieval times, the education of knights began very early. From the age of seven, aspirants obtained the title of page and began to serve their lord. Then, at fourteen, they attained the rank of squire and put themselves in the service of a knight. It was not until the age of twenty-one that the young man had the opportunity to become a knight. This idea of training and learning, is found in the adventures of Batman: trained and collected by Bruce Wayne, Robin (Dick Grayson) will accompany him until 1969, before becoming in turn a hero, under the name of Nightwing. 
In more than 80 years of existence, the masked vigilante has had many partners. To the various Robins that have succeeded each other until today, are added the figures of Red Robin, Batgirl, Batwoman,… Together, they come to feed the ranks of the "Batman Incorporated", an organization reminiscent, in many ways, of the different orders of chivalry founded at the beginning of the twelfth century.
Behind every great man…
If a knight must be able to count on valuable allies in battle, he must also have a lady by his side. Batman is no exception to this rule. The knight is a warrior, but he is also a seducer, a playboy who, like the hero of The Shadow, multiplies conquests. As in medieval writings illustrating the principles of courtly love, the warrior finds a kind of redemption in love.
Lovers must serve love heartily, because love is not a sin. Rather, it is virtue; The evil becomes good, the good even better. -Guilhem de Montanhagol
In the songs of thethirteenth century, the woman embodies wisdom, she holds a knowledge unknown to the knight and allows him to show his true face by purifying the darkness of his heart. A large number of women have crossed paths with Bruce Wayne, but only one has managed to pierce the full complexity of his personality. Paradoxically, it is a criminal, the feline thief Catwoman. 
Since her first appearance, the two lovers live a kind of impossible love reminiscent of that of Tristan and Yseult. Sometimes enemies, sometimes allies, they are bound by a love whose power they cannot bring themselves to experience. 
Nevertheless, in the comic The dark knight returns, we learn that Batman and Catwoman have had a long relationship. Here, the author plunges us into a future where Batman has retired and is forced to return to save his city. Despite the weight of the years, our two lovers still love each other, like Tristan and Yseult, who remain linked in death. This comic totally renewed the vision that readers had of Batman, both psychologically and physically. In the hands of Frank Miller, the characters seem stockier and more brutal than before. In addition, an original use of color makes the work quite unique. A book to read absolutely! 
A crusade against crime
In the same way that the Crusaders had led great military expeditions, Batman undertook a veritable crusade against crime. Whether it's Percival, Roland, or King Arthur, the knight's worth has always been measured by that of his opponents. The same goes for the bat man who will find in the character of the Joker, his fiercest enemy. Almost as famous as Batman, this psychopathic clown, with a disconcerting smile – brilliantly played in the cinema by Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger – finds its origins in The Man Who Laughs, a philosophical novel by Victor Hugo. This book published in 1869, takes place in England at the end of theseventeenth century, around a man with a disfigured face, forced to smile in spite of himself. 
Since 2019 and the adaptation of Joaquin Phénix to the cinema, the character of the Joker also evokes people with pseudo-bulbar syndrome, a little-known and yet very real disease. The clown of Gotham is no longer just a criminal and a bloodthirsty killer, he is also a sick, sensitive individual capable of moving viewers and readers around the world. 
The man who is now called "the clown of crime" has, since his birth, led the hard life to the crusader in a cape. In 1988, in the comic The Killing Joke, he shoots Barbara Gordon (Batgirl), thus nailing her, for the rest of his life, in a wheelchair. That same year, he did much worse by beating Jason Todd (the second Robin) to death in A Mourning in the Family. 
In a sense, the joker embodies the worst fears of the dark knight, his fears, his doubts. Batman must therefore constantly contain his feelings so as not to give in to revenge or madness. This perpetual struggle is perfectly illustrated in the story Arkham Asylum.Through its tortured and terrifying drawings, this story explores the psychological fragility of the Gotham bat, making it more human than ever. 
In many ways, Batman is the archetype of the knight within the justice league, but he is also a dark hero who strives to remain virtuous despite the difficulty of his quest. A complex and tormented character, the black knight is a symbol of justice, which has become universal.
