Remember when Batman was fun?

We're only a week away from the release of The Batman, and I can't help but ask... will Batman ever be fun again? Because we're into our fourth decade of dark, dour, grounded, brutal, miserable Batman being the most prominent shape the character takes. And I'm kind of sick of it.

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#thebatman

[samuelbarber]

As Tom Baker was so eloquently said: “There’s no point in being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes.”

[theshadowdirector]

To quote Adam West. "How come Batman doesn't dance anymore ?"

I thought Lego Batman was a good vehicle for giving us some of that, it's a pity they didn't go further with that series.

[AMoniqueOcampo]

Loved your Joker laugh. I definitely miss having a fun Batman, too.

[Ellie_deMayo]

It’s strange to think that a man dressing up like a bat to fight a clown or a clay monster is not inherently a VERY SILLY premise.

[Stubagful]

My favourite batman film is still the 60s movie. "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb" is basically the same plot as the end of the dark Knight rises but it knew it was silly and embraced it

[tmage]

As much as I like the Christopher Nolan movies (or at least two of them), I think he's largely responsible for Batman losing its since of humor.

One of the reasons I love the R rated Harley Quinn animated series is that it totally takes the piss out of the absurd idea of a guy who dresses up as bat as a serious grimdark character.

[ClaraFinn]

“I don’t see why Robert Pattinson should be Batman. I think we should bring back Adam West. Kids will wanna see the original Batman!”

“I keep telling you, he’s 93 years old, and he’s dead”

[samuelbarber]

This is why I liked Gotham, especially the Riddler. It was incredibly dark, but the way it was done, it felt at times like a comedy. That’s a Riddler who can have fun, even though they still take him seriously as a character. I also like the Arkham Games Riddler. I think they had a similar theme to Gotham. They could get dark and twisted, but they were also lots of fun in my opinion.

[kfeline]

If I was doing a history of Batman in the comics, I would do a highly detailed examination of Batman comics for the first 46 years, from 1939 to 1985.

And then I would conclude with, "And then, in 1986, an overrated hack named Frank Miller turned Batman into an asshole. Been that way ever since.

The End."

[norncare]

Oh, and reading the comments someone reminded me. Another aspect of Batman that the movies seem to drop is the fact that he's not only a really good combatant and extremely resourceful in a fight, but that the man's brilliant. He's considered the World's Greatest Detective a lot of the time, and I'd love to see a movie that fell into almost a noir, who-done-it sorta vibe. Lots of mystery and intrigue, but our heroic inspector is none other than the Batman. THAT'S something I'd like to see someday.

[eshbena]

What I miss is the Detective aspect of Batman. The point of him is that he's freaking brilliant. He has this mind that can pull apart problems and he solves his problems with way more than just his fists and gimmicks. Sadly, it takes a brilliant writer to write a brilliant character and so my poor Bruce is reduced to an angsty teen with more money than sense.

[prophetisaiah]

"What is it that makes people think that being an adult means never having fun?"

Answer: Being an edgy teenager. There are a lot of people who never grow out of that mentality. It's an important step in becoming an adult; you have to reach a point where you acknowledge and face the fact that negative things like boredom, tragedy, and depression are a part of life that we all must face. But it's not the end of the journey of becoming a mature adult, it's more like a stage of "advanced childhood." Becoming a mature adult comes when you can look at all the nasty shit that you can't avoid, and be able to face it... *while still holding on to your ability to have fun and enjoy things.*

This is the problem that I have with what the majority of media considers "mature entertainment." A lot of it isn't actually mature, it's just inapropriate for children. Sex, violence, and swearing aren't "mature, " they're just as juvenile as children's fables and toilet humour. But being juvenile and being mature aren't mutually exclusive. Batman v. Superman, to me, is incredibly juvenile, mostly because of its lack of proper maturity for 95% of the film. The only character who takes a properly adult, mature approach to the situation is Wonder Woman; everyone else thinks like stereotypically angry 13-year-old boys. In contrast, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is actually a very mature show. It has next to no content that's "child unfriendly" (no sex, swearing, or explicit violence), but the characters deal with their problems and the consequences of their actions in a very true-to-life manner with a lot of mature, adult reasoning. The irony of this is just so sweet to me; one has a bunch of 40+ year-old men with the mentality of fictional angsty teenagers, and the other has a bunch of brightly coloured teenagers handling their problems like real, thinking, feeling people.

Another really positive example is The Legend of Vox Machina (no spoilers). It's extremely juvenile, but also very mature. There's a lot of crude humour, swearing, and gratuitous violence; but the characters also face serious issues with the serious rationalle of mature, thinking adults (yes, even Scanlan and Grog... sometimes). The result is a show that's deep and meaningful, but also *unbearably* fun.

[Nightmank]

The balance of pessimism and depression with realism (as far as you can get with Batman) is an incredibly hard balancing act. I’d argue that Batman is better when it is higher on the less depressing side. I like a world where Robin can exist and rarely actually gets hurt because I don’t really think it’s worth breaking the fantasy of a hero who is also a paternal figure. I think the new movie looks like it might be good. It reminds me most of the TellTale video game where the story was fun and told a story about a young Batman meeting Catwoman and facing the Riddler and finding out his parents were actually not as innocent and blameless for Gotham’s criminal underbelly as he thought. If it takes those elements I’d be kind of excited.

[blackphoenix]

I'd personally like to see more of the Batman on display in the Batman: Wayne Family Adventures web toon and related comics (there is supposed to be a live action miniseries, but I don't know what is happening with that) and less of the grimdark *I AM THE NIGHT!!!!* Batman.

[andrekuz]

My favorite *fun* Batman is from the Justice League animated series, so good in how he relates to the other heroes. In particular, his pseudo-romance with Wonder Woman. The episode where the league gets turned into kids (magical shenanigans with The Demon) — absolute FUN! And the one where he saves Diana from being turned into a pig — great pipes. How can you forget that?

[SpencerDragonMonster]

I hear ya. Though I gotta ask...Getting the "Gothic Horror Creature of the Night" ie Dracula, Mr Hyde, the PotO, etc, with everything we love about those kinds of characters except as the good guy...For me, that's always been the appeal of Batman. And what's not fun about that?

[Solarstar]

Batman the Brave and the Bold, The Harley Quinn Animated Series, The Lego Batman Movie, Return of the Caped Crusader, Batman vs Two Face, Teen Titans Go to the Movies etc. Just because the current most popular version of Batman seems to be the upcoming Pattison film and Affleck's take on the character, doesn't mean Batman has stopped being fun. We've gotten so many different interpretations of the character in recent years.

[thevacuumofcomments]

"There's no point in growing up if you can't be childish sometimes" -- some Curator somewhere

[mttylerdurden]

One of the reasons I love Grant Morrison's Batman run was because they legitimized every era of Batman, from the bill finger years, silver age, Frank Millers, Morrison's take was basically "every era of Batman counts". I love grim dark Batman and I love campy silver age Batman.

[doublequilI]

Agreed, I've been totally sick of it, but dark superman and dark justice league was way way worse. At least there is some precedence for dark batman; taking some of the others in that direction is utterly ridiculous.