The original version of this piece appeared on my blog, The Matt Signal, on Aug. 23, 2013, shortly after news broke — and stink rose — that Ben Affleck would be playing Batman in a yet-to-be-named live action movie.
Seven years later, we find ourselves in a similar situation, so I think it’s time to revisit a theme.
This weekend, at DC’s online FanDome convention, the first trailer for the upcoming film “The Batman” was released, and as is to be expected if you know anything about internet fandom, the reaction has been … mixed. For everyone who thinks it looks cool or interesting, there is at least one person who is already crying foul, that this isn’t Batman and why are they doing this and etc., etc., etc.
I’m not saying that looking at this trailer and not wanting to see the movie is wrong. The point of trailers is to give an audience a sample of the movie to draw them in. And if this tease doesn’t tease you? That’s fine! You’re not reacting to Robert Pattinson being cast (*gasp* Who wants a shiny vampire as Batman?!??!?!) or Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman (A woman of color as Catwoman! That’s never happened before. Except Halle Berry. And Eartha Kitt). Those kinds of blind casting reactions are a problem, not just for the racial issues, but because people are reacting to preconceptions, not anything they’ve actually seen.
My problem with more than a few of the reactions \to this trailer is the inherent gatekeeping that pops up around the recasting or rebuilding of a superhero franchise. Within hours, if not minutes, of the first trailer for the movie, I was seeing posts on Twitter — the internet’s loudest soapbox and biggest Dumpster fire — with things like, “Let’s be fair, Batman ’89 is the only real Batman,” or, “Post a GIF of the real Batman,” with GIFs from “Batman: The Animated Series.” And those were the nicer ones. I’m not giving bandwidth to the more vile responses about the IQ or tastes of anyone who liked the trailer.
If you’re reading a piece on a site like Xavier Files, I have little to no doubt you have read something somewhere about the gatekeeping problems we as a comic book fan community have. There are a lot of people on the internet who feel like it’s their right, nay their duty, to be the fan police, and make sure everyone knows their opinions are wrong. And it’s easy to be that way. It’s easy to see something you don’t like and write it, and those who like it, off.
But it’s not right. And I’m going to tell you why. And I’m going to use Batman as an example.
Since we don’t write about a lot of DC Comics on Xavier Files [Ed. note: Yet, baybee!], let me make a statement: I am probably one of the biggest Batman fans anyone out there will ever meet. I’m not the biggest, although if I had more money I might give bigger fans a run for their status, but I’m high up there. My collection of physical comics is around 120 longboxes, and more than half feature some Batman-related comic in there, and a third are just Batman. I have action figures, board games, DVDs/Blu-rays, VHS tapes, CDs and even a stuffed 80th anniversary Build-a-Bat-Bear with his own teddy bear-sized Batmobile. I have a sketchbook that has been slowly filled at cons for nearly a decade featuring just Batman and his rogues. I’m saying this not to brag but just to make the point that I really, really love Batman.
And I have versions of Batman that I like and versions of Batman that I don’t. I think “Batman: The Animated Series” is the platonic ideal of what a Batman story should be, and the ’80s-’90s, Denny O’Neil-edited Batman comics I grew up on remain my favorite ongoing run on the character (Note I said favorite, not best; the former is a matter of opinion, the latter of fact). Maybe you really really love “Batman and Robin,” a film that I have problems with on structural levels even more than a fandom level? That’s OK. Maybe you love the fascistic, horse-riding maniac of “The Dark Knight Returns”? OK, not my bag, but if that’s your thing, cool. And you know why? Because your liking a different Batman than I do doesn’t hurt me and doesn’t invalidate my version of Batman.
Here’s the thing: Robert Pattinson is the ninth actor to play Batman on the big screen — 11th if you’re including voice actors. And I’m pretty sure every one of those actors has their fans — well, maybe not the two from the old movie serials, but still, you see my point. And with the appearance of each new Batman, the fans of the previous incarnation have risen up and screamed him down. But guess what? Those films still exist, and you don’t have to go see the new ones if you don’t want to.
We’ve seen it in comics, too. The rage at the New 52 before it even started, that it made the previous Batman stories “not matter,” was a big thing. But all stories matter if you want them to. Dan Didio, Geoff Johns and Jim Lee didn’t come into my house and tear up “No Man’s Land” and “The Long Halloween” any more than Jenette Kahn and Paul Levitz tore up every copy of “The Joker’s Utility Belt” or “The Demon of Gothos Mansion” when “Crisis on Infinite Earths” replaced the old multiverse. And the people who talked about “real fans” not liking the new books just because they’re new is the same thing as standing on principle that “The Batman” is garbage just because it’s not to your taste.
Of all comic book characters, Batman has proven over 80 years to be the most flexible. He has successfully been the grim avenger of the night (the Burton films and the Nolan trilogy), the straight man in a world of mad, bright colors (the Schumacher films and the ’60s TV series and movie), a mad egotist (The Lego Batman Movie), and all the shades in between thanks to so many decades of comic books. And while I’m sure someone will call out a particular issue or moment that is “so not Batman,” I would say that it’s instead, “so not your Batman.”
Glen Weldon, the NPR critic and writer of “The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture,” said something on an episode of NPR’s “Pop Culture Happy Hour” podcast that still rings true to me. Batman fans, and fans in general, go through three phases that can be best exemplified by how they react to “Batman ’66.” When you’re a kid, you love it because it’s big and loud and wacky. When you’re a teenager/twenty-something, you hate it because it’s not serious enough and is clearly making fun of something you love. And when you grow up and become an adult, you love it again, because you realize it’s doing something radically different with a character and is clever. That realization should come with the one that the new opinion doesn’t invalidate the others.
I know I am standing out here, with all my Pollyanna optimism showing, but maybe if we all just sat back and let someone else enjoy “Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” even if we think it’s not a good take on Batman, we’d all just enjoy life a little more.
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of five. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the creator interview podcast WMQ&A with Dan Grote.
