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guest_
· 2 years ago
· FIRST
Not that the MCU doesn’t have issues or that it hasn’t had negative impacts on the industry or consumers, but Batman is maybe a poor example. Batman’s history is full of- perhaps even dominated by- camp and jokes and silliness. The modern idea of Batman as this dark figure is… pretty modern. The bat was dark for his time in his origin- but within a year they threw in Robin to make things lighter and more “kid friendly” and Batman shifted to a tone closer to the 1960’s Tv show. Comics and their characters have long been non mainstream- so while comic fans had some darker Batman stories over the decades, really the early 70’s and the 1980’s “Year One” are where the modern Batman starts to emerge- his overall image wasn’t so serious. “Bat Mania” and Batman as probably DC comics most marketable hero really starts in the late 80’s and early 90’s with Tim Burtons Batman films. Understand at the time this was a much darker and more serious Batman than the public was used to- really…
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guest_
· 2 years ago
.. the first time since the 1930’s that anyone but a comics reader or any average adult might go: “wow. Batman is pretty cool.” Asides the Superman films, “comic films” of that sort weren’t much of a thing- the few big screen example often failed. So Tim Burton brought a “darker” Batman and the Batman Animated series brought a “darker” Batman and kids and even adults loved it. Of course- BTAS and the Tim Burton films were FULL of humor and silliness. That’s a big part of what people loved. Joel S. Made his Batman trilogy which was much maligned but highly profitable and steered away from Burtons “dark” vision and into bright colors and camp. Adults didn’t care much for it on the whole and Batman continued to do his comics thing for comic fans and in the mainstream he mostly got more “kiddified” less serious series and straight to video releases after the original and spin off Batman the animated series shows ended.
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guest_
· 2 years ago
Now, from the 2022 perspective and with the “mainstream” Batmen we have had over the past decade or so- The 90’s cartoon and Burtons batman both look quaint- campy- but generally hold up well overall. A series of animated (home release) DC movies helped bring back the mainstream “dark” batman along with Christopher Nolan and his much more serious take on the dark knight. The Nolan films included a few moments of levity but by and large aimed at a very serious, dark, and heavy tone. Subsequent batman films by DC have also tried to push this “badass” batman- but in between we have had releases like “Harley Quinn” that have had a lighter tone and less serious Batman.
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guest_
· 2 years ago
So if someone were going to say to me that the newest Batman film didn’t have enough one liners or laughs or was too serious- I don’t know that I could blame the MCU- that has been the most successful formula and the primary way the “mainstream” audience has known the character for most of his prominence in pop culture outside of dedicated comics fans. Before Batman and comics in general picked up their more adult followings- they were largely, along with super heroes, considered more like mascots and children's entertainment and were treated as such. Asking for a Batman with jokes and silliness isn’t like asking for a Teletubbies splatter film or something- that’s been Batman for most of a century as most people have known the character. “Dark” Batman was largely a “novel” take that became the default over the last decade or so in mainstream pop culture.
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