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Batman
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Creation & Design

Batman was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, inspired by various literary and film characters, including Zorro and The Shadow.

Early Years

After witnessing the murder of his parents, Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to fighting crime in Gotham City, adopting the persona of Batman to instill fear in criminals.

Character Development

Over the decades, Batman has evolved from a vigilante with a simple motivation to a complex character dealing with moral dilemmas, psychological trauma, and the consequences of his actions.

Cultural Reception

Batman has received critical acclaim and is considered one of the most popular and enduring superheroes in comic book history.

Character Details

Real Name:
Bruce Wayne
Aliases:
The Dark Knight, The Caped Crusader, The World's Greatest Detective
Species:
Human
Gender:
Male
Affiliations:
Justice League, Batman Inc., The Outsiders
Abilities:
Peak human conditioning, Expert martial artist, Master detective, Genius-level intellect
Equipment:
Utility belt, Batmobile, Batarangs, Grappling hook
Weight:
210lbs
Height:
6' 3"
Eye Color:
blue
Hair Color:
black
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Batman #242

DC ⋅ 1972

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Batman #242
 
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Key Facts

1st appearance of Bruce Wayne as crimelord, Matches Malone

Swamp Thing #7

DC ⋅ 1973

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Swamp Thing #7
 
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Key Facts

First meeting of Swamp Thing and Batman

Batman #258

DC ⋅ 1974

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Batman #258
 
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Key Facts

First mention of Arkham Hospital, later renamed Arkham Asylum

Adventure Comics #462

DC ⋅ 1979

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Adventure Comics #462
 
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Key Facts

Death of Earth-Two Batman

Batman #313

DC ⋅ 1979

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Batman #313
 
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Key Facts

Batman and Catwoman first official date and romantic kiss

1st appearance of Tim Fox, the son of Lucius Fox and the Next Batman

DC Special Series #27

DC ⋅ 1981

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DC Special Series #27
 
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Key Facts

68-page oversized crossover featuring Batman and the Hulk

Detective Comics #526

DC ⋅ 1983

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Detective Comics #526
 
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Key Facts

Batman's 500th appearance in Detective Comics

Interior pin-up poster by Bob Kane

Brave and the Bold, The #200

DC ⋅ 1983

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Brave and the Bold, The #200
 
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1st team appearance of the Outsiders: Batman, Black Lightning, Halo, Geoforce, Katana and Metamorpho

1st appearance of Katana, a Japanese martial artist

1st appearance of Geoforce, has the ability to manipulate Earth's gravity

1st appearance of Halo, has the ability to create auras of light with different effects

Batman and the Outsiders #1

DC ⋅ 1983

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Batman and the Outsiders #1
 
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Key Facts

2nd appearance and origin of The Outsiders

1st cameo appearance of Baron Bedlam, a fighter with meta-human powers

1st appearance of Dr. Jace, a scientist who activated the powers of superheroes

1st appearance of Gregor Markov, brother of Geo-Force and Terra

Batman #366

DC ⋅ 1983

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Batman #366
 
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Key Facts

1st appearance of Jason Todd in Robin costume without Batman's permission

Jason Todd had red hair in previous appearances and admits to dyeing it black. This story was strangely retconned in Batman and Robin #5 (2009) with Todd claiming Bruce Wayne made him dye his hair black

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1

DC ⋅ 1986

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Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1
 
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Key Facts

1st appearance of Robin, Carrie Kelley, in an alternate reality

1st cameo appearance of the Mutants and the Mutant Leader

💰Original cover art sold on June 16, 2022 for $2.4 million dollars

Batman #404

DC ⋅ 1987

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Batman #404
 
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Key Facts

"Year One" part 1

Origin of Bruce Wayne

1st appearance of Holly Robinson, becomes an ally of Catwoman

Legends #6

DC ⋅ 1987

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Legends #6
 
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1st team appearance of the Justice League International: Batman, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Dr. Fate, Dr. Light, Guy Gardener, Martian Manhunter, Mister Miracle

Batman: Son of the Demon

Hardcover ⋅ DC ⋅ 1987

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Batman: Son of the Demon
 
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Key Facts

1st appearance of Damian Wayne, son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul, as a baby

Initially an alternate reality story that was retconned into continuity by Grant Morrison

Batman: Son of the Demon

Softcover ⋅ DC ⋅ 1988

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Batman: Son of the Demon
 
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1st appearance of Damian Wayne, son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul, as a baby

Initially an alternate reality story that was retconned into continuity by Grant Morrison

The softcover edition was preceded by the December 1987 hardcover edition

Batman #426

DC ⋅ 1988

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Batman #426
 
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Key Facts

"A Death in the Family" part 1

Batman #427

DC ⋅ 1989

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Batman #427
 
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Key Facts

"A Death in the Family" part 2

After the Joker badly beats Jason Todd with a crowbar, an explosion finishes him off but the fate of Robin was not decided until phone lines were opened to fans after this issue went on sale to determine the fate of Jason Todd

Batman #428

DC ⋅ 1989

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Batman #428
 
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Key Facts

"A Death in the Family" part 3

Death of Robin, Jason Todd, killed by the Joker

Batman #427 ended on a cliffhanger that placed Jason Todd in the blast zone of an exploding warehouse

DC set up a poll for readers to cast their vote of whether Jason Todd should survive the blast by calling one phone number, or die by calling another

10,614 phone calls were made with Todd's death having been decided by only 72 votes more than the opposite outcome where he would've survived

DC had prepared both scenarios to go to print (tap cover and swipe to view unpublished pages)

Batman #429

DC ⋅ 1989

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Batman #429
 
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Key Facts

"A Death in the Family" part 4

Batman #431

DC ⋅ 1989

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Batman #431
 
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1st appearance of Kirigi, a member of the League of Assassins who was at one time a mentor to Batman and Bronze Tiger

Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1

DC ⋅ 1993

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Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1
 
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Key Facts

1st appearance, cover and origin of Bane

📖 Knightfall Reading Order: next Batman #484

[September 2024 - James Gunn’s DCU is developing a Bane and Deathstroke super-villain team-up film based on a script by Matthew Orton]

Batman / Grendel #1

Platinum ⋅ DC ⋅ 1993

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Batman / Grendel #1
 
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Key Facts

Variant cover art by Matt Wagner, creator of Grendel

'Silver Moon' Platinum Foil Edition, limited to 25 copies

Obtained by winning a contest facilitated by Hero Illustrated Magazine

The gold stamp is part of the proprietary Hero Illustrated protective slipcase and not on the actual comic

This much anticipated publisher crossover was written in 1991 but was delayed due to Comico going through bankruptcy proceedings. DC eventually published the story in 1993

Batman #497

DC ⋅ 1993

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Batman #497
 
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Bane breaks Batman's back

Knightfall Part Eleven

📖 Knightfall Reading Order: next Detective Comics #664

Batman #500

DC ⋅ 1993

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Batman #500
 
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Key Facts

Azrael stands in for Batman after Bane breaks Bruce Wayne's back in Batman #497

Azrael defeats Bane

Knightfall Part Nineteen

📖 Knightfall Reading Order: next Catwoman #1

Spawn / Batman #1

Image ⋅ 1994

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Spawn / Batman #1
 
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Key Facts

Batman/Spawn crossover distributed by Image, created by Todd McFarlane and Frank Miller

Batman / Spawn: War Devil #1

DC ⋅ 1994

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Batman / Spawn: War Devil #1
 
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Key Facts

Batman/Spawn crossover distributed by DC, the second crossover of the characters

Batman / Punisher

DC/Marvel ⋅ 1994

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Batman / Punisher
 
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Key Facts

One-shot 'Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights'

Second crossover of Batman and the Punisher - the Punisher chases Jigsaw to Gotham where he clashes with Batman and the Joker

Action Comics #784
Non-Key

DC ⋅ 2001

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Action Comics #784
 
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Key Facts

Non-Key Issue. No additional information is available.

Batman #608

Diamond Exclusive ⋅ DC ⋅ 2002

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Batman #608
 
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Variant cover art by Jim Lee

Retailer Round-Table meeting giveaway

Batman #614

DC ⋅ 2003

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Batman #614
 
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Classic battle Batman vs Joker

Justice #2

2nd Print ⋅ DC ⋅ 2005

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Justice #2
 
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Variant second printing cover art by Alex Ross

Batman #655

DC ⋅ 2006

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Batman #655
 
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1st cameo appearance of Damian Wayne, the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, in shadows

⚠ Misconception: cited by many resources as Damian's first full appearance but aside from one panel that shows his eyes only, he is otherwise fully obscured by shadows. It should also be noted that the 1987 graphic novel 'Batman: Son of the Demon' introduced a child of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul but the story did not take place in the main DC story universe until Grant Morrison integrated portions of the graphic novel into the origin of Damian

Detective Comics #866

Variant ⋅ DC ⋅ 2010

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Detective Comics #866
 
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Variant cover art by Walter Simonson

75th Anniversary edition, celebrating 75 years since National Allied Publications (later DC Comics) published New Fun: The Big Comics Magazine #1 (Feb 1935)

Cover art inspired by Detective Comics #69 (1942)

Brightest Day #14

DC ⋅ 2011

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Brightest Day #14
 
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1st appearance of Batman as a White Lantern

Detective Comics #881

DC ⋅ 2011

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Detective Comics #881
 
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Final issue of the first Detective Comics series (1937-2011)

Batman #1

DC ⋅ 2011

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Batman #1
 
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Premiere issue of the second standalone Batman title

1st appearance of Lincoln March

1st cameo appearance of Harper Row, later becomes Bluebird

Detective Comics #1

DC ⋅ 2011

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Detective Comics #1
 
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Relaunch of the Detective Comics title

1st cameo appearance of the Dollmaker, seen in the reflection of a knife he uses to cut off Joker's face

Batman #0

DC ⋅ 2012

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Batman #0
 
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Origin of Batman

Detective Comics #27

DC ⋅ 2014

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Detective Comics #27
 
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1st appearance of Calvin Rose as Gothamite

75th Anniversary of Detective Comics

Short story titled '27' by Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy which laid the foundation for the 'Last Knight On Earth' Black Label 3-issue miniseries

Concept: the first Bat-Man developed a cloning process where he could replicate himself as a young man who would have 27 years of effectiveness before restarting the process, explaining why Batman has been able to fight crime effectively for 80 years

Earth 2 #25

Variant ⋅ DC ⋅ 2014

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Earth 2 #25
 
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Variant cover art by Walt Simonson featuring Batman, Bruce Wayne and Batman, Thomas Wayne

Batman 75th Anniversary variant

Detective Comics #46

DC ⋅ 2015

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Detective Comics #46
 
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First ongoing printed attribution given to Bill Finger as co-creator of Batman in the Detective Comics title

75 years after Batman debuted, Bill Finger’s granddaughter settled a court case with DC to award credit to her deceased grandfather for the creation of Batman

Dark Knight III: The Master Race #1

Variant ⋅ DC ⋅ 2016

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Dark Knight III: The Master Race #1
 
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Variant cover art by Neal Adams

Dark Knight III: The Master Race #1

Variant ⋅ DC ⋅ 2016

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Dark Knight III: The Master Race #1
 
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Variant cover art by Artgerm

Dark Knight III: The Master Race #3

Variant ⋅ DC ⋅ 2016

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Dark Knight III: The Master Race #3
 
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Variant cover art by Gabrielle Del Otto

Exclusive variant offered by Bulletproof Comics

Detective Comics #934
Non-Key

Variant ⋅ DC ⋅ 2016

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Detective Comics #934
 
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Non-Key Issue. No additional information is available.

Batman #24

DC ⋅ 2017

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Batman #24
 
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Batman proposes to Catwoman

Dark Nights: Metal #2

DC ⋅ 2017

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Dark Nights: Metal #2
 
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Key Facts

2nd cameo appearance of the Dark Multiverse Batmen: The Drowned, The Dawnbreaker, The Red Death, The Batman Who Laughs, The Merciless, The Devastator, The Murder Machine

1st appearance of Baby Darkseid

Batman Annual #2

DC ⋅ 2017

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Batman Annual #2
 
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Origin of Batman and Catwoman, their first date

1st appearance of Helena Wayne as Batwoman, daughter of Bruce and Selina

Batman #2
Non-Key

Annual ⋅ DC ⋅ 2017

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Batman #2
 
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Story features Batman and Catwoman's first date

Batman #50

DC ⋅ 2018

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Batman #50
 
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Marriage of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle

Selina called-off the wedding which was revealed to readers by The New York Times prior to the issue coming out causing significant backlash against DC and the newspaper

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