FAQ

Note: For this list only the creators of the characters first appearances are listed. As with all comic book characters, Batman and his supporting cast have had several reinventions and different contributions from different writers. Theses include different iterations in different mediums that all have added different concepts to the overall mythology of the characters.

Obviously theirs Bruce Thomas Wayne/Batman called only Bruce Wayne or Batman on screen. He made his first appearance in the comic story "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate" from Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane.

Richard John "Dick" Grayson/Robin, called only Dick Grayson or Robin on screen. He made his first appearance in the comic story "Robin the Boy Wonder" from Detective Comics #38 (April 1940) by Bill Finger, artist Bob Kane and illustrator Jerry Robinson.

Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth, called only Alfred Pennyworth on screen, whom in his first appearances was called Alfred Beagle. He first appeared in the comic story "Here Comes Alfred" from Batman #16 (April-May 1943) by writer Don Cameron and artist Bob Kane. The character was later reintroduced as Alfred Pennyworth (complete with a different appearance) in comics continuity by writer Bill Finger and artist Jerry Robinson.

Police Commissioner James Worthington Gordon, Sr., called Commissioner Gordon on screen. Just like Batman, he made his first appearance in the comic story "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate" from Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane.

Former District Attorney turned criminal Harvey Dent, also known as Two-Face. He made his first appearance in the comic story "The Crimes Of Two-Face" from Detective Comics #66 (August 1942) by writer writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane.

Edward Nigma/The Riddler made his first appearance in the comic story "The Riddler" from Detective Comics #140 (October 1948) by writer Bill Finger and artist Dick Sprang.

The Crime Boss Moroni, who indirectly created Two-Face by spraying acid at Harvey Dent, is based on the comic book character Salvatore 'Sal' Vincent " The Boss" Maroni, he did the same thing to Dent in the comics. He made his first appearance in the comic story "The Crimes Of Two-Face" from Detective Comics #66 (August 1942) by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane.

Mary and John Grayson referred to without names in film. They made their first appearance in the comic story "Robin the Boy Wonder" from Detective Comics #38 (April 1940) by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane.. In the film, they also have another son called Mitch Grayson who doesn't appear in the comics. Also in the movie, they are killed by Two-Face but in the comics a man called Anthony "Tony" Zucco cuts a rope after failing to extort protection money from the circus owner Mr Haley.

Bruce Wayne's parents' father Dr Thomas Wayne and mother Martha Wayne, who both appear in Bruce' dream sequence to his parents' deaths, made their first comic appearance in a flashback in "The Batman Wars Against the Dirigible of Doom" from Detective Comics #33 (November 1939). Although listed as being created by writers Bill Finger & Gardner Fox and artists Bob Kane & Jerry Robinson, it's hard to tell who contribute which attributes to the characters.

All other characters were created just for the film by the film's writers.

It's a long story so here goes....

After the success of the comic book Superhero Superman, artist Bob Kane tried to come up with his own hero "The Bat-Man", the character Kane created wore a red suit with a domino mask, blonde hair and a pair of bat wings. Kane then asked for writer Bill Finger's assistance on the project. Finger rejected several of Kane's initial ideas about the character and suggested several changes in design and characterization. His changes included changing his hair colour, a black colour scheme for the costume, adding a cape and cowl, the idea that he shouldn't have any superpowers, his civilian identity of Bruce Wayne (which Finger named after Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland and general Anthony "Mad Anthony" Wayne), the origin story about his parents being shot in an alley and the idea that he should also be a detective.

Kane marketed the "Batman" character to National Comics, and Batman's first story was published in "Detective Comics" #27 (May 1939). The script was written by an uncredited Finger, making him the first of many ghost writers to work on comics officially credited to Bob Kane. When Kane negotiated a contract about selling the rights to the "Batman" character, he claimed he was the sole creator and demanded a sole mandatory byline acknowledging him as such on all comics and adaptations. Out of fairness, Kane agreed to pay Finger his share with money out of his earnings. Unfortunately, the agreement was never put into writing, and Finger never saw a cent.

Finger would go on to ghost write Batman stories up into the mid 1960's, either with Kane or for DC Comics directly. During his writing tenure, Finger was responsible for the unaccredited creation of many key players and pieces in the Batman universe.

These included the Batmobile, the Batcave, Gotham City, and Batman's nickname "The Dark Knight. He also came up with several secondary Batman characters including," his sidekick Robin, his arch-nemesis The Joker, and his occasional love interest Catwoman, as well as Commissioner Gordon, The Riddler and The Scarecrow. Despite all of this, the only writing credit that Finger received for Batman in his lifetime were two episodes of Batman (1966), The Clock King's Crazy Crimes (1966) and The Clock King Gets Crowned (1966) which he co-wrote with friend Charles Sinclair.

Eventually, the truth did come out. Finger attended the first official New York Comic Con in 1965 and sat on a panel with other comic book creators where he revealed the role he played in Batman's creation. Finger's story gained exposure in a two-page article titled "If the truth be known, or a Finger in every plot!," written and distributed by pop culturist Jerry Bails. Kane caught wind of Finger's appearance not long after and replied in the form of a printed letter to Batman fan magazine, "Batmania," where he labeled his old friend a fraud. Finger, who by this time was deeply in debt, continued to write for various projects in and outside of comic books until his death in 1974, when he was found alone in his apartment by friend Charles Sinclair. Finger died penniless and his contributions to the character was never acknowledged in his lifetime.

However, after the popularity of Tim Burton's Batman (1989), Kane acknowledged Finger as "a contributing force" in the character's creation, and wrote in his 1989 autobiography "Batman and Me" that "Now that my long-time friend and collaborator is gone, I must admit that Bill never received the fame and recognition he deserved. He was an unsung hero ... I often tell my wife, if I could go back fifteen years, before he died, I would like to say. 'I'll put your name on it now. You deserve it.'"

Many failed attempts were made over the years by Finger's family to get him recognition for his work, including a request from his second wife Lyn Simmons to have his name listed in the credits of Tim Burton's Batman (1989).

Finger remained largely unknown, even to Batman fans, until writer Marc Tyler Nobleman began investigating the late author's life for a book being written about him called "Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman". Nobleman went in search of Finger's family to help fill in the gaps and give him credit. While Finger's autopsy report claimed no relatives were present, Nobleman discovered that Finger had a son, Fred.

Unfortunately, Fred, who was an outspoken proponent of his father, had died in 1992. Nobleman learned that Fred was also homosexual, leading him to believe that Fred had no children before his death. The trail was starting to go cold.

However, after receiving new information from Finger's nephew, Nobleman discovered Fred indeed had a daughter, Athena Finger, who was born two years after Finger's death. Nobleman met with Athena and convinced her to meet with DC about getting recognition for her grandfather. DC in turn welcomed Athena with open arms, cut her a check and invited her to the premiere of The Dark Knight (2008) with all expenses paid. It wasn't until around 2012 that DC offered her more money. This time, however, she had to sign away her rights to her grandfather's claim. With encouragement from Nobleman, Athena rejected the money and took DC to court.

It took years of litigation before a settlement was reached. A major turning point in the case was the unearthing of recorded interviews with Kane during the writing of his autobiography. During one of the interviews, Tom Andrae, Kane's co-writer, asked Kane to what extent Finger contributed to Batman's creation. "Bill was responsible for 50 to 75 percent," Kane bluntly responded.

Finally, in September 2015, DC Entertainment issued a statement informing the public that Finger would be listed as co-creator on any piece of Batman media henceforth. Starting with the superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and the second season of Gotham (2014), an updated acknowledgement for the character appeared as "Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger".

Finger's story was later used as the subject of the Hulu original documentary, Batman & Bill (2017).

No, although it's billed as a sequel. "Batman Forever" really doesn't have anything to do with the previous films. Batman/Bruce Wayne was recast. The character was played by Michael Keaton in Tim Burton's films but played by Val Kilmer in this film. Also, Two-Face/Harvey Dent has been recast. The character was played by Billy Dee Williams in "Batman" (only as Harvey Dent) but played by Tommy Lee Jones in "Batman Forever." The only two actors to return in this film are Michael Gough as Alfred, and Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon. However, since neither of them reference anything in the Tim Burton films this doesn't mean anything since actors (and actresses) have been known to reprise roles in different versions of the same mythos. Basically "Batman Forever" (and "Batman & Robin" for that matter) are set in a different universe/continuity than "Batman" and "Batman Returns." The dialogue spoken throughout the movie is conflicting about this. While Chase Meridian directly references Catwoman from Batman Returns, Bruce Wayne later says that he has never been in love before, ignoring Vicky Vale and Selina Kyle from the previous movies.

No one has answered this question yet.

Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) and The Riddler (Jim Carrey) band together to destroy Batman (Val Kilmer), while Bruce Wayne takes on young circus acrobat Dick Grayson (Chris O'Donnell) as a ward after his parents and brother are killed by Two-Face. Meanwhile, Bruce is also falling in love with Doctor Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman), a psychologist specializing in multiple personalities (of which Gotham City seems to have its share).

No, although the movie is based on characters created by American comic book artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger for DC Comics, first appearing in Detective Comics #27 in May of 1939. It is the third movie in Warner Bros.' Batman film series, preceded by Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) and followed by Batman & Robin (1997). The screenplay was written by Lee Batchler, Janet Scott Batchler, and Akiva Goldsman.

Gotham City is a fictional U.S. port city located on the north-eastern Atlantic coast. It was originally a stand-in for New York City but has also resembled other crime-ridden, highly-populated urban centers such as Chicago and Detroit. Some sources, including Mayfair Games' authorized (but now out-of-print) Atlas of the DC Universe, have placed Gotham City in the state of New Jersey. Christopher Nolan (director of Batman Begins (2005) and its sequels, The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012)) locates Gotham City in the middle of the estuary of the Liberty River where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The river separates most of Gotham from the mainland. The River Merchant divides Uptown from Midtown, while Midtown is separated from Downtown by the Gotham River. The Narrows is a small island in the Gotham River. A creek divides the district of South Hinkley from the rest of Gotham City. Gotham International Airport is in Pettsburg, to the north of the Liberty River estuary. The current DC Universe version of Gotham City is separated from the mainland by the Gotham River, bridged by a series of bridges and tunnels. The east and south sides of Gotham face the Atlantic Ocean. The city is further divided by the Sprang River (named for Dick Sprang) on the northern end and the Finger River (for Bill Finger) to the south. Tiny Blackgate Isle to the south-east is home to Blackgate Maximum Security Penitentiary. (Blackgate is replaced by Stonegate Penitentiary in Batman: The Animated Series (1992) and its spin-offs.)

Former district Attorney Harvey Dent, once dedicated to fighting crime in Gotham City, was injured in an acid accident that left him disfigured on one side of his face. Harvey blames the accident on Batman and wants to see him dead. More of Dent's story can be seen in The Dark Knight (2008), although the two movies are not in the same franchise.

Yes. Edward Nygma, an employee of Wayne Industries, tried to sell Bruce on funding a device he invented for manipulating human brainwaves and transferring them into his own head. Bruce turns him down on the grounds that tampering with human minds presents too many problems, so Nygma tries it on himself, and it unhinges his already unstable mind, turning him into the Riddler. SPOILER: From then on, he is seen playing with his image on his computer, trying different costumes for his alternate persona, all revolving around the question mark. He tries on a trenchcoat with a crossword puzzle for "Quizzman" or "question mark man" etc., and he keeps not liking either. Then, he turns and looks at his animatronic in the green suit and hat with black question marks print, and has a "lightbulb" or "BINGO!" moment. He thanks his animatronic and fades to the next scene. He will later show up at Two-Face's house in full Riddler's costume, complete with cane.

There are three possible explanations:

1. Batman asked Commissioner Gordon where Chase Meridian was staying during her visit to Gotham City.

2. Chase told Batman to come to her house without saying where she lived. However, Bruce Wayne had already visited Chase's house before and, in that case, Batman would have no problem getting there.

3. She figured that if he really wanted to come over, he'd make the effort to track her down. This would let her know that he was interested.

Before deciding not to don the cape and cowl for a third time, Michael Keaton met with Joel Schumacher and declined to join the project after deciding that he did not like the direction in which Schumacher was looking to take the franchise. In the brief time that Tim Burton was still considering doing a third Batman film, Riddler was the only villain that he planned on using. The idea of using Two-Face did not come up until Schumacher joined the project.

In order to get the PG rating in the UK, several scenes not suitable for younger children had to be cut. More than one and a half minutes are missing in this version. Fortunately an uncut 12-rated version does exist as well.