Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/02/05/reboots-r-us.html
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Black Batman? I thought there are many many original characters that are black that are basically just that. However there’s nothing inherently wrong with doing an alternate version of batman that changes details around, after all DC does this all the time with one shots and mini-series that arent part of the main Batman comics. I’d be surprised if it hasn’t been done already, but if it really hasn’t then someone should.
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Oh, I would love to see that version as well. It would subtly explain why Bruce Wayne is able to become Batman and not be missed, in a way. With a nod to Ralph Ellison, this Bruce Wayne could easily incorporate elements of Invisible Man, who no one suspects of being the costumed vigilante.
But it’s not my place to say what would be good or what not, as I am not part of that community and have a tendency to stick my foot in me mouth. But I do hope there are writers out there who can do it justice.
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The tricky thing about writing a black Batman is that there’s literally only three black billionaires in the United States: Robert Smith, Oprah and Michael Jordan. So as soon as anyone figures out Batman is a super-rich black person it’s going to be pretty obvious who it is (Oprah).
I love the ideas being tossed around though, especially the part about Joe Chill (the Waynes’ killer) being a cop.
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Of course early in his career Batman was a mere millionaire. Inflation’s been hard on Gotham.
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Batman seems to be more known for his wealth than anything else but i would say that a good potential take is to focus more on his intelligence and other skills beyond fantastic gadgets for every problem. He could still be fairly wealthy but i’d be keen on a Batman run where he relied more on the sleuthing… then he wouldn’t necessarily need to be a zillionaire. Of course there are Batman runs on this already, but i mean for a black Batman… if there truly would be only a few extremely wealthy black men then to fly under the radar he could just not rely on his wealth as much to fly under the radar.
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On the one hand I definitely get wanting new characters of color in popular culture and not merely reinventing white characters. On the other hand, reinventing white characters as characters of color should definitely be one option.
This is why Batman: The Animated Series is my favorite incarnation (even counting Nolan’s and Miller’s interpretations). He was still rich and had lots of gadgets, but they merely supported his intelligence and sleuthing.
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I prefer original characters, but yeah there’s nothing wrong with reinventing Batman as a man of color and i’m for it. However i’m thinking that there’s something really… “interesting” about Batman being white that makes sense, in an ironic way. It reminds me of the image of the wealthy white person having a white savior complex thinking that they know best and that they can swoop in and save people in 3rd world countries. To me Batman is truly a white person’s power fantasy, and i say this as a big fan of the character.
I’m also a huge fan of the animated Batman’s well because the focus on his investigative skills is front and center. Certainly disappointed that in the movies this is such a small part of the character.
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I like to retcon both Spiderman and Superman as black in my head, partly because it makes more sense for both of them and also adds more depth to their stories - I noticed that Spiderman seems to be the only one in the Marvel universe with a costume that covers him entirely, so I like to think that maybe he had an early costume that showed some of his skin, but one time in an emergency situation the people he was trying to save assumed he was a villian because of his skin colour, so he changed his costume to stop that happening again, and also along with the X-Men he’s the only superhero I’m aware of in the Marvel universe that’s vililfied a lot in the press, if he’s black that would make sense as well.
Also science already says Superman should be black: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchamary/2016/03/31/black-superman/ but I think if Superman had an African-American appearance his origin story as a disguised reporter would make much more sense - maybe when he first developed his powers he thought having strength would help him save people, but he realised all the strength in the world didn’t stop the oppression of black people who looked like him, so he decided to use his powers (super speed, super hearing) to uncover corruption and report about it in the paper, and the reason no one notices he’s Superman is because… well figure out that one for yourself.
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I would absolutely read this, and I’ve read a ton of Batman comi… er, graphic novels. Change is good.
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Batman Incorporated showed one way to deal with this. Bruce Wayne outed himself as Batman’s secret benefactor, this allowing him to sidestep a lot of the scrutiny on whether he was Batman. Once it’s acknowledged that Batman isn’t necessarily a bazillionaire, the pool of potential people under the cowl enlarges tremendously. He really could be anyone.
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Although the politics of having a wealthy white man fund minorities to do do his dirty work would be problematic in its own way. That could be handled well, but would be a tougher needle to thread.
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I say this as a marginal Batman fanboy.
Hell Yes!
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I would read a comic where Oprah was a masked vigilante.
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I love Batman Beyond, that was such an amazing show and Terry is a really interesting version of Batman. I particularly like how they did his rogue’s galley. Shriek and Inque being the best of the bunch, though i was really jazzed to see Freeze show up.
Derek Powers, his main antagonist is also really great.
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