| | Batman's Story?
The most interesting and distinct thing about the story of Batman, both in the comics and the movies, is the focus on the villains. Batman himself has one story, and that was told in Batman Begins, as well as a few editions of the many comic books. Every other movie has been a story of his villians, the monsters and psychopaths that are just as much victims as Bruce Wayne is himself.
Scarecrow isn't a theatrical villian, but merely a pawn of a greater evil. He's a psychologist that begins to relish the horrible experiments he conducts on the patients of his asylum. He tampers with drugs and fear to satisfy his own interest in the deterioration of one's psyche.
Rhaz al Gul (I'm sorry I don't know how it's spelled) is a member of a dark organization that has survived for centuries. Like Batman, this organization takes justice into its own hands. Maybe because of the many generations of work, or maybe because of the individual perspective of the leader, Rhaz, the methods used are strict, uncompromising, and cold. Like most villians, he lacks the compassion that makes Batman acceptable to the people of Gotham.
The Joker suffers a horrible tragedy that changes him, both physically and mentally. I haven't seen the most recent movie, Dark Knight, yet, so I can't comment on his story in that movie specifically. Something happened to the Joker that changed him, that drove him crazy.
Two Face is a man who suffers a horrible scarring accident, and has to bear a second personality in his single body. He can't reconcile the two parts of himself, so he chooses to take the control out of his own hands, but leaves it to the chance flip of a coin.
The Riddler is yet another villian that suffers from a mental problem. He feels a need for attention that drives him to commit crimes, all the time leaving clues that point straight back to him. He intentionally leads his pursuers to him, perhaps for the attention, or perhaps to satisfy the need he has developed to infuriate others with unanswered riddles and unsolveable problems.
Penguin is mutated and discarded by society, and so lashes out against the society that so rejected him. Penguin is the villian that, in my humble opinion, most reflects Bruce Wayne. He suffers a tragedy, and must choose ho to respond. Bruce chooses to do everything he can to make sure that no one else will ever have to suffer the way he did. Penguin takes the hate and rage and fosters it inside until he is ready to resurface and release on the city of Gotham all of the evils that he himself had to endure. You might even say that Batman seeks justice, while Penguin seeks revenge, and the line that separates the two characters is very thin.
Cat Woman is attacked by an employer, and barely escapes with her life. The circumstances of her survival drove hatred into her heart, and spurred her villainous, and somewhat theatrical, response. She, like Batman, chooses an alias, a costume, and a myth to hide behind, but she uses hers for personal gain.
Poison Ivy is a scientist struggling to complete her research that protects plants, only to discover that her work is being used by a fellow scientist to create horrible monsters to be used to unethical ends. The scientist lashes out, throwing Ivy into the toxins used for her research. Leaving her for dead, the toxins transform her body. She emerges from her near-death experience determined to exact revenge on mankind, and more specifically men, and restore the earth to her natural form, supplemented by Ivy's killer plants.
Freeze is trying to save his wife from a disease that would ultimately kill her. In the course of his experiments, he has an accident which changes his body's composition. Suddenly he needs a certain temperature to survive. His suit that allows him to move freely about the world requires diamonds, a fuel source that he can't afford to continually supply. Desperate, he resorts to crime. He steals the diamonds he needs, all the while trying to find a means to cure his frozen wife and to force an environmental change on Gotham that will allow him to live like any other human.
These are only some of the many villians that enrich the dark story of Gotham city and its beloved protector. Many of these villians don't have malicious intent. They simply want to right the wrongs that they suffered, they want revenge. In most cases, the psychosis that accompanied their tragedies lead that desire to a much darker and twisted purpose that is merely a result of a twisted or exaggerated perspective.
In this way, I find Batman to be unique from the other super heroes from comic books, and in that respect, infinitely more fascinating.
Thoughts and comments are welcome. ^_^
Also, I haven't seen Dark Knight, so please no spoilers.
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| | Posted 7/28/2008 2:39 PM - 71 Views - 6 eProps - 4 comments
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the TDK joker 
