There will never be a need for a man to dress up like a bat
There will never be a need for a man to dress up like a bat to instill fear into criminals. This fact will always be bittersweet for people like me who grew up in the imaginary world of superhero comic books.
My very first comic was Avengers West Coast #50, where the Scarlet Witch uses her mutant witchcraft powers to revive a deceased android from the World War II era heroes, the original Human Torch. Giving an already unpopular kid with an overactive imagination this kind of reading material was a recipe for pulp fiction addiction.
Since my introduction to the pantheon of superheroes, I have devoured pretty much every comic book trying to understand the characters of the silver-age comic book. I poured over the panels of Batman, trying to learn everything about the cape crusader and his fictional universe. I got very good at memorizing the minute details of each character history and by the time I was an unpopular teenager with a bad haircut, I could recite pretty much the original origin of every member of the justice league before their continuities were retroactively changed thanks to the broad sweeping many title crossover story arc of Crisis on Infinite Earths.
As a child, I never questioned the motivation of these protagonists, nobly empowered citizen or socially misunderstood anti-hero, to don a costume and run around acting like their deeds were more important than anything else in the world. So many times has Superman done something that has affected the world on a global level yet I never questioned the world's reaction to just one man's actions. It was a fictional world where superpowers being taken for granted was acceptable.
It depressed me a little to think that I would never live in a time where men could do the extra-incredible. The reality of the world we live in is a stark contrast to that of the comic book universe, where anything good or evil is possible with justice prevailing over all. I tried to understand how the mechanics of the fictional universe would work and became obsessed with the dichotomy of the real and fictional world that comic book artists had created for us kids.
Tales of the exploits of men beyond men have be around since history began. Exaggerated accounts of deeds and daring do's have thrilled audiences for countless generations. To hear about the impossible being done has always been a motivator to keep us paying attention to the storyteller. By the time the original comic book heros were being drawn, the world was coming out of a depressing time of economic crisis following a devastating global war. The public demand was for someone greater than normal people to lead the way. Someone who would fight the problems of society head on, either by a shining avatar of justice and the american way like Superman or surreptitiously getting around the inefficient lawmakers to deal out vengeance first hand like Batman.
Comics reflect the social commentary of the times and by the time World War II began hyper patriotic super-soldiers like Captain America with his sidekick Bucky were storming the Nazi occupied beaches of France and singlehandedly taking out enemy forces so we didn't have to lose our loved one on the battlefield. We created these fictional and inspirational accounts to escape the grim reality of actual events that we had to face in our daily lives. No one dressed like a giant bat ever actually socked out Hitler but in 1944 it was a fun mental image to imagine.
Comic books created a universe that reflects the dreams of a society that longs for a hero but doesn't require one. The one rule of thumb for any fictional hero continuity is that there will never be one sided distributed power, no absolute amassing of control. If a villain is granted super-abilities, heroes will emerge from the woodwork to challenge his authority. In the real world, there is no opportunity for that sort of amassing of power. Real life does not reflect the comic book world in the simple fact that there are just too many oppositions to us. We just would not have the opportunity to become Dr. Doom in the real world.
In the world of comic books, you have a protagonist force and antagonist force. Superman was a hero who fought the evils of society and before too long a character who could challenge his endeavors was created. Lex Luthor was the opposite of everything that Superman represented: Lex was selfish, capitalistic, power-hungry, a fat cat who exploited society to meet his own ends. Batman's coldly serious dark vengeance was countered by the Joker's insane and clown-like crimes. Throughout every character's history, circumstances allowed the individual an unique opportunity to be heroic or villainous only to match it with an opposing arch-nemesis who's mode of operandi was the polar opposite.
The reality of our situation is that when someone amasses too much power or wealth to threaten the rest of society, society reacts as whole and removes the threat. Dictators are deposed with armies of cooperating nations. Fat cats are persecuted in white collar courts. There just isn't a requirement for a single champion of justice to swing into action and right the wrongs of the world. We've developed as a society where the caped crusader just isn't required. Not that it wouldn't be cool to see Spider-Man swing by to nab some bank robbers while on your way to work.
Comic books are escapism fantasy from the banality of the world around us. A world where the impossible remains impossible and being outstanding is limited to those immediately around us. The world of comic books is a world of heroes looking out for the little people of normal everyday life who cannot do so for themselves because they're unable to contend with the might of a villain. We live in a world where we can stick up for ourselves which means there is no need for anyone to dress up like a giant bat to fight crime.
