In 2016, the Bat wasn’t dead but rose again not once, not twice but three times on both the big and small screen.
This year, Bat-signaled the 50th anniversary of grade-A Adam West as ABC’s “Batman” alongside Burt Ward’s Boy Wonder Robin. Though one of the “masked vigilantes”, Batman remains a masked manhunter for justice: the campy yet cool Caped Crusader, a sworn masked deputy of law and order in Gotham City against the Riddler (Frank Gorshin), the Joker (Cesar Romero), the Penguin (Burgess Meredith), the Catwoman (Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, Eartha Kitt), and Mr. Freeze. With loyal butler Alfred by their side, Batman & Robin goes from the Dynamic Duo to the Terrific Trio with the arrival of Batgirl (Yvonne Craig) against the rogue gallery of super-villains dedicated to taking over the world – by ridding the world of our superheroes.
The Bat of Gotham showed himself as a strong man of steel who can make Metropolis’ Man of Steel bleed in “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” with Ben Affleck as the brooding Bat opposite Henry Cavill’s Son of Krypton – with Gal Gadot in the middle of completing this superhero trinity as Wonder Woman.
But before the Bat, there was boy billionaire Bruce Wayne on the FOX prequel “Gotham” with David Mazouz as the true Son of Gotham, whose parents’ murder will help him rise to fight against the wrath of the villains in this mad city: a city filled with monsters, a city in need of a masked vigilante who will become the hero this city needs.
In 2017, Bruce Wayne/Batman will keep rising on the big and small screen with the 25th anniversary of both director Tim Burton’s “Batman Returns” starring Michael Keaton, and FOX’s “Batman: The Animated Series” with Kevin Conroy providing the voice of the one who is vengeance … the one who is the night: the dark knight that is Batman, the one who will put together the team of Earth’s greatest superheroes known as the Justice League.