Batmanhas inspired a long list of heroes over the years. It began with his first sidekick, Robin, but now the Caped Crusader has a whole family of allies and bat-themed superheroes. Of all four Robins (technically five if you include the late Stephanie Brown), three are now their own superheroes, and each has their own story and identity, independent of Bruce Wayne. Batgirl has always been her own superhero, inspired by the idea of Batman and operating on her own belief in justice. To put it simply, the Bat-family is a complex group of heroes, and now that Warner Bros. seems interested in making movies about them, the studio should tread carefully.
The Batman family of heroes is big enough to effectively have what would become its own MCU. There is a through-line of the Batman story capable of being followed to where the Bat-universe would expand into numerous heroes as part of the Batman legacy. Another option is to do what DC has been doing and clumsily squeeze out superhero movies while either retconning them together or having them ignore each other. The Bat-family is one of DC Comics’ most interesting long-term narratives, and it has the potential to work wonders for DC.
The History of the Bat-Family
It all started with Robin. Dick Grayson was the very firstsidekick in comic book history, and soon after, the idea of sidekicks became normalized. When he left to grow up and become his own hero, he was replaced, and the title of “Robin” became more of a role to fill than it was a singular person. Each Robin became an individual and a hero in their own right. Then more characters took up bat-related mantles.
Barbara Gordon, Detective Gordon’s daughter, saw all the people devoted to justice in her life and eventually decided to become Batgirl. She holds an important position in this group because she created a precedent for people inspired by Batman to take up the cowl without necessarily being recruited by him. After Batgirl, a number of heroes operated adjacent to Batman, making their own stories and being active in Gotham but not really getting access to the Batcave.
There was Batwoman, Huntress, Catwoman famously goes back and forth between being an ally and an enemy, and several others. Yes, Batman operates on a bigger scale than the Justice League, but there are enough characters in Gotham alone to fuel a long line of films.
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The heroes in the Bat-family have a unique positionin the DC universe. There are so many of them united under the umbrella of Batman, and along with their individual stories, they all have complex relationships with each other. Over the years, as the family grew, it added so much depth to the character of Batman that his singular comic line eventually became a whole world of canon. Every addition to Batman’s personal league of heroes made a new mark on his story. Though it was never planned, these landmark changes in Batman’s life eventually formed a narrative.
Looking back over the long history of Batman, one could very easily compose a story that draws a line through Batman’s relationship with those heroes but with their own independent stories, similar to how the Avengers had a common connection to Iron Man.
DC’s Restructure Could Mean a New Bat-Family Universe
It’s no secret that Warner Bros. and DC want the same success as Disney and Marvel, but they’ve played second banana sinceChristopher Nolan finished his trilogy. DC has continually pumped out less-than-impressive films, likely to try and recoup losses on production costs. They’ve taken heroes everyone loves and put them in mediocre movies on a cost-benefit decision. But that might be changing under the new stewardship of David Zaslav.
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The fact thatBatgirlwas canceled, despite the uproar from fans, represents a change in corporate strategy from Warner Bros. regarding its DC movies. The studio may see a readjustment in the coming years, which could include a new plan for their superhero universe.
Along with their other heroes, a close eye on Gotham could prove useful for DC. Team-up movies almost always do much better than films for individual superheroes. Adding a bunch of new heroes into the family of what has traditionally been their most popular superhero could be a good decision. However, DC seems to be between a rock and a hard place when it comes to a strategy like this.
Right now, they have three different people playingBatman: Robert Pattinson, Ben Affleck, and now Michael Keaton, rumored in upcoming films. Connecting something that seems so scattered would take a very careful plan or a massive reboot. And they don’t seem to be going with the latter. But it seems that aside from the strategy of reinforcing their interconnected universe, their only other option would be to keep makingBatmanreboots every ten years.
The Bat-family has a rich history of exciting stories that branch far into the DC lore. Building a world for these heroes from the ground up would be difficult and take a long time, but overall be a better investment than continually trying to rehabilitate the dying body of theJustice League.
