Batman has been around for 85 years—longer than the microwave oven! In that time, the character has gone from a cold-blooded pulp hero to a swashbuckling adventurer, a campy crime-fighter, and beyond. Yet, for some reason, Hollywood is stuck on the darkest, broodiest aspects of the character.
It all started with 1986’s Frank Miller comic book The Dark Knight Returns. The four-issue miniseries saw an older, bleaker take on Batman than fans were used to. The comic has become such a dominant part of the character’s mythos that you can see its influence in everything from Batman (1989) to The Dark Knight (2008) to The Batman (2022). Only the DCU can break the dark Batman cycle.