Why Is Batman So Popular?: A Psychological And Cultural Look
There are quite literally thousands of fictional superheroes and villains in existence. Marvel has a known roster of seven thousand alone, and DC more than ten thousand. With this many, how is it that some heroes and villains rise to popularity and some sink to obscurity? There are many characters we could speak of, but the most fascinating character to rise to popularity has to be Batman, a.k.a. Bruce Wayne.
What makes this character so popular? He was first created in 1939 by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Since then, Batman has gone on to be one of the most popular superheroes in history.
Having had multiple live-action and animated TV shows, and being in eight theater released films, Batman has earned over $4.4 billion in worldwide movie grosses. In addition to films, Batman also earns over $500 million a year in global retail sales. It’s very obvious that the idea and figure of Batman has tapped into something that people globally believe in and like as a whole.
So the question remains: Why is Batman so popular? What is it that has made him so loved? I believe there are a few reasons that lend an answer to this question. Let’s look first at the idea that Batman embodies: fear.
Fear is something that everyone on Earth has felt at one point or another. Fear is a powerful emotion that can grab hold of an individual and disable the most basic functions of the human body and mind. Individuals spend their whole lives running from fear and seeking to overcome it. Batman is just the opposite. He embraces his fear and then turns that fear on those he seeks to bring to justice.
There is something very appealing with the idea of taking paralyzing fear and turning it into a strength. In this way, Batman transcends borders and race. All humans have fear and all humans wish to turn that fear around — using it to become stronger.
There is another way that Batman can be identified with. That is, the archetypal feeling that permeates the lower-level consciousness each human being. The famed psychologist Carl Jung spoke of archetypes and the collective unconscious. This was how he described how so many people all over the world had similar fears and intuitive reactions. For example, fear of outsiders or the dark. This is a collective fear that exists all over the world. It is a fear of the Boogieman — a character or creature that lives in the dark and lives to do harm to those in the light.
As children, we’ve all have had fear of a creature that lived in the closet or under the bed. Something that would come out after the lights had gone out. Batman is a reverse “Boogieman” who lives in that fear-infested world, yet he fights against mankind’s fears. Most of mankind has outgrown the classic Boogieman, but those fears still live on as most people are uneasy in dark parking garages, or when they hear an odd noise in the darkness outside.
Batman is a force that directly combats those archetypal fears. He is an archetype of fear — a creature who stalks the darkness — but one who innocent people need not fear. In fact, he will protect them. This quality turns him into a reverse Boogieman.
The last point I would like to discuss is that of the primal natures that humans carry within. This is referred to as “The Shadow” by Carl Jung. It is described as being the sum of all human weakness, anger, and other animal instincts.
"The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of “The Shadow” without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge."
Everyone knows they have a “shadow,” yet in society, we are taught from a young age to suppress these urges — to not steal from others. We don’t fight at the drop of a hat or exhibit other bestial urges. This “shadow” scares most people. They seek to hide and or bury these urges (as they should), but Batman is more than most characters. He is a man who lives with a shadow constantly. He is a celebrated billionaire. And under this public image, he has a raging monster he keeps hidden. Jung said of this “shadow”:
"We carry our past with us, to wit, the primitive and inferior man with his desires and emotions, and it is only with an enormous effort that we can detach ourselves from this burden. If it comes to a neurosis, we invariably have to deal with a considerably intensified shadow. And if such a person wants to be cured it is necessary to find a way in which his conscious personality and his shadow can live together."
Batman has learned to live with his “shadow.” He is no longer scared of it. He uses his shadow to don the cowl of Batman and to keep those he loves safe from harm. This gives many people hope that they too can give up fear of their own “shadow” and learn to live with it.
All in all, these are simply a few reasons why Batman is such a popular superhero. I know there are dozens more. I have little doubt that Batman will continue to be a superhero everyone rallies around, and will most likely only continue to become more popular.