He certainly is a hot topic these days.  New movies, renewed interest from the usually uninterested.  Although I don’t enjoy jumping on the batwagon, I’ve always been interested in the story.   To be honest, what little kid doesn’t get highly interested in either Batman, Superman or Spiderman. That is a multiple choice question with no optional candidate.  Choose your favorite of those most popular three. It definitely says something about how you like your hero figures served. Recently I had a conversation with a friend who’s superhero knowledge was about the same as a pancake’s.  However it did shed some light onto why these three are pretty much the top of the list as far as legendary and old superheros go. This is what she came up with using her pancake brain.

All three of these superheros have a crappy family life, in fact they are all orphans.  Yes I know, one is an orphan from a different planet, and one kinda still has family, but you get the picture: parents = dead.  We are looking at a simple view.  Thing number two, they all have superpowers we can’t have. Now before everyone kills me, infinite wealth and free time is a superpower.  And finally they all have the ability to fly in some form or another. Once again, these are not my words, but in a very simplistic way, that is true. Batman glides heck of long distances, Spiderman can fling himself around, and Superman, well he can just straight up fly.  Those things they have in common are also what helps them with the next part, their route of coping with that and why liking one over the others makes a difference.

For everyone who favors Superman, boy what an easy hero to follow. He has pretty much every superpower jammed into that body and only stands for good, etc. Has a good working relationship with the town, every one’s friend. A nice, 1950′s type hero with very few faults.  Apparently thinking about a character isn’t very important with this one.

Spiderman does a bit better, more complicated, lots of things going on, actual weaknesses, etc. I’m sure Dalton will get his panties in a bunch over saying that Spiderman is merely mediocre as far as complexity goes, but he still has a lot of coolness factor. Plus hes more of a rebel than Superman, but as far as public relations goes, he’s still doing pretty darn well.

Batman on the other hand once again lights up my love of the dark side.  Yeah I know hes for good and everything, but Gothem City has horrible problems and he is stuck right in the middle of it. Not only that, but who else has to face villains that are not only bad news, but genuinely insane beyond comparison.  The fact that the Joker and Scarecrow are probably my favorite villains may play a part in this, but still. Besides that, his personal struggles and besides commissioner Gordon, has chronic image problems.

He has the most good though, more than Spiderman, more than Superman. Going throughout the regular trials of someone with no super abilities makes everything that much more difficult. Hes just a person like you or me, and actually it has been stipulated that anyone could become him.  In fact, some has shown becoming Batman is a reality. Although we would have to rotate “batmen” every few years.

But that is what he is all about anyway, the symbol rather than the man. Both Superman and Spiderman could not be replaced if they were to die, but Batman would live on, with someone new to pull the strings. To everyone who favors Batman, you still have faith that humanity can pull itself out of the tough times, and we don’t need the help of aliens or weird human-insects. It’s all us, and the ideals we have that extend beyond flesh.