‘Batman: Mask of the Phantasm’ Is the Best Batman

Our popular culture is full of Batman. We can’t seem to get enough of the Caped Crusader, a comic-book character created in 1939 who has grappling-hooked out of his original medium and into TV shows, blockbuster movies (played by three — or five, depending on how you count — different actors since 2012), video games, car commercials, and more.

These different representations emphasize distinct qualities of the hero, the alter ego of billionaire Bruce Wayne, driven to life as a justice-seeking costumed vigilante after the murder of his parents by a petty criminal. There have been varying interpretations over the years: grim darkness (Matt Reeves’s The Batman), aspirations to realism and thematic transcendence (Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy), gothic surreality (Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns) . . . and, at times, silliness (Adam West’s TV show, and Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin). Batman, it seems, contains multitudes.

About the Author

Jack Butler

Jack Butler is a former submissions editor at National Review.

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Our popular culture is full of Batman. We can’t seem to get enough of the Caped Crusader, a comic-book character created in 1939 who has grappling-hooked out of his original medium and into TV shows, blockbuster movies (played by three — or five, depending on how you count — different actors since 2012), video games, car commercials, and more.

These different representations emphasize distinct qualities of the hero, the alter ego of billionaire Bruce Wayne, driven to life as a justice-seeking costumed vigilante after the murder of his parents by a petty criminal. There have been varying interpretations over the years: grim darkness (Matt Reeves’s The Batman), aspirations to realism and thematic transcendence (Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy), gothic surreality (Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns) . . . and, at times, silliness (Adam West’s TV show, and Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin). Batman, it seems, contains multitudes.