At his worst, he’s fascistic and machismo at his best, he’s the spirit of Gotham, a figure that fights for those who can’t fight for themselves. Batman stories can really be about anything, because Batman represents the indomitable human spirit. I’ve loved Batman my entire life, for evolving reasons I loved him as a kid because he looked cool and he saved the day, I loved him as a teen because he brooded around and said serious things about bad people, and I love him as an adult because he’s such a perfect Rorschach (heh) test for the reader or viewer.

Those claws have ce rtainly dug deep into my own skin. We will continue to retell the story of the billionaire who became a bat until we somehow capture the magic of it being 2008 again, back when everything wasn’t loudly bad but was instead quietly bad, only really bad if you were paying close attention. Something about the character has captured the public consciousness in its tiny, vicious batclaws, and it just won’t let go.

They’re basically always going to be making a new Batman movie, until the end of time.

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