Alfred Pennyworth
Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth is a fictional supporting character in the DC Comics' Batman series. Created by writer Bob Kane and artist Jerry Robinson, he first appeared in Batman #16 (April-May 1943). Alfred serves as Batman’s tireless butler, assistant, confidante, somewhat of a father figure and has been called "Batman's batman." In the current DC Comics continuity, Alfred looked after Bruce Wayne after the death of his parents. Alfred also provides comic relief, as his sometimes sarcastic cynical character often adds humour to dialog occurring between himself and the obsessed Batman.
An important part of the Batman mythos, Alfred has appeared in most other media adaptations of the character.
When Alfred first appeared, he was overweight and clean-shaven. However, when the 1943 Batman serial was released, William Austin, the actor who played Alfred, was trim and sported a thin mustache. DC editors wanted the comic Alfred to resemble his cinematic counterpart, so in Detective Comics #83 (January 1944), Alfred vacationed at a health resort, where he slimmed down and grew a moustache. This look has remained with the character ever since, even surviving his death and resurrection.
Alfred was originally conceived as a comedic foil for Batman and Robin. In most early tales, he made bumbling attempts to be a detective on a par with the young masters. He was given a four-page feature of his own, and the feature lasted ten issues. The stories followed a simple formula with Alfred somehow managing to solve a crime and catch the culprits entirely by accident. After that, the comedic aspects of the character were downplayed.
James Gordon
James "Jim" Worthington Gordon is a supporting character in DC Comics' Batman series. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, he first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). He was the first Batman supporting character to be introduced.
In most incarnations of the Batman mythos, Gordon is the police commissioner of Batman's home of Gotham City. He shares the hero’s deep commitment of ridding the dark and corrupting city of crime. In Golden and Silver age comics and on the 1960s Batman television show, Gordon fully trusts, and is even somewhat dependent on Batman. In most modern stories, he is somewhat skeptical of Batman's vigilante method but recognizes the necessity of Batman and the two have a mutual respect and tacit friendship. He was the husband of Barbara Kean Gordon and Sarah Essen Gordon. Gordon is also the father or adopted father, depending on the continuity, of Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl and later Oracle, and James Gordon Jr.
Gordon is an important part of the Batman mythos and has appeared in most other media adaptations of the character.
In most versions of the Batman mythos, he is at one point or another depicted as Gotham City's police commissioner. He succeeded Commissioner Grogan in the rank at GCPD. Gordon frequently contacts Batman for help in solving various crimes, particularly those committed by supervillains. Because DC Comics retconned its characters' history in the 1985 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, and because of different interpretations in television and film, the details of Gordon's history vary from story to story.
In the original pre-Crisis version of his history, Gordon was a police detective who initially bitterly resented the mysterious vigilante's interference in police business. Although the Batman seemed to fight on the side of justice, his methods and phenomenal track record for stopping crimes and capturing criminals embarrassed the police by comparison. Eventually, Batman met up with Gordon and persuaded the detective that they needed each other's help. Batman was deputized and worked with Gordon as an agent of the law.
The post-Crisis version of the character was introduced in the mid-1980s storyline Batman: Year One, written by Frank Miller. In this version, Gordon was transferred back to the city after spending more than fifteen years in Chicago. A man of integrity, Gordon found that his only ally against the mob-controlled administration was the Batman. One of the most significant differences in this version is that Batman was never deputized and Gordon's relationship with him was kept out of the public eye whenever possible. It was also added that he was a Special Forces veteran who was more than capable of hand to hand combat.
When Gordon needs to summon Batman, he uses the Bat-Signal, a specially modified Klieg searchlight with a stylized symbol of a bat placed on it so that it projects a large emblem shaped in Batman's bat insignia on the sky or buildings of Gotham City. Batman often disappears silently when Gordon's back is turned, often while Gordon is in the middle of a rant about legal red tape.
The miniseries Gordon of Gotham takes place about nearly twenty years prior to the current events of the DC Universe and ten years before coming to Gotham in Batman: Year One. It reveals that Gordon, during his tenure in Chicago, struggled with his wife over conceiving a child while taking university night classes in criminology. He faces brutality among other officers after uncovering corruption within the force. Later, Gordon uncovers evidence of rigging the mayoral election and brings down two of his fellow officers, which leads to his commissioner recommending to him that he transfer to Gotham quickly.
Robin
Robin is a fictional character in the DC universe. Robin has been a fixture in the Batman comic books since Dick Grayson's first appearance as Robin in 1940. Several different youths have appeared as Robin.
The early adventures of Robin included Star Spangled Comics #65-130 (1947-1952), his first solo feature. The first Robin limited series was published in 1991, featuring Tim Drake's training to become the third Robin. Following two successful sequels, the monthly Robin ongoing series began in 1993 and is still published to this day.
The team of Batman and Robin is sometimes referred to as the Dynamic Duo or the Caped Crusaders.
About a year after Batman's debut, Batman creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger introduced Robin the Boy Wonder in Detective Comics #38 (1940). The name "Robin the Boy Wonder" and the medieval look of the original costume were inspired by The Adventures of Robin Hood. Robinson noted he "came up with Robin because The Adventures of Robin Hood were boyhood favorites of mine. I had been given a Robin Hood book illustrated by N. C. Wyeth... and that's what I quickly sketched out when I suggested the name Robin, which they seemed to like, and then showed them the costume. And if you look at it, it's Wyeth's costume, from my memory, because I didn't have the book to look at." (Later re-tellings of Robin's origin have instead often said the name comes from the American robin bird, not Robin Hood, Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin being a notable exception.) Although Robin is best known as Batman's sidekick, three Robins have also been members of the superhero group the Teen Titans and Outsiders with the original Robin, Dick Grayson, being a founding member and the group's leader. The following fictional characters have donned the Robin costume at various times in the main DC Comics universe continuity:
Dick Grayson was an eight-year-old acrobat, the youngest of a family act called the "Flying Graysons". A gangster named Boss Zucco (loosely based on actor Edward G. Robinson's Little Caesar character) had been extorting money from the circus and killed Grayson's parents, John and Mary, by sabotaging their trapeze equipment as a warning against defiance. Batman investigated the crime and, as his alter ego millionaire Bruce Wayne, had Dick put under his custody as a legal ward (later adopting him as his son). Batman rigorously trained the boy, teaching him physical, fighting and detective skills. Together they investigated Zucco and collected the evidence needed to bring him to justice. From his debut appearance in 1940 through 1969, Robin was known as the Boy Wonder. However, as he grew up, graduated from high school and enrolled in Hudson University, Robin continued his career as the Teen Wonder, from 1970 into the early 1980s. The character was re-discovered by a new generation of fans during the 1980s because of the success of The New Teen Titans, in which he left Batman's shadow entirely to assume the identity of Nightwing.
DC was initially hesitant to turn Grayson into Nightwing and to replace him with a new Robin. To minimize the change, they made the new Robin, Jason Peter Todd, who first appeared in Batman #357 (1983), almost indistinguishable from a young Grayson. Jason Todd was also the son of circus acrobats, killed by a criminal (this time the Batman adversary Killer Croc), and adopted by Bruce Wayne. In this incarnation, he was red-haired and unfailingly cheerful, and wore his circus costume to fight crime until Dick Grayson presented him with a Robin suit of his own. At that point, he dyed his hair black. After the mini-series Crisis on Infinite Earths, much of DC Comics continuity was rebooted. Dick Grayson's origin, years with Batman and growth into Nightwing remained essentially unchanged, but Todd's character was completely revised. He was now a black-haired street orphan who first encountered Batman when he attempted to steal tires from the Batmobile. Batman saw to it that he was placed in a school for troubled youths. Weeks later, after Dick Grayson became Nightwing and Todd proved his crime-fighting worth by helping Batman catch a gang of thieves, Batman offered Todd the position as Robin. Readers never truly bonded with Todd and, in 1988, DC made the controversial decision to poll readers using a 1-900 number as to whether or not Todd should be killed. The event received more attention in the mainstream media than any other comic book event before it. Some outside the comic book community mistakenly thought that DC was considering killing Dick Grayson, not realizing he had been replaced. Readers voted "yes" by a small margin (5,343 to 5,271) and Todd was subsequently murdered by the Joker in the A Death in the Family storyline, in which the psychopath beat the youngster severely with a crowbar, and left him in a warehouse rigged with a bomb. Jason Todd later returned as the new Red Hood (the original alias of the Joker) when he was brought back to life due to reality being altered. A year after the events of Infinite Crisis, Todd appeared posing as Nightwing, but subsequently returned to his Red Hood persona.
DC Comics was left uncertain about readers' decision to kill Todd, wondering if they felt Batman should be a lone vigilante, disliked Todd specifically, or just wanted to see if DC would actually kill the character. In addition, the 1989 Batman film did not feature Robin, giving DC a reason to keep him out of the comic book series for marketing purposes. Regardless, Batman editor Denny O'Neil introduced a new Robin. The third Robin, Timothy Drake, first appeared in a flashback in Batman #436 (1989). Drake was a young boy who had followed the adventures of Batman and Robin ever since witnessing the murder of the Flying Graysons. This served to connect Drake to Grayson, establishing a link that DC hoped would help readers accept this new Robin. Drake surmised their secret identities with his amateur but instinctive detective skills and followed their careers closely. Tim has stated on numerous occasions that he wishes to become "The World's Greatest Detective," a title currently belonging to the Dark Knight. Batman himself has stated that one day Drake will surpass him as a detective. Despite his combat skills not being the match of Grayson's (although there are some similarity in that they are far superior to Todd's when he was Robin), his detective skills more than make up for this. In addition, Batman supplied him with a new armored costume which included full leggings to give Drake improved protection. Tim was introduced as a happy medium between the first two Robins in that, from the readers' point of view, he is neither overly well behaved like Dick Grayson nor overly impudent like Jason Todd. Apparently, the compromise was successful with readers, as Drake is the first Robin to have his own comic book series. Tim Drake, as Robin, went on to join the Teen Titans based in San Francisco later in his crime fighting career.
Batgirl
Batgirl is the name of several fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts to DC Comics iconic superhero Batman. Originally created by Bob Kane and Sheldon Moldoff, the first incarnation of the character—Bette Kane the Bat-Girl—debuted in Batman #139 (1961). Following the promotion of Julius Schwartz to editor of the Batman related comic book titles in 1964, the Bette Kane Bat-Girl character was removed from publication and subsequently replaced by the "new" Batgirl—Barbara Gordon—introduced in the 1967 story published in Detective Comics #359 entitled "The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl." The Barbara Gordon version of Batgirl made regular appearances in Batman related comics from 1967-1988 and is described as one of the most high profile characters to be published during the Silver Age of Comic Books. Following the editorial retirement of the character in Batgirl Special #1 (1988), Barbara Gordon is shot through the spinal cord and is left paraplegic by The Joker in the graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke (1988). Editor Kim Yale and comic book author John Ostrander later reinvent Barbara Gordon as Oracle- the premiere information broker of the DC Comics Universe and leader of the Birds of Prey organization.
In the 1998 limited series Batman: No Man's Land, the Helena Bertinelli character, also known as The Huntress, assumes the role of Batgirl until she is stripped of the identity by Batman towards the conclusion of the story. In 1999, a new character introduced during the No Man's Land series named Cassandra Cain, created by Kelley Puckett and Damion Scott, becomes the third Batgirl under the tutelage of Batman and Oracle. Cassandra Cain was the first version of the Batgirl character to star in an eponymous monthly series, which was canceled in 2006, ending with Cain relinquishing her title as Batgirl. In issue #98 of the Birds of Prey comic book series, the Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe character created by Gail Simone temporarily took the name of Batgirl, but is eventually forced to abandon the role by Oracle and subsequently adopts the alias "Misfit." Following the events of the limited series Infinite Crisis (2005) the Cassandra Cain character has reclaimed her former identity as Batgirl.
Barbara Gordon
Barbara "Babs" Gordon is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics and related media, created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino. From 1966 to 1988, she was the superheroine Batgirl; since 1989 she has been known as Oracle. Barbara Gordon made her first comic book appearance in a story published in Detective Comics #359 titled "The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl" (1966, with a 1967 cover date). As Batgirl, Barbara Gordon has been described as one of the most popular characters to appear during the Silver Age of Comic Books and is also regarded as a pop culture icon due to her adaptation in the Batman television series of the late 1960s and continued media exposure. The Barbara Gordon version of Batgirl has been adapted into all media relating to the Batman franchise, including merchandise, television, animation and feature film. During the early 1970s, the character was also used to advocate for women's rights.
Following the editorial retirement of the character's Batgirl persona in 1988, Alan Moore's graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke depicts the Joker shooting Gordon through the spinal cord in her civilian identity and leaving her a paraplegic. Although Gordon would no longer resume her role as Batgirl in subsequent stories, editor Kim Yale and writer John Ostrander soon established the character as an information broker code-named Oracle, providing intelligence and computer hacking services to assist DC Universe superheroes. The character first appeared as Oracle as of Suicide Squad #23 (1989). The character's progression from Batgirl to Oracle became a point of controversy among critics and commentators. Although some observers have argued for the character's mobility to be restored, others have come to identify her persona as Oracle to be a pioneer- serving as an icon for people living with disabilities. The character's modern incarnation as Oracle stars in the comic book series Birds of Prey as the leader of a team of predominately female crimefighters. The series depicts her as a great intellect uninhibited by her paralysis, skilled in the martial art of eskrima.
Superman
As two of the earliest superheroes, Batman and Superman are frequent costars in each other's titles, and are often used to highlight differences between vigilante and lawful crime-fighting. In the early crossovers, the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight were usually depicted as good friends who cheerfully assisted one another against foes who were too big to be dealt with alone. In more recent times, their friendship has been depicted as more uneasy, but still with a deep amount of respect. In the current chronology, Batman and Superman first encounter one another early in their careers when Superman arrives in Gotham City to arrest the notorious "outlaw" known as Batman, just as Batman is investigating a murderous criminal named Magpie. Superman left this encounter with Batman, believing he had the best of intentions, though disagreeing with Batman's methods. As Superman flew back to Metropolis, Batman lamented to himself that Superman was a remarkable individual and that "perhaps, in another lifetime, he might call the Man of Steel his friend." They have collaborated many times in the years since then, learning each other's secret identities, recognizing that their goals are essentially the same, and despite their frequent tense relationship, close allies and friends. Superman has entrusted Lex Luthor's Kryptonite ring to Batman, as a weapon to be used against Superman in case the Man of Steel should ever be turned against the people of Earth. In keeping with that attitude, Batman and Superman are often depicted as being the opposite sides of the same coin, both products of their environments, as indicated in their vastly different styles of crime fighting. Superman became a hero because he subscribed to wholesome idealism, while Batman was motivated by personal tragedy and a troubled past.
