Page - 78 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

78 | Simon Philipp Born www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 75–104 disclose and willingly subvert the clear-cut dichotomy in favor of a more com- plex and sophisticated viewpoint, as is the case with the Batman movies of tim Burton and Christopher Nolan. their visions of the Caped Crusader are unique, yet not completely out of line with the character. instead, they ingeniously con- dense Batman’s conflicting history into a multi-layered psychologization. In his many incarnations, Batman blurs the line between black and white, and unlike any other classic comic book superhero he constructs a world of multitudinous grey. Long before the postmodern hero deconstructions found in graphic nov- els like Alan Moore’s Watchmen (Us 1986–87), he had already been conceived in his original draft as an alteration and revision to the superhero myth. the Dark Knight is driven by his dual nature. in order to defend the light, he utilizes his darkness to fight evil (see fig. 1). Additionally, his fragmented textual exist- ence self-consciously reflects his symbolic nature, unveiling the fictionality and theatricality of his character. the fLOAtiNG siGNifier since his debut in issue 27 of Detective Comics, from May 1939, Batman has become one of the most popular and most iconic comic book superheroes of all time, spawning a gigantic media franchise that includes major blockbuster films, TV shows, video games, direct-to-video animations, comic books, novels and a massive range of licensed merchandise. All these simultaneously existing Fig. 2: Mise-en-abyme: although battling the Joker in the final showdown of film, Batman still finds the time to pose with his Bat-plane in front of the moon, displaying the Bat logo as his intradiegetic and extradiegetic brand. Film still, Batman (Tim Burton, US 1989), 01:39:16.