Anatomy of a Superhero

Shouldn't Batman Be 90-Something by Now?
Wolverine has a healing factor that grants him youth. Superman is an alien with a strange metabolism. Readers can use these excuses to suspend disbelief and keep on reading 50 or 60 years after a fresh, young comic hero is introduced. However, what excuse does Batman have? His main draw is that he's the average man with some unique toys. One has to think in terms of brand names in order to answer this question. Back in the 1930s, Bob Kane worked very hard to create not just a hero, but a brand name. He succeede beyond his wildest imagination. Batman has been a household name for near 80 years with no sign of falling out of the public eye anytime soon. The image that has been in that public eye for 80 years is that of a young, buff man. Why risk ruining a lucrative brand by letting the main character age, or worse, die? Bats can come back when the Joker blows him up and tosses him in a river, but once an old man draws his last breath, the story is over. Batman is still Bruce Wayne for the same reason Sean Connery would still be James Bond if the Fountain of Youth was a Scottish holding. Super heroes don't have to age and by extension risk loss of sales or a drop in popularity, so writers keep them young and immortal, modernizing backstories when they have to. Readers know it's unrealistic, but so are comics in general. Batman vs. The Joker is a lot more interesting than Batman vs. encroaching liverspots, so belief is suspended whenever possible. It's really of little consequence that Iron Man actually became Iron Man during the Korean War. The Iron Man film says the whole origin story occurred in the modern day Middle East, and the film is also one of the most lucrative movie franchises ever, so no harm, no foul.

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