Stepping out of Divinity: Tom King's “All-too-human” Batman

Abstract

This paper focuses on American superhero comics – i.e. superadventures and their likeness to mythology. Our goal is to understand how subtle changes in the characterization of a superhero may make them more congruent with the present day morality and ideals of the society, even if a given character is willing to directly challenge that morality. Through a close reading of Batman #53, in which Bruce Wayne states that Batman is like a god and that he does not believe in him anymore – nor should the people of Gotham – we discuss the symbolic meaning of Bruce Wayne's phrase and the implications for the readers' understanding of who the Batman is and what he stands for. One of the main impacts of this characterization is that Batman ceases to be the “interventionist god” as he was portrayed in many stories in the last decades, and learns to embrace the frailty and limitations of the human condition.