The Batman
“Oh, you think darkness is your ally” taunts Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, the last live action solo cinematic outing for Batman, a character we’re so addicted to that we’ve been micro dosing him, in the form of Ben Affleck amongst others, consistently since Christopher Nolan wrapped up his genre altering trilogy of Bat-flicks almost a decade ago, “but you merely adopted the dark”. The quip certainly cuts to the heart of the films Batman has been starring in for the last thirty plus years, starting with Tim Burtons landmark in 1989. That film dimmed the lights and deepened the shadows on a character that had started on screen life as a colourful and poppy children’s hero, most famously embodied by Adam West and his onomatopoeia punching effects. Burton slathered the franchise in gothic, this-ain’t-for-kids attitude and the world took that approach and ran with it. Batman media has only been getting darker since ’89, as well as grittier and more real (whatever people thin...