Criminality in the Batman Chronicles

The use of antagonists in literary genres is often associated with the tension of social issues of historical context. In the Superman Chronicles, the evil forces of Capitalist tycoons repeatedly take advantage of helpless working class citizens who are then saved by the fearless and indestructible Superman. By the end of most Superman issues, a lingering disgust for the greediness of upper class men was a clear subtext to precede the next issue of political or economic corruption. The first volume of Superman debuted in the pre-WWII era of American history, which was saturated with sentiment of the Great Depression. As working class families fell victim in more ways than any other social group of the population, a desire to assign blame to the unscathed wealthy class had emerged through depictions of evil and corrupt Capitalists in a multitude of art forms during the intercession between world wars. Shuster and Siegel lived through the tough times of economic depression in the eyes of those Superman defended. Villification of wealthy Capitalists instanstly won over the appeal of lower and middle class society in the superhero genre, shooting Superman to the top of the shelf.

The unusual contrast to Superman's working class heroism emerged almost simultaneously to the debut of the Superman chronicles. The Batman chronicles unleashed the Caped Crusader to the superhero genre in 1939, which also preceded America's involvement in WWII. The major difference in this series of masked heroism was the assignment of criminality that spread corruption to the American population. Instead of villifying the wealthy upper class, this superhero came forward as a product of social elitism. Bruce Wayne is first introduced in this volume as a bored socialite who has nothing better to do than follow the police commissioner on meaningless investigations that later become the quest of Batman as a means of cleaning up the mess of a completely unreliable police force. Criminals in most issues of the Batman chronicles are characterized as lowly street thugs who steal senselessly from innocent rich people who intend no malignance toward the social classes underneath. This contrast is unusual due to the paralleled popularity between the socially just Superman and the sensationally smoot Batman. Perhaps the audience of these two megastars were unaware of their own roles in the development of the superhero genre altogether.