25 Facts You Won’t Know About Batman

Over Wonder Con weekend, media outlets like our fine establishment were given a press kit from DC Entertainment that had tons of great information about the Batman and his upcoming 75th birthday. Within the kit was a well documented fact sheet containing the “highlights in the life of the Caped Crusader.”
From it, I developed a list of things the average person probably didn’t know about our mysterious Dark Knight.
Check it out down below:

1. The first Batman story, “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate” was written by Bill Finger and drawn by Bob Kane.
2. It was published in Detective Comics #27, which hit newsstands on March 20, 1939.
3. Originally, the Caped Crusader was introduced as bored socialite Bruce Wayne. (Because you know, fighting crime is what you do when you have all the riches in the world.)
4. A copy of Detective Comics #27 sold for $1.7 million in 2012.
5. The first boomerang-like Batarang and the first bat-themed vehicle, the Batplane, made their debuts in Detective Comics #31.
6. Bruce Wayne’s parents weren’t killed until 6 months after his debut in Detective Comics #33.
7. Robin the Boy Wonder was first introduced in Detective Comics #38, establishing the Dynamic Duo as we know it today.
8. Batman used to use a machine gun until editor Whitney Ellsworth decreed that Batman would no longer kill or use a gun after Batman #1 (Spring 1940).
9. Batman’s most trusted and loyal ally, Alfred Pennyworth, used to be named Alfred Beagle.
10. Batman’s first love interest was photojournalist Vicki Vale in 1948.
11. He once became “Zebra Batman,” a radioactive, black-and-white-striped menace to Gotham City.
12. He has had other characters in the Bat family such as a magical imp named Bat-Mite and Ace the Bat-Hound, a crime-fighting dog that wore a mask.
13. Batman and Superman first unofficially partnered to fight crime in “The Mightiest Team in the World” in 1952.
14. They fought for the attention of Lois Lane-a competition that was ultimately won by Robin the Boy Wonder.
15. He first joined the Justice League of America inThe Brave and the Bold #28 (February 1960).
16. The Batman series starring Adam West and Burt Wart first debuted on January 12, 1966.
17. Ra’s al Ghul made his first appearance in Batman #232 in 1971.
18. Jason Todd (Second Robin who would eventually become The Red Hood)  was first introduced in Detective Comics #536.
19. Batman: The Dark Knight, by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson,introduced the first female Robin.
20. In “A Death in the Family“, DC allowed readers to vote on the fate of Jason Todd. Unfortunately, readers voted to give Todd the death sentence, resulting in his death in an explosion caused by the Joker.
21. Batman: The Animated Series made its first debut on TV in 1992.
22. In 1993, after Bane broke Bruce Wayne’s back, anti-hero Azrael took on the mantle of Batman.
23. Bruce Wayne died after fighting, and subsequently losing against Darkseid in the 2008-09 DC story Final Crisis. 
24. After Bruce Wayne’s death, Dick Grayson became the new Batman.
25. If we’ve learned anything from comics, no one really dies. In 2010, it was revealed that Batman wasn’t dead but lost in time.

Congratulations! Now you know 25 new things about the Dark Knight and are readily prepared for the Caped Crusader’s 75th birthday! So what’d you think of the Dark Knight’s not-so-dark-anymore history?

Source: DC Entertainment