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    Batman

    Character » Batman appears in 23535 issues.

    Bruce Wayne, who witnessed the murder of his billionaire parents as a child, swore to avenge their deaths. He trained extensively to achieve mental and physical perfection, mastering martial arts, detective skills, and criminal psychology. Costumed as a bat to prey on the fears of criminals, and utilizing a high-tech arsenal, he became the legendary Batman.

    Are Warner Bros. & DC Animation putting to much faith in Batman?

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    BatMark_

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    Edited By BatMark_

    Before I go on my second rant in two consecutive days now, I want to make one thing clear:

    I love Batman.

    I've always loved Batman since the day I could walk, and my childhood was mainly spent playing with figures, to wearing my makeshift cowl and watching Adam West fool around with his shark repellent bat spray. But after 16 and a half years of comics, cartoons, and unsurprisingly a lack of girls, one thing is becoming abundantly clear...

    Batman is overused these days.

    Batman: The Brave and the Bold, The Batman, Batman The Animated Series, the countless amount of animated movies made and in production, not to mention how many live action movies have been produced. You could almost guess that DC don't want to see any other heroes get a shot in the spotlight for a few minutes. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining, it's just there are hundreds of characters that could be used in tv shows, animated movies, but it always appears to be Batman. Why is this? Why can't The Flash have a cartoon to himself? Where's Aquaman's animated movie?

    Brings a geeky tear to my eye...
    Brings a geeky tear to my eye...

    As a lifelong DC fan this saddens me. DC have always been ahead of the pack in terms of animation, with everything they make in this area being nothing short of epic, in my opinion anyway. It's just a pity that the majority of animated work they make is Batman. My guess on the matter is they're afraid. Afraid that if they try to do something different, they'll fail, just like they did with Wonder Woman. But this wouldn't be the case. Imagine a cartoon, not dark, but on the style of The Batman, about Barry Allen, and his adventures in Central City as The Flash. Give it a catchy theme tune and a different take on the villains he fights and you got yourself a winner right there. Imagine a 70 minute long animated movie on Aquaman, and his struggles being the king of Atlantis, a hero that no one takes seriously. Make it dark, like A New Frontier, put it in the same universe as Crisis on Two Earths or another animated film and once again, you've got a movie that could work.

    I'm all for Batman, but for crying out loud, there are hundreds of characters with incredible backstory and years of content to work with that are practically crying out for a movie. Captain Marvel was once the most popular hero, but now is sidelined to a point where he no longer even has a comic.

    Now, of course you're reading this saying to yourself,

    "Has this guy not heard of Teen Titans, Green Lantern or Young Justice?!"

    And yes, yes I have heard of those, and they are probably on my top 5 cartoons list (Yes I actually have a list for my favourite cartoons, every normal person should have one) and it actually backs up my point more. These are 2 shows where Batman is not a main character, or a character at all, and yet despite what Warner Bros or DC thinks, it actually manages to succeed without him present!

    "Variety is the spice of life" - Some random person said before, so DC, Warner Brothers, and whoever else has a hand in this (I'm looking at you Bruce Timm) please, please, please, branch out from the dark, endless shadows of Gotham City to somewhere else.

    And while your at it make a Justice League movie.

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    CATPANEXE

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    #1  Edited By CATPANEXE

    I love Batman. Truth is he has always been overused, or at least in terms. Really, he's never " over " used. In fact, even though it would be nice to see more of DC's properties get attention through Warner Bros. in Batman's case it's a pure supply and demand situation. He's proven to sell and the public wants him, and this is massively outside of the readership. Technically, the best way to shop other DC properties is to promote them alongside Batman, see: Brave And The Bold, and hope they really get noticed. But they won't anywhere near as much as Batman, nor Superman for that matter and that's just a fact of the market. Batman himself has been a name present in households since the days of radio broadcasts long before television even. Really WB is doing it the right way. That Wonder Woman there is an example that actually supports this. It flopped, badly. Even before it started. They showed it and the market analysis and opinion was so bad it didn't make it. It's not as if WB was trying to with hold anything. They did make it and try and shop it out after all and invested their capitol in the production. Same goes for their other properties. But the public at large isn't buying nor demanding any of this despite their efforts. They did have a Justice League cartoon. They do sell toys and merchandise. They do have their characters star in shows like Smallville. They do make animated movies with these characters that are in every major video rental outlet chain and Redbox. They do make video games and include their other properties. But, the fish don't bite my friend, and as a company that only has so much resource, as well so many other obligations outside of DC comics to upload, that's the way those fish swim away and the worm continues to squirm. Sorry but it's just not Dc nor WB's faults, as they in fact tried and try again to sell these properties. Despite our wishes for more super hero's are in fact a very hard market to shop especially in any live action form, even in this popular age. Marvel and Disney got really lucky in the fact that their properties are not actually contracted to stay under one parent company, and are taking a lot of dips letting a few other companies promote their properties. DC and WB don't have that luxery. What they do have however is a man in a bat costume that the worldwide public loves and wants more of. So they have to work with they got. it would be silly to believe even for a second that a company wouldn't make products of their own characters that sell. The fact is they don't other than to select markets, like the comic book and action figure ones, which are the minority of the worldwide entertainment division.

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    Jayso4201

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    #2  Edited By Jayso4201

    I seem to remember seeing a GL movie last summer, and it sucked. There is a new Superman movie in the works, not to mention Smallville that was on TV for like 10 seasons. I've heard rumblings of a Flash movie, but that's it. Believe me I would like to see more of the DC characters come to life, but there is a reason Batman is used so much. He is believable. He doesn't live underwater or run fast or spend his time in outer space, although he can be outlandish at times, he still the most down to earth of the hero (besides maybe spider-man but we are talking DC here so...) That's just my take on it.

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    BatMark_

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    #3  Edited By BatMark_

    @Jayso4201: Sure the Green Lantern movie wasn't but for fans it was great to see him get some attention.

    Dude look at the success of Marvel's movies, you think a man who builds a flying suit in a cave is believable?

    You think a God who hits people with a mystical hammer is believable?

    A soldier who gets some serum injected into him gain super strength is believable?

    Nope, its ridiculous, but it doesn't have to be believable, because it's a comic book movie, and it works.

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    DragonfireXL

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    #4  Edited By DragonfireXL

    I think the reason that Batman is getting so much exposure, is all due to the sucess of Batman Begins and Dark Knight. It showed that there are alot of people out there besides Comic Book Fans, willing to jump on the Batman Bandwagon.

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    Mega_spidey01

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    #5  Edited By Mega_spidey01
    @DragonfireXL said:

    I think the reason that Batman is getting so much exposure, is all due to the sucess of Batman Begins and Dark Knight. It showed that there are alot of people out there besides Comic Book Fans, willing to jump on the Batman Bandwagon.

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    KingofMadCows

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    #6  Edited By KingofMadCows

    The problem is WB. Bruce Timm said that WB wasn't satisfied with the sales of Wonder Woman so they shelved the sequel. With the Green Lantern live action movie being a disappointment and the sales of Emerald Knights not being very impressive either, another Green Lantern animated movie may also be out of the question.

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    Jotham

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    #7  Edited By Jotham

    It's kind of hard to screw up a Batman media product.

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    Deranged Midget

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    #8  Edited By Deranged Midget

    @Jotham said:

    It's kind of hard to screw up a Batman media product.

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    RedOwl_1

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    #9  Edited By RedOwl_1

    Mmm... The Brave and the Bold wasn't awesome for itself (actually I think I'm kinda allergic of Golden Age) but the thing that made this show special was the team ups, u see many superheros that u don't seen them often, don't see on anyplace else than comics or even that u didn't know that existed

    I was starting reading comics and that helped me to know more about other superheros that aren't so common or popular and read about them, now thanks to this I'm a fan of Blue Beetle (the third)

    I hope they have learned that other superheros else than the 6 big ones (u know of who I'm talking about) are very useful for cartoons or other media else than just comics

    PS: I don't have in any-hope on "Beware the Batman" the idea of a CGI animation and Katana as sidekick is just horrible of me. TOTALLY HORRIBLE!!!! I had a nerd-rage and I almost a Fan-nervous-crisis

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    nightwing91

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    #10  Edited By nightwing91

    Well that's the thing The Wonder Woman animated film just didn't do as well compared the Superman,Batman and Justice League ones.This has led them to focus on the proven earners. And also there aren't extremely iconic story lines say for like Aquaman(The only one that jumps to mind is Death of a Prince) same goes for Flash, they like Superman and Batman for the wealth of iconic stories.

    Althought I do agree with the DC programming block on Cartoon Network now is the perfect time to try their hand at a Flash cartoon,which could do very well.

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    Magian

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    #11  Edited By Magian

    As much as I agree that they are focusing on Batman too much, I have to agree with this

    @nightwing91 said:

    Well that's the thing The Wonder Woman animated film just didn't do as well compared the Superman,Batman and Justice League ones.This has led them to focus on the proven earners. And also there aren't extremely iconic story lines say for like Aquaman(The only one that jumps to mind is Death of a Prince) same goes for Flash, they like Superman and Batman for the wealth of iconic stories.

    Althought I do agree with the DC programming block on Cartoon Network now is the perfect time to try their hand at a Flash cartoon,which could do very well.

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    KingofMadCows

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    #12  Edited By KingofMadCows

    @nightwing91:

    Actually, Wonder Woman is the fourth best selling DC Animated movie, below Public Enemies, Gotham Knight, and Doomsday.

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    cattlebattle

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    #13  Edited By cattlebattle
    @KingofMadCows said:

    @nightwing91:

    Actually, Wonder Woman is the fourth best selling DC Animated movie, below Public Enemies, Gotham Knight, and Doomsday.

    Thats a shame, because Wonder Woman is the best film out of those
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    allison_scag

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    #14  Edited By allison_scag

    You know I was actually disappointed Wonder Woman was not picked up. I was so looking forward to having a substitute for Smallville, and she's one of my favorite characters also.

    -----

    Keep a lookout for "Losers take all"

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    nightwing91

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    #15  Edited By nightwing91

    @KingofMadCows said:

    @nightwing91:

    Actually, Wonder Woman is the fourth best selling DC Animated movie, below Public Enemies, Gotham Knight, and Doomsday.

    Yes but it's also had a substantial period of being out, being released in 09. Under the Red Hood and Superman/Batman apocalypse both came out last year and are much closer.

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    DeadJester

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    #16  Edited By DeadJester

    i know this will probably draw some fire, but i hope to see another jason todd animated movie. i wouldnt say cartoon cause they would tone it down for kids too much to keep the gritty, brutal feeling i would want. but if outlaws goes over well, i would love to see it turned into an animated movie. starfire, while in a more innocent fashion, has been done through teen titans on tv and i though UTRH did well, so why not add one more character and actually capitalize off their appearances with characters and shows which are more promoted by fans and producers alike?

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    All_StarSupes

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    #17  Edited By All_StarSupes

    Batmans been DCs main character since the 90's, I can't see them changing anytime soon.

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    deactivated-5a4e0e8ea3dfb

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    Saw the premium of the Green Lantern animated series and it wasn't bad but not as great as Young Justice and other past series.

    If it wasn't for Young Justice's horrible episode scheduling I think the show would be doing a lot better and have a bigger following because it does as good a job of presenting the DC Universe as the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited series did.

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    KingofMadCows

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    #19  Edited By KingofMadCows

    @nightwing91 said:

    @KingofMadCows said:

    @nightwing91:

    Actually, Wonder Woman is the fourth best selling DC Animated movie, below Public Enemies, Gotham Knight, and Doomsday.

    Yes but it's also had a substantial period of being out, being released in 09. Under the Red Hood and Superman/Batman apocalypse both came out last year and are much closer.

    True, but sales decline rapidly after the first few weeks. For most of these movies, they make more than half their money just within the first two or three weeks.

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    nightwing91

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    #20  Edited By nightwing91

    @KingofMadCows said:

    @nightwing91 said:

    @KingofMadCows said:

    @nightwing91:

    Actually, Wonder Woman is the fourth best selling DC Animated movie, below Public Enemies, Gotham Knight, and Doomsday.

    Yes but it's also had a substantial period of being out, being released in 09. Under the Red Hood and Superman/Batman apocalypse both came out last year and are much closer.

    True, but sales decline rapidly after the first few weeks. For most of these movies, they make more than half their money just within the first two or three weeks.

    Yes that's my point in initial weeks it only made 2 million, so length of being out plays a factor of why it's made more. And consider services like Netflix have grown increasingly popular even from the point when Wonder Woman was released,there's multiple factors to consider. But one constant is Batman and Superman sell better then Green Lantern,Wonder Woman and the Justice League.

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