We comic fans love to fight and argue. Who would beat who in a fight. Which character is better, faster, stronger, cooler. It's what we do. It's like rooting for your favorite sports team. I love doing it. But something just hit me recently. With the new Superman movie coming out I keep hearing things, negative things from one group of people. And it's not Marvel fans. I keep hearing really hateful, negative things from Batman fans. Let me get this out of the way, I'm a Marvel fans WAY more than a DC fan. My top ten comicbook characters are
1.Spider-Man
2.HULK
3.Iron Man
4.Superman
5.Blade
6.Spider-Man 2099
7.Captain America
8.Wolverine
9.Batman
10.Doctor Strange
with the runner-ups being Charles Xavier and the Silver Surfer.
Now I share this with you so you undestand that while I'm a much bigger Marvel fan, I love Superman and Batman as well. With that said, I think most Batman (and I said MOST not ALL) are, oh how can I say this lightly while still getting my point across? Most Batman fans are, well, giant A-holes. I am crazy excited about seeing the new Superman movie. I already have my ticket. I expect to see it at least three times in theaters (by myself, with my wife and later with my father). But any time I hear a Batman fan talking about Superman they are either going on about how much they hate Superman, or how Batman is soooo much better. And don't get me started on how a Batman fan reacts if you bring up the fact The Avengers made WAY more money than The Dark Knight Rises (which IMO was the worst comic book movie ever! But that's another article.)
Now we Marvel fans have our favorites. Mine is Spidey. But guess what? When Thor came out I went and saw it. I enjoyed myself. Even though I've never really cared for Thor I still enjoyed the movie because it was fun. Plus it tied into a huge universe I love. When a buddy of mine tells me his favorite is Captain America, I said "cool, I love Cap!" And then we talked about why Cap and Spidey are our favorites. My point is we Marvel fans don't attack eachother. We love the entire universe and I can enjoy characters that are not necessarily a favorite of mine. Even Superman fans can enjoy other characters both in the DC and Marvel universes without attacking any other character that isn't Superman or isn't DC.
Batman fans can't do that(again not all, but certainly MOST.) The two Batfans I work with for example get furious when we talk about the new Superman film and how it looks amazing. Or when I bring up the new Spidey flick, they flip out and go on and on about how horrible of a character Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Iron Man are. And most the Batfans on this site I've had the displeasure of corresponding with seem to follow suit. Why is this? Why are Batfans so hostile? I have a few theories.
My first theory is that Batman fans hate hearing that Batman isn't a superhero. He isn't. He's a masked vigilante. Which is cool! But for some reason it hurts a Batfans ego or something to hear that Batman isn't a superhero. Someone give the man superpowers and then come talk to me. Which brings me to number...
Two. While Batman is one tough dude, most of the people in the superhero community he is going to come up against is going to kick the crap out of him. And I think Batfans hate hearing that. They can love him all they want, it doesn't change the fact that Superman would totally kill Batman with or without kryptonite. Fly a mile over Batman and kill him with heat vision. Batman is just a normal guy. And like I said we comic fans love to argue over who our favorite comic characters would beat in a fight. Batman fans happen to have a favorite comic character that just isn't that powerful compared to the rest of the comicbook world. It must suck to have a favorite comic character that can get beat up by someone like Rocket Raccoon or Sasquatch. Batfans must feel threatened by any other comic hero. Why? Because they know most other comic heroes would beat the crap out of Batman. Which is why they love to hold on to, and incessantly point out the fact Batman is extremely popular and does well in print, videogames, cartoons, and films. Because if your favorite can't beat up my favorite, at least your favorite is super popular. Which, again, is why Batfans get crazy pissed off when you bring up the fact The Avengers destroyed Batman at the boxoffice last year.
Which brings me to my third and final theory. We have favorite characters because we see ourselves in our heroes. I love Spidey because he is light hearted, fun loving, and does the right thing even if he kind of doesn't want to. I love Superman because he's the kind of man I aspire to be. And I love the HULK because, you know, some times I just get crazy pissed off and fly off the handle and the HULK tells us not only is it ok but it can be cathartic as well. I see myself in my favorites which is why they are my favorite. I think the same is true with Batman fans. And you know what? Batman would totally be an A-hole in real life. While Superman would totally be a guy I'd want to hang out with.
So ultimatly I'm saying that I think Batman fans are insecure. I have one friend that actually got all upset after I saw The Avengers and I told him that The Avengers might be the best comicbook movie of all time. He asked "even better than 'The Dark Knight'?" to which I said "yes. It was the most fun I had ever had watching a movie in theaters." This really upset him. Instead of being really happy and excited to see a great movie, he was concerned that The Avengers might de-throne his beloved Dark Knight film as the greatest comicbook film of all time. He was acting insecure about the whole thing. And for the record, he eventually saw The Avengers and just said "it was better than I thought it would be."
So in conclusion, I think Batman fans are insecure but are drawn to him because they see themselves in the character. They hold on to anything that helps justify Batman being "better" than all the other comicbook characters inspite of the fact most other comicbook characters would kill Batman in real life. Because ultimatly, they know he doesn't stack up when compared to people that can fly and lift cars.