There is nothing more important when explaining your comic book character than their origin story. How your hero came to be goes a long way to explaining the type of character that they are. This is why so many superhero movie franchises begin with that tale. While Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will be the first appearance of this particular version of Batman, it’s not an origin story. Not even close. It turns out that this version of the caped crusader has been fighting crime since before George Clooney donned the cowl.
While this will be the first time that we see Ben Affleck in the role of Batman, it will come two decades into the character’s crime-fighting career. This tweet, released on the official Dawn of Justice Twitter account, shows a character who has experienced quite a bit. We knew that this version of Batman had seen a lot. The trailers have shown us that Batman has had, and lost, at least one Robin prior to the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The Joker's so mean.
While we may not have all the specifics, we do now have an understanding of the sheer volume of crap that Batman has seen. 20 years is a long time to do anything. Also, the more set in your ways you are, the more you tend to shun new things, like flying aliens as one example.
But it’s the other half of the quote that is probably the most interesting. The statement presupposes that there aren’t any good guys left. Batman has been working for 20 years, and Superman is relatively new on the scene. We know Wonder Woman will also be an unknown prior to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. While Warner Brothers and DC are on the verge of introducing the entire Justice League, it looks like most of them will be fairly new to the superhero game. This means Batman will possibly have been the only hero working the streets prior to Superman’s coming out party. It’s also possible there have been other heroes in the past, but they’ve all died. No wonder Batman doesn’t easily trust others.
Batman’s origin is one of the best known in literature, never mind comic books. It’s not like we needed to see it again, though to be fair we probably will in flashbacks. If anything, a more experienced Bat is the much more novel idea. We look forward to seeing this older, and hopefully wiser, Batman when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hits theaters March 25.
