A little boy with leukemia, a man who was born without a leg and who is missing several fingers, a woman with muscular dystrophy, what do they all have in common? They had to overcome significant challenges and they were inspired to do so by Batman.
Batman, whose true identity is billionaire Bruce Wayne, tragically lost his parents in a violent mugging when he was a little boy. Rather than to allow thus tragedy to break him, he took it upon himself to become a Caped Crusader in order to keep the people of his city (i.e. Gotham) safe. Unlike most Superheroes depicted in comic books, Batman does not have any superpowers, all his weapons are handmade, he never uses guns or excessive violence, and his greatest strength is his humanity.
Legends of the Knight, a documentary made by filmmaker Brett Culp, demonstrated that Batman became a sort of a legend, a part of folklore in our society. There are many graphic novels, animated series, movies, and even folk stories and fan fiction depicting the different stories of this Superhero. Legends of the Knight is about the people he inspired.
Daniel was born with 1 leg and three fingers on each hand. Reading Batman made him to strive to not be limited and when in school, he began break-dancing and currently competes in DDR (Dance Dance Revolution). He reports that he often gets looks as if he is in the wrong place and until he starts dancing, people around him do not appear to take him seriously. However, Daniel can dance the socks off of anyone and the documentary features a great clip of him competing in DDR. Daniel says that it was Batman that inspired him to overcome his challenges.
Batman also became a father-like figure to Kye, a little boy with leukemia. Reading Batman comics allowed Kye to have someone to look up to. Just like the San Francisco Batkid, Kye received an opportunity to be Batman for a day and was able to stop The Joker from robbing the Arlington bank and even stopped The Riddler from setting off an enormous bomb. For Kye, Batman gave him a sense of purpose, what he needed to go through the years of chemotherapy that he had to endure. Kye is about to receive his last chemotherapy treatment and hopefully will soon be able to get back to his daily Superhero schedule.
In addition to helping different people overcome their challenges, Batman also inspired many to become Batman themselves. For example, Lenny, a businessman from Maryland, spends over $30,000 of his money every year to travel to different hospitals in his Lamborghini, dressed in a perfect Batman costume. He spends hours in each hospital, talks to every child, shakes hands with the staff and readily poses for pictures. It was truly heartwarming to watch just how excited the children were to see him. A little girl in one of the scenes asked if this was really happening (i.e., her shaking hands with Batman) or if she was under anesthesia. To these children, Batman is a symbol of hope, someone to believe in, and the connection they make with the Caped Crusader appears to be transformational for many of them.
Lenny isn’t the only one to take it upon himself to become Batman in order to help his city. An unnamed college student in Petaluma, CA became the city’s official Batman. He roams the streets, he attends events, such as library fundraisers, and on some evenings he can be seen fighting The Joker in downtown Petaluma. Known as the Petaluma Batman, this young man has inspired many to make a difference in their community, and mobilized the city to assist a local man with the search of his missing daughter.
Whether it is to help us overcome our greatest obstacles, or to inspire us to become the symbol of hope, Batman is clearly an inspiration to many. He certainly was to Michael Uslan, who is currently the executive producer and the rights holder to Batman films. Legends of the Knight featured several interviews with Uslan, who discussed his struggle with bringing Batman to the large screen after the 1960s Adam West version made it difficult for Hollywood to have faith in comic book movies or shows. But Uslan was relentless and after 10 years of fighting for Batman, he was finally able to produce a version of Batman that better jived with his idea of what the Caped Crusader should be, this was the 1989 Batman film, starring Michael Keaton and directed by Tim Burton. Uslan is currently the official Batman guy in Hollywood, he was involved in all Tim Burton’s Batman films, as well as Christopher Nolan’s, and recently acted as one of the producers for the Lego Movie. Why? Because it has Batman!
Uslan made Batman what he is today, at least what he is on the big screen, while many writers, such as Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, and Frank Miller, allow Batman to continue to inspire people just as much as Bob Kane and Bill Finger did when they first created him. Culp’s documentary shows that over 70 years later, Batman is even more influential than he previously was, he continues to inspire us to become the best version of ourselves, and inspires us to spread the message of love and hope.
