Has Batman ultimately sold his soul to commercialisation?

I have been reading Batman comics since I was eight. Bruce Wayne has always been one of my favourite DC superheroes. Why? Because he is an anti-hero, a troubled mind who hunts super villains who somehow represent the reflection of his own darkness.

In 1989, after decades of disappointment on cinema and television. Tim Burton took over as director of what was the start of a series of movies based on the new character of DC Comics. Batman was not just something new, I thought it was spectacular. It literally gushed out of the comics, immersing the spectator in its dark atmosphere. Michael Keaton gave us an actual superhero, miles away from the classic TV show. And finally, Gotham City was represented in all the splendour of its mixture of Gothic surrealist architecture and art deco.

The achievement was complete with the following movie, Batman’s return. A breathtaking casting and a great risk taken by putting two supervillains together in one storyboard. The result did not just reveal Michelle Pfeiffer as a multifaceted talented actress, full of new potentials, and Danny DeVito in one of his leading roles, but also Tim Burton’s talent for capturing the true essence of a character. A prowess he has never ceased to demonstrate since.

Then came a time of decline. Killed by its own success, the Batman’s saga quickly faded into oblivion after Tim Burton’s departure. First, wounded by a Val Kilmer showing no conviction on the screen. Then replaced by a George Clooney who, at the time, should have remained the good doctor he was on the screen instead of mocking all Batman fans. The rest of the cast was even worse, let alone the scenario. After eight years, Batman and Robin finished burying the still moving corpse…

Putting an end to the long dark night that followed, in 2005 Christopher Nolan took the challenge to revive our hero with Batman Begins. Much to my surprise, he succeeded in doing even better than what Tim Burton accomplished 16 years earlier. Over 140 minutes, Nolan gave us the mind-tortured controversial hero that DC had resurrected at the same time. The thrill was back. Some were critical of the overdose of special effects, but it was not really an issue. This was a superhero movie based on a series of graphic novels. Are you seriously expecting this to look real? What mattered was the message sent to the fans.

Therefore, what happened with The Dark Night? Has Christopher Nolan suddenly flipped out like Two Face? Why attempt to give us another Casino Royale two years later? What happened to Gotham City? Why do we spend our time trying to figure out the whole movie if we are in New York, Chicago, Boston, or any other American metropolis?

The scenario is undeniably as close as it can be to the real thing. I am still shaking while I am writing this. Christian Bale rules as the best Batman of all time. Heath Ledger, without contest, shows how gifted he was, brilliant as a mutant Shakespearean character, a frightening chimera of Macbeth, Hamlet and Othello. And as a grand finale, a fight to the death that is the only path to liberation.

But the magic is gone. Gotham City has vanished, relegated to a normal boring American CBD where you expect Denzel Washington or Bruce Willis to appear anytime, tarnished by a succession of unmissable sponsor brands. What happened to the night? Where are the bats? Where are the Gothic temples of the gods of thunder and shadow? Why has Batman’s mythical lair become as lifeless as an exhibition hall at the Tate Modern in London? Where is Wayne’s Manor? Why suddenly deny our hero anything that makes him a dark soul?

There are no answers to those questions. The only thing I know is that the night is gone, and I feel betrayed yet again…