60 Years Ago, A Classic Superhero Made His TV Debut With A Bang
Biff! Bang! Pow!
In the 21st century, superhero stories are often judged on how realistic they are — how “gritty,” how dark, how “adult.” It’s never been more visible than with Batman. Between Christopher Nolan’s take in the Dark Knight trilogy and the still-ongoing takes by Matt Reeves, it seems like the Caped Crusader was built for the Nirvana-scored, brooding tone of tragic flashbacks and smeared eyeliner.
But over half a century ago, superhero media took a much different, but just as realistic, tack. The point wasn’t to make Bruce Wayne feel like a real person, but what he actually was: a comic book character.
Batman episodes would get gimmicky and cheesy, but that was part of the show’s undeniable charm.
Batman premiered on television in 1966 and hit the ground running with an episode where Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) face off against The Riddler (Frank Gorshin). That set the standard for the series: every week, the dynamic duo would face off against a “Special Guest Villain” ranging from the iconic, like Julie Newmar or Eartha Kitt as Catwoman, to the obscure, like Ethel Merman as “Lola Lasagne.” There would be a Bat-Gadget, some sort of scheme involving an abandoned factory, a climb up a building filmed horizontally, and a meticulously choreographed fight with onomatopoeia spliced in with title cards. Finally, there would be a cliffhanger, and that famous timeline: “Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel.”
Was it hokey? Absolutely. Was it low-budget? Laughably. But it was reliable, popular, funny, and replicated that over-the-top dangerous feeling you get from immersing yourself completely in a comic book. This is only amplified by Adam West’s stick-straight delivery that made dancing the “Batusi” feel like Shakespeare, and an ever-evolving roster of Old Hollywood day players like Burgess Meredith, Cesar Romero, Vincent Price, and Milton Verle as various villains.
The “special guest villains” of Batman made every episode interesting.
In the 60 years since Batman premiered, superhero media took a hard turn to the dark, but the tide may be turning yet again. Recent works, such as The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Peacemaker, have sought to revive the retro comic-book feel and ridiculousness of the superhero Golden Era, suggesting that Batman may not have been just a product of its time, but also ahead of its time.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe may have changed the superhero landscape forever, but it was Batman that truly created the phenomenon. Even if it’s not the same Bat-time, it still the same Bat-channel.
