Origin stories provide insight into the turning points of a super-hero's life. They tell where the hero is from, whether something supernatural or freakish happened to them (it's amazing how many origin stories involve accidents), and what about their history defines their character. Among all of the various origin stories, I've never read one that accounted for all the details, influences and motivations of a hero's creation. This is what I love about comic books - they require one to "read between the frames." But this aspect of the comic narrative often makes it difficult to translate a good comic into a good movie. The Spider-Man movies have done well (aided in part by the boyish charm of Tobey Maguire – whom I've been mistaken for in public). The first Superman movie was a strong adaption in its own day. But the Batman movies have been hit-or-miss, with a variety of prominent leading men playing the Caped Crusader.

Both Spiderman and Superman cover their respective origin stories in their initial big-screen installments, but it took five films (not counting the 1966 full length feature starring Adam West) to explore Batman's origins. Batman Begins (2005) finally tackles an origin story that typically includes fewer details than the histories surrounding other major super-heroes. Superman has his Krypton and Smallville, Wonder Woman has her gifts from the gods, and Spiderman has his spider and the events immediately surrounding the death of his Uncle Ben. Batman only has his childhood memories of his parents' murder, which left him with an attitude and a lot of money.

The formative years of Batman - after the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents but before the creation of his crime fighting alter ego -- have generally been unexamined. The Batman character first appeared over 65 years ago in Detective Comics #33 (1939), but it wasn't until the following year that anything was said about his origins. Even at this point, a paltry two-page spread told of the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents and his subsequent commitment to avenge their death. In recent years the most in-depth treatment of the origins of the Caped Crusader was Frank Miller's Batman: Year One (1986) – but even this excellent volume devotes as much ink to a young Lt. Jim Gordon and the machinations of Gotham City's underworld as it does to the person of Batman.

Bat-History
Batman's unexplored past and mysterious psyche has allowed him to change with the times. The earliest representation of Batman was as a dark and menacing creature of the night who carried a gun and had no qualms about killing an adversary. DC Comics quickly changed Batman's style to project a "good guy" image. This sanitization allowed the publisher to maintain a clean reputation and separate themselves from the "pulp fiction" publications and salacious comics of the day. This made DC more palatable to the moral climate of the 1940's and helped fuel the growth in their audience.

By the 1950s, Batman added the boyish sidekick Robin and adopted more of the "KAPOW" persona which carried over to the Batman TV show that debuted in 1966. Another change occurred in the 70's when the Batman comics returned more to their roots and brought a darker figure to the pages of the comic. By the time the 1980's rolled around, DC reinvented Batman once again, at which point Frank Miller made his mark with "The Dark Night Returns". It is interesting to note that Miller first tackled the story of a retired Batman and only later the Batman origin story.

The 1990's saw the introduction of Batman: The Animated Series, which maintained some of Miller's gothic feel but in a toned down cartoon format. This decade also saw the first major Batman film in over 30 years. In the Batman (1989) the hero is dark and mysterious thanks to director Tim Burton's edgy style. The next few installments, however, became victims of their own success and adopted more of a "Hollywood" style which eventually led to the widely panned Batman and Robin which seemed to many to be a self-parody of Batman mystique. It was from this critical failure that Batman Begins was born.

In the context of Batman's history and the limited writing about his origins, screenwriter David Goyer and director Christopher Nolan (Memento) must make some important decisions about the Batman origin story. To the uninitiated, it might seem like Goyer and Nolan are simply tasked with portraying an existing and already complete legend, but their screenplay and movie are largely original, in which the character of the Batman is part re-telling, part re-invention. The re-telling of the story returns to the early days of Batman and also shares the tenor of Miller's Year One story. It departs from the glitz, glamour and gadgetry of the last few Batman movies and presents an emerging hero who is battling his own demons of fear and vengeance. Batman Begins must invent several of the details of the origin story since there is no comprehensive account from which it can draw. It brilliantly builds a complete work that at once stands alone among the Batman movies yet ties them together by providing a plausible and engaging motivation for the Caped Crusader.

When you watch or reflect on Batman Begins, think about the ways in which Batman is being re-created for a new generation. At the same time, ask yourself what timeless truths are at play in the formation and struggles of this hero of super-heroes.

Articles of interest:

Review of Batman Begins by Lou Anders

BATMAN RELOADED: Crafting a credible Caped Crusader means following certain rules