FAQ

It's a long story so here goes....

After the success of the comic book Superhero Superman, artist Bob Kane tried to come up with his own hero "The Bat-Man", the character Kane created wore a red suit with a domino mask, blonde hair and a pair of bat wings. Kane then asked for writer Bill Finger's assistance on the project. Finger rejected several of Kane's initial ideas about the character and suggested several changes in design and characterization. His changes included changing his hair colour, a black colour scheme for the costume, adding a cape and cowl, the idea that he shouldn't have any superpowers and making him a detective. He also came up with the characters civilian identity Bruce Wayne, which Finger named after Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland and general Anthony "Mad Anthony" Wayne

Kane marketed the "Batman" character to National Comics, and Batman's first story was published in "Detective Comics" #27 (May 1939). The script was written by an uncredited Finger, making him the first of many ghost writers to work on comics officially credited to Bob Kane. When Kane negotiated a contract about selling the rights to the "Batman" character, he claimed he was the sole creator and demanded a sole mandatory byline acknowledging him as such on all comics and adaptations. Out of fairness, Kane agreed to pay Finger his share with money out of his earnings. Unfortunately, the agreement was never put into writing, and Finger never saw a cent.

Finger would go on to ghost write Batman stories up into the mid 1960's, either with Kane or for DC Comics directly. During his writing tenure, Finger was responsible for the unaccredited creation of many key players and pieces in the Batman universe. Some of Finger's important contributions include Batman's origin story, his nickname "The Dark Knight," his sidekick Robin, the Batmobile, the Batcave, his arch-nemesis The Joker, and his occasional love interest Catwoman, as well as Commissioner Gordon, The Riddler and The Scarecrow. Despite all of this, the only writing credit that Finger received for Batman in his lifetime were two episode of Batman (1966), The Clock King's Crazy Crimes (1966) and The Clock King Gets Crowned (1966) which he co-wrote with friend Charles Sinclair.

Eventually, the truth did come out. Finger attended the first official New York Comic Con in 1965 and sat on a panel with other comic book creators where he revealed the role he played in Batman's creation. Finger's story gained exposure in a two-page article titled "If the truth be known, or a Finger in every plot!," written and distributed by pop culturist Jerry Bails. Kane caught wind of Finger's appearance not long after and replied in the form of a printed letter to Batman fan magazine, "Batmania," where he labeled his old friend a fraud. Finger, who by this time was deeply in debt, continued to write for various projects in and outside of comic books until his death in 1974, when he was found alone in his apartment by friend Charles Sinclair. Finger died penniless and his contributions to the character was never acknowledged in his lifetime.

However, after the popularity of Tim Burton's Batman (1989), Kane acknowledged Finger as "a contributing force" in the character's creation, and wrote in his 1989 autobiography "Batman and Me" that "Now that my long-time friend and collaborator is gone, I must admit that Bill never received the fame and recognition he deserved. He was an unsung hero ... I often tell my wife, if I could go back fifteen years, before he died, I would like to say. 'I'll put your name on it now. You deserve it.'"

Many failed attempts were made over the years by Finger's family to get him recognition for his work, including a request from his second wife Lyn Simmons to have his name listed in the credits of Tim Burton's Batman (1989).

Finger remained largely unknown, even to Batman fans, until writer Marc Tyler Nobleman began investigating the late author's life for a book being written about him called "Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman". Nobleman went in search of Finger's family to help fill in the gaps and give him credit. While Finger's autopsy report claimed no relatives were present, Nobleman discovered that Finger had a son, Fred.

Unfortunately, Fred, who was an outspoken proponent of his father, had died in 1992. Nobleman learned that Fred was also homosexual, leading him to believe that Fred had no children before his death. The trail was starting to go cold.

However, after receiving new information from Finger's nephew, Nobleman discovered Fred indeed had a daughter, Athena Finger, who was born two years after Finger's death. Nobleman met with Athena and convinced her to meet with DC about getting recognition for her grandfather. DC in turn welcomed Athena with open arms, cut her a check and invited her to the premiere of The Dark Knight (2008) with all expenses paid. It wasn't until around 2012 that DC offered her more money. This time, however, she had to sign away her rights to her grandfather's claim. With encouragement from Nobleman, Athena rejected the money and took DC to court. It took years of litigation before a settlement was reached. A major turning point in the case was the unearthing of recorded interviews with Bob Kane during the writing of his autobiography. During one of the interviews, Tom Andrae, Kane's co-writer, asked Kane to what extent Finger contributed to Batman's creation. "Bill was responsible for 50 to 75 percent," Kane bluntly responded.

Finally, in September 2015, DC Entertainment issued a statement informing the public that Finger would be listed as co-creator on any piece of Batman media henceforth. Starting with the superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and the second season of Gotham (2014), an updated acknowledgement for the character appeared as "Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger".

Finger's story was later used as the subject of the Hulu original documentary, Batman & Bill (2017).

Yes and no. Phantasm is loosely based on the character "the Reaper" from the comic-book miniseries BATMAN: YEAR TWO: FEAR THE REAPER, written by Mike W. Barr; art by Alan Davis, Todd McFarlane, Mark Farmer and Paul Neary. However, the actual character of Andrea Beaumont is original to the movie.

Bruce Wayne has been the Batman for ten years when the film opens, putting him in his early to mid-30s. As a comic-book character, Batman's first appearance was in DETECTIVE COMICS #27 (May, 1939).

Yes and no. Batman discovers that the Joker was originally one of mobster Salvatore "Sally" Valestra's goons; however, anyone in this film who knew him from the old days is dead by the end except for the Joker himself--and possibly city councilman Arthur Reeves. As Valestra's thug, Joker is revealed to be the murderer of Carl Beaumont--Andrea Beaumont's father. The comic-book Joker was originally revealed to have been the Red Hood--the otherwise nameless leader of a gang of crooks; in Alan Moore's graphic novel "The Killing Joke," he was only an unnamed engineer and struggling comedian. In Tim Burton's film Batman (1989), the Joker was gangster Jack Napier and also (in this film series only!) the killer of Bruce Wayne's parents. In Batman: The Animated Series the Joker's true identity was Jack Napier as well, as shown in the episode "Dreams In Darkness." However later the episode "Beware the Creeper" from The New Batman Adventures rectified this by stating that Jack Napier was merely one of several aliases.

Gotham City is a fictional U.S. port city located on the north-eastern Atlantic coast. It was originally a stand-in for New York City, but has also been likened to other crime-ridden urban centers such as Chicago and Detroit. Some sources have placed Gotham City in the state of New Jersey; however, this cannot be considered definitive.In the context of Batman: The Animated Series, the second (1993-1994) season episode "Avatar" shows a map that places Gotham City in the location of the real-world New York City. In addition, the direct-to-video animated movie SubZero (1998) gives Barbara Gordon's street address as Gotham City, NY; and gives a ZIP code (10025) and telephone area code (212) that are assigned to New York City. The current DC Universe version of Gotham City is actually a small island connected to the mainland by a series of bridges and tunnels. The east and south sides of Gotham face the Atlantic Ocean. The city is further divided by the Sprang River (named for Dick Sprang) on the northern end and the Finger River (for Bill Finger) to the south. Tiny Blackgate Isle to the south-east is home to Blackgate Maximum Security Penitentiary. Blackgate is replaced by Stonegate Peniteniary in the animated series "Batman" (1992) and its spin-offs.

One assumes that the filmmakers wanted to keep the focus of this story squarely on Bruce Wayne and Andrea Beaumont. However, there are at least two in-film explanations. 1) Dick Grayson was away at college and Bruce didn't want to involve him in such a personal case. 2) The movie novelization by Geary Gravel has Dick overseas, training with one of Bruce's old martial arts masters.

One can assume that Harley was cooling her heels in Arkham Asylum during this story. Harley's voice actress Arleen Sorkin did have an uncredited role as "Miss Bambie."