Black Batman

[Strain42]

I'm not sure if someone mentioned this already or not, but we kind of DO already have a Black Batman. His name is Batwing (David Zavimbe) and he was introduced in the Batman, Incorporated series. He now has his own series in The New 52.

He's basically the Batman of another area. If there can be multiple Green Lanterns, why not multiple Batmen.

 

[GiantRaven]

This thread needs more Batwing.

Spoiler: Hooray Batwing!

 

[CrazyJew]

Great, now he won't be able to go a night without Robin. [/obligatoryracistjokeisweariamnotracist]

All jokes aside, I don't see how it would affect him.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Doesn't make much sense for Bruce Wayne to be Black.

Now, get a new Robin who is black, and hand Batmanning over to him, fair enough. Though it'd make more sense for Grayson to be Batman again, have to push him out of the way as well.

 

[James Crook]

Well, although I think it would be pretty silly... it'd make a fantastic April Fools joke.

 

[Woodsey]

Wasn't there a new spiderman awhile back that was half black, half hispanic, and either gay or bisexual?

My reaction to such was that they were just trying too hard. Leave established characters alone; If you want to make someone with a new look, ethnicity and situation, that's fine, but make it a new character.

It was a new character (and I'm pretty sure he wasn't gay), taking over as Spider-Man in one of the millions of universes, whilst the others still had Peter Parker. Blacks and Mexicans also comprise something like a quarter of the US population - a guy who's mixed race between the two is hardly astronomically unlikely.


OT: Calling it Black Batman would be pretty fucking retarded. Having a black Batman would be fine.

 

[Daniel Laeben-Rosen]

This thread needs more Batwing.

Spoiler: Hooray Batwing!

I like Batwing. Or, I like the concept of Batwing, but I don't think the writing's particularly strong. Do love the artwork though, to where the sometimes-iffy writing doesn't really matter to me.

Just wanted that said because, more people should give that comic a try.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

"Black batman" is stupid. There is however nothing wrong with batman being black. Nothing in any of the story lines or any of the various versions of his often recreated backstory require a particular ethnicity.

Of my two favorite Catwomen (that looks odd...Catwomans?) one happens to be white, one black. Ethnicity doesn't matter to the character at all.

It would only matter if something about the character is inherently race based. I can't think of one at the moment, but to give a silly example, if a Nazi superhero was turned from White Christian to Black Gay Jew in a retcon.

Ethnicity is not the same as race. Black is not a race. And a black gay Jewish Nazi would be hilarious. Every Nazi ever should be retconned as black, gay, and Jewish.

Well race isn't a word with a university definition, but in general terms, yes, black probably does meet the definition of race, in fact skin colour was one of the primary determining factors in that non scientific word's early use. You know, that's why people say its "racist" when you are anti-black. But you keep feeling smug if it makes you feel better. (Especially when your corrections are wrong lol)

Read my other post and recent edit. It was a typo. And there are plenty of university definitions for race, just ask a professor and there you go. I can insult you for making typos as well, but I am pretty certain your original misunderstanding of the differences between race and ethnicity were not typos.

You claim now it was a typo...

And read my comment on your correction.

Also you might mean, University where I work, not where I go.

Let me help you out there, the term "race" is inherently "racist". There is no valid scientific use of the word, and no self respecting academic would suggest there was. Feel free to point me at that very clear universally accepted definition though.

A typo is a type of mistake.

Race is as real as we make it. You can't ignore the obvious social importance of the concept of race, even though it biologically doesn't exist. And yes there is no universally accepted definition. However, there is one for ethnicity, and it is not the same as race. Black is not an ethnicity, it is a race.

How can you positively identify it as a race, when you agree race isn't defined?

In any event, your definition is STILL wrong for ethnicity. Ethnicity CAN include racial traits. A couple segments of the Merriam-Webster definition for your attention:

a: of or relating to large groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background
Synonyms: racial, ethnical, tribal

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethnic

Ethnicity is just a way of grouping people into groups that make some sense and have some commonality.

Your race is a socially constructed status that is ascribed to you in accordance with certain physical traits. Your ethnicity is the social group or category you generally fit within. Black is not a valid ethnicity as it tells me nothing about what social category that individual fits within. A black Swede differs from a black African which differs from a black American. And Webster loses credibility with me for having an incorrect definition of gender.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

Black Batman.

The only difference I can see that making is that he may be harder to see at night.

I had no idea we were still telling 1950s jokes.

Hey let me tell you the one about the kyke and the irishman...

Yes, because acknowledging that black people have darker skin than white people is incredibly insensitive and most assuredly thoughtcrime.

 

[Fishyash]

To be honest, there was backlash when Sonic changed his eye colour.

I don't think they should do it to be honest. It seems like a sily retcon to change a natural feature of a superhero. I don't think I would mind personally, but I don't have much personal investment in batman.

 

[The_Critic]

I would have absolutely no problem with it. The problem is this, why would they be changing his skin color, to appease a certain demographic? To make a statement hey we love them black folk? Or just cause hey we haven't reinvented this character in forever wouldn't it be cool if we did, maybe get people back into comic book reading, or create a new generation of fans with a new character or reinvented one.

Batman is Batman, doesn't matter if he is Latino, Black, White, Asian, or middle eastern. He fight for justice, not affirmative action, so who gives a fuck about his skin tone.

When they did make Spidey black/Hispanic and Bi, it was completely obvious what there underlying reason was. A big stamp of approval from the ACLU and LBGT community. It wasn't a natural progression, it wasn't a reinvention, it was a statement yelling at the top of their lungs, hey look at us we are tolerant. That shit pisses me off, and is completely retarded in my opinion.

As far as batman being black, sure do it, I'd like it if they rebooted the whole series, would give me a reason to start collecting the comics.

 

[Gennadios]

The Klan is a joke, they didn't hold any real power since the 50's and any time members actually do commit a violent crime it's just blamed on the individuals and they get disowned.

If such a comic reboot actually were to happen, I'd just write the whole fucking franchise off as some ABM revenge fantasy and move on with my life.

 

[aba1]

It would bother me mostly because of how unnecessary and stupid the idea is and how convoluted the time line already is. If they started him black it really would not have bothered me in the same way that the new spiderman does not bother me at all.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Why is it always black? There are fucking loads of other ethnicities but everybody goes for black. What's up with you America, have you still not gotten over racial diversity yet?

OT: I'd be more pissed off that they'd changed the name to Black Batman than Batman was black. Seriously, if you're changing him just keep the name.

 

[teebeeohh]

calling it black batman is retarded, other than that i don't really care.
it would however be a little odd to make any industrial-billionaire kinda hero black, at last if they didn't earn the money themselves but inherited it from their parents who presumably would also be black and can anyone imagine the US army in WW2 hiring a black industrialist (were there even super rich black people in the 30s and 40s?) to build experimental weapons?