Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is a Batman comic book mini-series written and drawn by Frank Miller and published by DC Comics from February to June 1986.
It reintroduced Batman to the general public as the psychologically dark character of his original 1930s conception and helped to usher in an era of "grim and gritty" superheroes from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s.
A sequel, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, was published in 2001. All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, a prequel to the series began running in 2005. An additional prequel, Holy Terror, Batman!, is planned to be released in 2008.
Batman : Dark Knight who rules the box office???
Forget Indiana Jones, the ageing archaeologist whose big screen comeback was more reminiscent of a Saga holiday than an action adventure. Only one man will rule over the box office this summer, and he's wearing tights.
The biggest blockbuster of 2008 is the new Batman movie The Dark Knight, which premieres in London on Monday.
Yes, the buzz is all around the late Heath Ledger's performance, tipped to land him a posthumous Oscar. But even without his electrifying turn as The Joker, the film would be a success.
In these times of economic gloom, we could all use a superhero. And Batman is arguably the greatest of them all.
Superman has his Kryptonite, The Incredible Hulk his superhuman strength. Batman has no special powers.
Love interests
He is simply Bruce Wayne, the tortured hero who lives a secret life as the Caped Crusader, using only his guile, intellect and a dizzying array of high-tech gadgetry to fight crime and corruption on the streets of Gotham.
He is also the loneliest of superheroes, with only faithful butler Alfred as his constant companion.
He has had a succession of female love interests - ace reporter Vicki Vale, assistant district attorney Rachel Dawes - but the relationships are always doomed. Good job. Batman would make a terrible husband.
Brooding, distant, always disappearing in the middle of the night and prone to dressing as a six-foot bat. No wonder he's still single.
Batman first appeared as a DC Comics strip in May 1939. He was the creation of artist Bob Kane and a colleague, writer Bill Finger.
Keen to capitalise on the success of Superman, DC editors asked Kane to come up with a brand new superhero. Taking Zorro as his inspiration, he sketched a character with a neat black mask.
He recalled in his autobiography: "At the time, I only had a small domino mask, like the one Robin later wore, on Batman's face. Bill said, 'Why not make him look more like a bat and put a hood on him, and just put slits for eyes to make him look more mysterious?'" The original red and black suit was also rejected as "too bright" and a pair of stiff bat wings were ditched in favour of a flowing cape which would make it easier to fly. Batman was born.
Camp Caped Crusader
His back story was set out. Aged eight, young Bruce Wayne (the name is an amalgamation of Robert the Bruce and US general Anthony Wayne, according to Finger) witnessed the brutal murder of his parents by a street mugger and vowed to avenge their deaths by waging war on Gotham's lowlife.
By day, he is a billionaire industrialist and noted playboy. By night, he scans the skies for the Bat signal and heads out to fight crime.
His first screen incarnation was a 1943 serial made for the big screen, starring Lewis Wilson.
Next came the Batman who, for many, lives longest in the memory - the Sixties television version with Adam West as a decidedly camp Caped Crusader.
Biff! Bam! Kapow! The show ran from 1966 to 1968, and consigned West to typecasting hell. For two years he did nothing but personal appearances in his Batsuit. "It was pretty rough. You can't run around in a costume that many hours a day - we did 120 shows - and have that kind of success and not be typecast. It took me maybe five years to get away from it," he said.
West has now resigned himself to fate and a lifetime of attention from comic book geeks. "We have Batman conventions, like Star Trek conventions. They have their Trekkies, we have our Batties. People come dressed up as the characters. And it's fun, but... get a life."
playing it for laughs
It was director Tim Burton who revived the Batman franchise in 1989, inspired by the graphic novels of Frank Miller.
With more than 20 years having elapsed since the day-glo kitsch of the television show, Burton decided the world was ready for a darker Caped Crusader. It was his vision of a brooding, enigmatic, introspective superhero that would ultimately pave the way for today's latest incarnation.
Michael Keaton was cast as Batman - a choice which raised many an eyebrow in Hollywood, as Keaton was not regarded as leading man material. But while his take on the role was a success, he was comprehensively out-acted by Jack Nicholson's irrepressible Joker.
Keaton reprised the role in 1992's Batman Returns, with Danny DeVito as The Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as a sizzling Catwoman, before Val Kilmer donned the mask for 1995 film Batman Forever, co-starring Jim Carrey as The Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face.
The franchise was on a roll, but Clooney and co killed it stone dead in the fourth film, Batman and Robin.
Clooney played the role for laughs, something which celluloid Batmen must never do. "When I did it they didn't tell me that Batman was straight. I'd have played him straight if I'd known," the actor later quipped.
It wasn't until 2005 that director Christopher Nolan cast British actor Christian Bale in the acclaimed Batman Begins, which took the superhero story back to its roots.
The Dark Knight picks up where that film left off, with Batman disillusioned with his role as defender of Gotham City but unable to abandon it to the crime lords. The film is a meditation on the nature of good and evil, offering no easy answers.
"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain," one character tells Bruce Wayne.
Time was when we wanted our superhero films to be harmless escapism. But times change. The Dark Knight is made for a post 9/11 audience all too aware that terror can strike at the heart of the city we call home.
And it's already doing big business, with advance ticket sales outstripping all rival films this year and industry experts predicting a record opening weekend. Holy box office gold, Batman.
Batman : Dark Knight who rules the box office???
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