Robert Forman wrote to ask me the following question — but first, some background: Vince Sullivan was the editor at what we now know as DC Comics. Bob Kane was one of the freelancers doing comic book stories for him. Here's what Mr. Forman wants to know…
I'm familiar with the Vincent Sullivan/Bob Kane Batman origin story and I have a question that I've always wondered about it. So Sullivan tells Kane something like "Hey, this new Superman character is doing great. We could use more like it." I take it that Kane was either familiar with Superman or familiarized himself with the character before trying to create a new character like Superman.
So why did Kane give Sullivan a non-super character? I mean, other people came up with characters with some sort of "power" like speed or had a "power ring," etc. Why did Kane give him a character that had more in common with The Green Hornet or the Crimson Avenger? Why not give his Batman something like a bat's "radar power" or something like that? Was this something Kane ever addressed?
The trouble with getting an explanation from something Bob Kane said is that Bob Kane said it…along with many things that weren't always true. When I was in my teens, I sat with Bob for an hour or two as he downed several glasses of vodka and told me all sorts of stories about his life and his career and what he did and what he didn't do. One of them was a long story about him having sex with Marilyn Monroe. I would believe that there really was a Batman before I'd believe Bob's story about Marilyn Monroe.
But I think the answer to your question is pretty obvious: Sullivan wanted a costumed hero who did extraordinary things. The extraordinary heroes with which Bob was familiar back then were The Green Hornet or The Shadow or Zorro or The Phantom. And Superman wasn't that "super" in his early stories. I interviewed Vince Sullivan at Comic-Con back in, I believe, 1993. I don't recall him saying he wanted a character that had unearthly powers. I think he just wanted one as colorful and able to do amazing things.
So Bob thought about all those inspirations and came up with Batman in some form. Then he huddled with Bill Finger (probably the brains of the operation) and they thought about all those popular, heroic heroes from the pulps, radio, movie serials and comic strips of the day and, lo, there was the primal Batman. Most comic book characters didn't get power rings or radar powers until later.
At least, I'd assume that's what happened. It's also possible they knew that the new character, if accepted, would wind up in Detective Comics. and felt a science-fiction element wouldn't fit into that book. But you know what's not possible? That story about Bob and Marilyn Monroe. How can you ever trust anyone who'd tell you something like that?
