80 years on, Batman still packs a punch

As the Caped Crusader hits 80 years of protecting Gotham City, Chris Wasser looks at the history of the world’s darkest superhero.

In 1939, a 23-year-old New York comic book writer and artist by the name of Robert Kane pitched a new idea to his bosses at National Allied Publications. The company, which was founded by American entrepreneur, Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, had recently enjoyed enormous success with the launch of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman.