Homosexual and pederastic interpretations have been part of the academic study of the Batman franchise at least since psychiatrist Fredric Wertham asserted in his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent that "Batman stories are psychologically homosexual". Wertham, as well as parodies, fans and other independent parties, have described Batman and his sidekick Robin (Dick Grayson) as homosexual, possibly in a relationship with each other. DC Comics has never declared Batman or any other male character in the franchise to be gay, but several female characters in the Modern Age Batman comic books are officially lesbian.
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The early Golden Age Batman stories were dark and violent, but during the interregnum period of the late 1940s and the early 1950s they changed to a softer, friendlier and more exotic style, that was considered "campy". This style awoke contemporary and later associations to homosexual culture.[1]
In Seduction of the Innocent, Fredric Wertham claimed, "The Batman type of story may stimulate children to homosexual fantasies, of the nature of which they may be unconscious" and "Only someone ignorant of the fundamentals of psychiatry and of the psychopathology of sex can fail to realize a subtle atmosphere of homoeroticism which pervades the adventures of the mature 'Batman' and his young friend Robin."[2] This book was issued in the context of the "lavender scare" where authorities regarded homosexuality as a security risk.
Andy Medhurst wrote in his 1991 essay Batman, Deviance, and Camp that Batman is interesting to gay audiences because "he was one of the first fictional characters to be attacked on the grounds of his presumed homosexuality," "the 1960s TV series remains a touchstone of camp," and "[he] merits analysis as a notably successful construction of masculinity."[3]
The Comics Bulletin website posed the question "Is Batman Gay?" to their staff and various comic book professionals.[4] Writer Alan Grant has stated, "The Batman I wrote for 13 years isn't gay. Denny O'Neil's Batman, Marv Wolfman's Batman, everybody's Batman all the way back to Bob Kane… none of them wrote him as a gay character. Only Joel Schumacher might have had an opposing view." Writer Devin Grayson has commented, "It depends who you ask, doesn't it? Since you're asking me, I'll say no, I don't think he is… I certainly understand the gay readings, though."[5] While Frank Miller has described the relationship between Batman and the Joker as a "homophobic nightmare,"[6] he views the character as sublimating his sexual urges into crime fighting, concluding, "He'd be much healthier if he were gay."[7]
One Comics Bulletin staffer and Batman fan, Ray Tate, argued that a sexual relationship between Batman and Robin wouldn't be homosexual; rather, he pointed out that the Robin character is traditionally a minor, and any sexual relationship between him and Batman would constitute child molestation. He only pointed out that the canonical portrayal of the duo is generally that of a father and son.[5]
Burt Ward, who portrayed Robin in the 1960s television show, has also remarked upon this interpretation in his autobiography Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights; he writes that the relationship could be interpreted as a sexual one, with the show's double entendres and lavish camp also possibly offering ambiguous interpretation.[8]
In 2006, George Clooney said in an interview with Barbara Walters that in Batman & Robin he played Batman as gay. "I was in a rubber suit and I had rubber nipples. I could have played Batman straight, but I made him gay." Walters then asked, "George, is Batman gay?" To which he responded, "No, but I made him gay."[9]
The 1995 feature film Batman Forever, and especially its 1997 sequel Batman & Robin, both helmed by the openly gay director Joel Schumacher, attracted attention for their many homo-erotic innuendos.[10] Many observers accused Schumacher of adding possible homosexual innuendo in the storyline.[10]
James Berardinelli questioned the "random amount of rubber nipples and camera angle close-ups of the Dynamic Duo's butts and Bat-crotches."[11] Similar to Batman Forever, this primarily included the decision to add nipples and enlarged codpieces to Batman and Robin suits. Schumacher stated, "I had no idea that putting nipples on the Batsuit and Robin suit were going to spark international headlines. The bodies of the suits come from ancient Greek statues, which display perfect bodies. They are anatomically erotic."[10]
Chris O'Donnell, who portrayed Robin, felt "it wasn't so much the nipples that bothered me. It was the codpiece. The press obviously played it up and made it a big deal, especially with Joel directing. I didn't think twice about the controversy, but going back and looking and seeing some of the pictures, it was very unusual."[10]
George Clooney joked, "Joel Schumacher told me we never made another Batman film because Batman was gay."[12] Clooney himself has spoken dismissively of the film, saying "I think we might have killed the franchise,"[13] and called it "a waste of money."[14]
Homosexual interpretations of Batman and Robin have attracted even more attention during the Modern Age of Comic Books, as sexual and LGBT themes became more common and accepted in mainstream comics.
Writer Warren Ellis addressed the issue of Batman's sexuality obliquely in his comic book The Authority from Image Comics where he portrayed the character of the Midnighter, a clear Batman pastiche, as openly gay and engaged in a long term relationship with the Superman analogue Apollo.
The Ambiguously Gay Duo is a 1996 animated parody previously featured on Saturday Night Live, with many similarities to Batman, not least the animated title sequence of the '60s TV series.
Another notable example occurred in 2000, when DC Comics refused to allow permission for the reprinting of four panels (from Batman #79, 92, 105 and 139) to illustrate Christopher York's paper All in the Family: Homophobia and Batman Comics in the 1950s.[15]
The idea of the "gay" Batman has also been revitalized around 2005, as a montage of panels from The Joker's Comedy of Errors in Batman #66, issued in 1951, began to circulate as an Internet meme. The episode mentioned the word "boner" several times; in the original comic, it meant "blunder", but to present-day readers it is a double entendre which might make them associate with erection.[16] A similar case of an unintended gay interpretation was the Rainbow Batman from 1957.
Another incident happened in the summer of 2005, when painter Mark Chamberlain displayed a number of watercolors depicting both Batman and Robin in suggestive and sexually explicit poses.[17] DC threatened both artist and the Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts gallery with legal action if they did not cease selling the works and demanded all remaining art, as well as any profits derived from them.[18]
Bruce Wayne was originally engaged to Julie Madison; the two characters eventually split up. He showed recurrent romantic feelings for his enemy Catwoman, as she was depicted as a femme fatale. Talia al Ghul serves a similar role in the later comics.
The Batwoman was introduced in 1956 as a love interest for Batman, to evade accusations of homosexuality. In a similar manner, the Bat-Girl was a love interest for Robin. In later years, both Batwoman and Bat-Girl were removed from the stories and replaced with a more contemporary Batgirl. Unlike her predecessors, this Batgirl retained a primarily platonic relationship with Batman and Robin, for many years until later being established as a love-interest for Dick Grayson.
Ironically, when DC decided to introduce modern Batwoman based on the original one, she was designed as a lesbian,[19][20] Dick Grayson's aunt, Harriet Cooper was added to the franchise in the 1960s, to add diversity to the all-male Wayne Manor, and to supplement Alfred Pennyworth.[21] In the animated movie Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Bruce Wayne falls in love with a woman called Andrea Beaumont. In the Justice League animated series, Batman and Wonder Woman are implied to have somewhat of a complicated romance.
In 2006 DC drew widespread media attention by announcing this new, lesbian incarnation of the well-known character Batwoman[22] even while openly lesbian characters such as Gotham City police officer Renee Montoya, police captain Maggie Sawyer, and Holly Robinson, the best friend and protégée of Catwoman, already existed in the Batman franchise.[23][24]
In response to the 2009 New York Comic Con, reporter Alison Flood called Batwoman DC Comics' highest profile gay superhero.[20] Batwoman appeared in a new Justice League comic book written by James Robinson and took over as the lead character in Detective Comics starting issue #854.[25]
Greg Rucka said that DC's editors had no problem with his writing Montoya or Batwoman as lesbian, but the media controversy over Batwoman's sexuality "nullified any positive effect Batwoman might have had on the industry" and forced the character into minor roles during major crossover storylines.[26] This changed in August 2011, when, as part of a company wide relaunch of their superhero titles, DC launched a Batwoman monthly title starring Kate Kane.
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