American actors Burt Ward (left), as Robin, and Adam West, as Batman, ride in the Batmobile in a still from the television series, 'Batman,' c. 1967. (Photo by 20th Century Fox/Courtesy of Getty Images)
Last month, Batman turned 80 years old.
According to Marketplace: For eight decades, the Caped Crusader has kept watch over the streets of Gotham City and beyond, fighting crime, answering batsignals and go-go dancing at clubs.
Also according to Marketplace: From comics to television to Lego to the big screen, Batman has become one of the largest franchises in history, making an estimated $23.8 billion since the superhero first swept onto the scene in 1939’s “Detective Comics” #27.
The comic book, which introduced Batman as an “avenger of evil” who was a “weird figure of the dark,” sold for 10 cents during its initial run.
A copy of issue #27 was purchased for $1,075,000 in 2010. That makes it the third-most expensive comic book ever sold, behind “Amazing Fantasy” #15 and “Action Comics” #1, the first appearances of Spider-Man and Superman respectively.
You can’t talk about Batman without talking about his alter ego, Bruce Wayne. Orphaned at a young age and heir to the family fortune, Wayne’s personal wealth is estimated at a whopping $11.6 billion by Lehigh University students. They figure Wayne Enterprises is worth $23.22 billion.
Batman is the third-wealthiest superhero, beating out fictional magnates including Superman nemesis Lex Luthor, Oliver Queen (aka Green Arrow) and Charles Xavier of the X-Men, according to CBR.
Who can forget the Batman series with Adam West and Burt Ward. West had a long career in television as an actor but was most notbaly known for his role as the Caped Crusader alongside Burt Ward’s Robin in the 1960s Batman television series.
According to Heroic Hollywood: Adam West and Burt Ward brought Batman and Robin to life in the 60s and is still celebrated to this day. The iconic series starring Adam West and Burt Ward portrayed the lighter side to the character’s lore. Adam West and Burt Ward reprised their roles as the dynamic duo in two animated films based off the beloved series. Adam West and Burt Ward have also lended their voices in other projects over the years.
Unfortunately, Adam West has since passed away back in 2017.
The show had a lot of cool sequencs like music.
Appearing on the Scoop B Radio Podcast, I asked Burt Ward whether music was piped into the show while it was rolling or whether it was in post-production,
“There was some played,” Burt Ward told me on Scoop B Radio.
“There was a scene where King Tut had used some kind of a pebble torture on Batman on his villainous girlfriend because she was not being honorable, or whatever. And they got them to do this bat dance and played the music. They would play music when it was appropriate but then again the theme music that was added later it’s called sweetening it when you kind of put the music with it and make it look really spiffy.”