#batsy and jokester

[just-otter-thoughts]

Okay this might be missing details but let's go.

Quick American comic book history lesson. Batman is one of the first ever superheroes. Superman invented the superhero comic book, but Batman popped up a short time afterwards. He starts as a serious grim detective/superhero combo but acquires a sidekick (an orphan named Dick Grayson, AKA Robin. He adopts him. Keep him in mind) and the stories get more light hearted and campy. After WWII, the public gets obsessed with horror comics, which children get their hands on. This upsets parents. A psychologist named Fredric Wertham writes a paper called "Seduction of the Innocent" about how comics are evil and corrupting children.

He says a lot of stuff but most relevant is he SPECIFICALLY cites Batman as being homosexual propaganda due to Batman and Robin apparently being coded as an older man and younger boy couple (keep in mind Robin is a child so. Ew. But again it's the 50s and the Lavender Scare is in full swing so this is common rhetoric at the time). This paper leads to the creation of the Comics Code Authority, which is basically the Hays Code for comic books (good must triumph evil, women must act feminine and men must act masculine, basically must be "child appropriate" aka not break the white cishet nuclear family standard!). DC follows this by trying to make Batman straight by creating Batwoman and Batgirl to be love interests for Batman and Robin respectively (quick aside, the modern version of Batwoman is now Bruce Wayne's lesbian cousin). And you know how the Hays Code led to villains becoming queercoded? Guess what happens to our Batman villains!

The biggest one for this to happen to is Joker. Batman's most iconic villain, he's colorful, loud, ridiculous, and depending on the writer, either just a silly jokester or the most cruel man you can imagine. We've got the ingredients for a queercoded villain right here, and writers took it. The white face and bright red grin was originally from his acid bath, but now our guy applies powder and lipstick for his clownly look. He takes to calling Batman nicknames such as "Batsy". His motivation mostly boils down to "how can I get Batman's attention". He adopts feminine mannerisms and cross dresses. He may even yse Joker use euphisms for how in love he is (Lego Batman's "I hate you. I hate you more" scene) or STRAIGHT UP SAY HE'S IN LOVE WITH BATMAN (looking at you, Batman Audio Adventures Joker, with your nefarious plan to dunk Batman in a LOVE POTION ON VALENTINE'S DAY SO HE WOULD ALSO BECOME OBSESSED WITH HIM)

I have not read the story myself yet, but that post that prompted this, the copy of "Arkham Asylum, House of Madness". That story is written by Grant Morrison (who I should mention a. Is queer and uses they/them, and b. Has said Batman could be inherently gay due to him dressing in tight leather) and I need to find his post again but my good buddy jokeryuri has also done a compilation of material related to that story and Joker's queercoding present in it. I just remember something about Joker trying to seduce Batman

Speaking of "Batman could be gay", there are a few other people who work on various Batman versions that acknowledge that elements of Batman are gay. Frank Miller calls Joker and Batman's relationship a "homophobic nightmare" and that "it would be healthier if Batman was gay". George Clooney, playing Batman in the movie Batman and Robin, says he played Batman as gay. Batman and Robin was also directed by Joel Schumacher, a gay man, and is SO FUCKING CAMPY GOD I LOVE IT. I actually like Batman Forever (also directed by him) more because that one has Riddler and Two Face's earth shattering homosexual relationship (they cling to each other so so much and are very flamboyant) but yeah that version is very gay

There's also a LOT of accidental queercoding in general. First example I can think of is classic Dick Grayson himself actually! He "grew up" in the 80s and became his own hero, and during the 90s he all but says he's demisexual (saying he can't imagine having sex unless he has an established connection with whoever). Modern DC plays up his sex appeal though and turned him into a flirty playboy which sucks because it's in direct defiance of those panels but it's fine :) (gritting teeth).

The other big example is my special guy Hugo Strange, Batman's first villain to get a reappearance (Joker came first but he died and didn't reappear until THIRTY OR SO YEARS LATER, while Hugo was just like one year between appearances). I have a whole post that are just images of him being gay for Batman that I can grab in a bit but the gist is he's obsessed with the Batman identity and is constantly trying to prove he's better than him. There's also that time he kept a sex doll that he started dressing up as Batman and in one issue is implied to have slept with it so. Make of that as you will.

Also it's kind of a joke at this point that every Batman villain is in love with him. The Arkham Knight game having Mad Hatter (an Alice in Wonderland themed villain known for trying to find "his Alice" AKA a girl to love) calling Batman Alice and inviting him into his cell. The time Killer Croc was at a strip club and Batman confronted him there and Killer Croc first assumed he was a stripper and told him to start stripping. Riddler (canonically bisexual in the comics!) leading Batman on a riddle hunt showing him all his past loves and concluding with a date with him

I could go on but TL;DR? Batman yaoi. Maybe he's technically a bara due to the muscles and usually written by a man as opposed to pretty boy written by a woman but he can be yaoi

Most of this is covered on the Wikipedia page "Homosexuality in the Batman Franchise, but I also learned the opening comic history from my comic book history class I took a couple years ago, and the specific cited instances are from my own reading and panels posted around Tumblr. Thank you for reading my messy thoughts, I hope you enjoyed

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_the_Batman_franchise

Thank you for this!!! I took so long to answer this because I went to honk mimimiland. This is all very interesting history to be honest, and I did think it could be a little gay but I could not imagine it would be this gay lmao.

And also you are so based for saying Batman would be bara. WAIT IS THERE BARA ART OF BATMAN.

THIS IS JUST REGULAR BATMAN HSNFHDJDHDHSJ

Also it's interesting how the foebidding of gay stuff leads to more gay stuff.

[batkidd]

❝Cleaning up after my own guys is a bit tedious . . . and messy. But why should I hire you? I mean . . . l-ook at ya.❞

Besides this kid's tights — what's the deal with everybody being so ob-sessed with Batsy, anyway? — ain't he the bucko 'was talking about Joker-flavored vape pods? Now, that's not something the Clown Prince himself can endorse.

❝Hate ta break it-to-ya, pal: you aren't exactly mem-ber-ship ma-ter-i-al. Irony is . . . that might just be one thing Batsy-Boo and I are in agreement on.❞

"Eheh... hehheh.. ?" Is that really him? The douchebag that keeps cramping Batman's style?! Batkid chuckled to himself both in disbelief and slight nervousness as he studied The Joker.

"Well would'ja look at that! The Jokester himselfs..." Kid was on his guard, naturally, when he was around any of these freaks, he knew they'd always have something up their sleeves.

"I've got hidden talents- you're judgin' me based on my looks and my possible weak social skills but I'm anythin' but incompetent," there was a smirk under his mask- the fabric shifted slightly to indicate this. He kept his distance, despite maintaining a level of confidence. "But even so- I ain't to keen on being your cleanup boy.."

"And keep the Batman's name outta your mouth," he's getting slightly fidgety- "He doesn't like you..." practically huffing out this sentence in a low voice, the animosity was quite obvious. It's a sensitive topic, regarding The Bat himself.