It’s hard to remember a time when Batman wasn’t at the center of pop culture. Although the Dark Knight of Gotham has been the star of more films than any other superhero, the character had been neutered by the time the Silver Age of comics began in 1956. More high-concept villains like Mr. Freeze were introduced to curb declining sales, but there was a moment where Batman felt like a relic of the ‘40s noir era, doomed to be left in the past.
Batman had made an appearance on the big screen in two serials that ran in 1943 and 1949, but they had little in common with the character of today; one saw Batman working as a federal agent to root out Japanese spies during WWII. The 1966 live-action Batman television show from 20th Century Fox emerged after executive producer William Dozier determined that it could work if it were a tongue-in-cheek, slapstick adventure that appealed to kids. The series became such a phenomenon that, within six months of its premiere, Batman: The Movie turned Adam West and Burt Ward into movie stars.
