Jeffery Jedi Ludwig James Wilson RHET 1312 March 12, 2014 Project 2 rough draft Picture in your

minds eye a city on the east coast of America. A city not unlike New York or Chicago in size and scale that finds uniqueness in the characters that populate it. Among these characters one stands out further than the others for the sheer amalgamation of traits he possesses. He boasts billions of dollars to his name, unparalleled skill in combat, eternally enduring willpower, a presence that cause many to quake with terror, and is titled by many as the worlds greatest detective. I am of course describing Gothams Dark knight, the Batman. A comic book icon, the caped crusader is a fan favorite among the comic book community and is the top comic book property produced by DC comics, but, while he has had comic book success, not all representations of him in other media are able to fully represent him and the skillset that he brings to the table. Batmans ventures into other media each have different challenges to overcome when attempting to portray the character and his abilities in the project and in his many adventures across different expressions of entertainment four different production teams have created works of batman across different entertainment platforms to show the abilities of Bruce Wayne to people who do not read comic books, which gave rise to the impending question. Who showed the abilities of Batman best? For this comparison we will be analyzing on a scale of one to ten the usage of martial arts, technology, detective skills, theatrics, and unrelenting willpower of batman demonstrated by the the DC animated universe production team, the Batman: Arkham Asylum production team, and the Dark Knight trilogy production team. The method for ranking is simple. Each batman will be ranked in the category according to the greatest extent of prowess the batman showed in their productions for each given aspect where ten is showcasing the height of attainable prowess and where one is what the everyday man could be capable of. Each score will then be justified and averaged until we find the adaptation with the greatest score out of 10, which will showcase the non-comic production that best shows the abilities batman possesses. With this established let us being the dive into the first production team. To begin we will dive into the live action dark knight trilogy as the first production. The martial arts expertise of this batman shows evident training, but due to having to work with real actors, stunt men and live action fight sequences batman rarely showcases the feats of acrobatic proficiency that batman wields in the comics. In this adaptation his fighting style consisting of skillful mma styled fighting earns him a 7 out of 10. In the movies his ability to strike fear into criminals is explored heavily in the first film where he receives training from the ninja-like league of shadows in how deception and theatrics can give him power to be more than just a man in the eyes of his enemies and it is due to this that he creates the mantle of the batman, so that he can become a symbol of justice and an object of fear. His intimidation techniques, and persona earn him a 9 in the field of theatrics. The usage of technology in the films is where the films are field that are found to be particularly lacking due to nolans pursuit of a grounded and realistic tone. In the films the most powerful pieces of technology he possesses are his batwing, the sonar device, and the nuclear core. The frequent usage of the grapnel device and the rigid cape wings for gliding heavily outweighing the usage of his batarangs and other

convenient and ingenious gadgets that batman is known for earns him a 5 out of ten in this category. The dark knights plot revolving around trying to outmatch the witty machinations of the Joker showcase batmans detective skills the most out of the trilogy. Peaking in the scene where batman goes to recreate the shatter pattern of a bullet upon hitting a brick wall in order to find the fingerprint developed where the shell was pushed into a casing earn the caped crusader a 6 out of 10 in this category due to how he was always using grounded observations that were often below par from the connections and research regarding his subjects that batman is usually able to pull up. The films realistic tone does take away from many of the extraordinary aspects of batman, but because the dramatic tension in all three film pulls on whether Bruce continue on and continue to face these challenges and tribulations that come with being Batman the usage of willpower is showcased as the feature of dramatic tension. For being on par with the comics in this category the Nolan trilogy earns a 10 out of 10 for a total of 7.4 out of 10 as the final average. The animated series batman faced its own challenges with the animation process being expensive and the episodes needing to be able to be put out on a weekly basis. But through these challenges batman the animated series and the justice league cartoons emerged as critically acclaimed stories and fan favorites, so lets see how it holds up in its portrayal of the dark knight detective. In the fields of martial arts not much is seen through batmans actions due to the animation process being lengthy and expensive. While it is evident that he has expertise he never seems to show anything beyond basic on hit strikes kicks tackles and grabs and it is because of this he earns a 5 out of 10. For usage of theatrics batman finds strong marks due to how his presence is able to be handled through the animation style allowing him to literally sink into the shadows and emphasize his silhouetted figures horns and fearsome features. For theatrics he earns a 9 out of 10. In technology the animation field had an advantage by being able to simply draw a shape and state what it does without any need to explain why or how. Batman was able to utilize a variety in vehicles and computers to serve his needs, but his usage of individual gadgets beyond the batarang was again lacking in most episodes, so in this category he earns an 8.5 out of 10. In usage of detective skills the series has a keen advantage due to the frame of the show typically being batmans attempts to solve the crime of the week and take down the villain. He often used real detective techniques and skills in his pursuits and the ability to analyze things to a molecular level in order to find out the true purpose and usage of what he found. In this category he receives a 8 out of 10. In the category of willpower the department found major strengths in being a long running series, because it allowed to have episodes dedicated to batman dealing with the struggles of the life he lives without having to over cause it to be an overly prevalent theme or seem like a weakness in conviction. Batman has to cope with the loss of his parents, friends, and possible romances to live the life that he does and for that he receives a 9 out of 10 for a total scored average of 7.9 out of 10. The Arkham game series are critically acclaimed works of batman merchandise and are quite a different approach on how to show a player what batman is capable of. In the games batmans martial arts skills are evident through the flow-motion combat in which the player is able to direct batman in different directions to take on the foes around him through enemy specific methods while featuring stunning martial arts techniques as he flows from assailant to assailant. These combat sequences show batman performing elbow strikes, flying flips, kicks, slams and counters upon his opponents in a flurry of masterfully mixed martial arts techniques, and for these displays he earns a 10 out of 10. In usage of theatrics batman showcases how he can make his enemies fear him in the predator mission segments

where batman is able to sweep down from gargoyles, attack silently from grates, set up ambushes and use silent takedowns in order to prey on the fear of well-armed opponents that are beyond his ability to take on in a fight. His theatrics through misdirection, scare tactics and gadgetry in this category earn him a 10 out of 10. His usage of technology is quite varied in this installment where he is able to weave gadgets into combat and uses resources from the batcave in order to overcome obstacles in his path, but due to these games each taking place over a single evening we are never able to see what he can due through rigorous research and development, so batman here earns an 9 out of 10. His usage of detective skills in the games is unparalleled from him utilizing details about guards to track the alcohol particles flung into the air on exhalations to track his objectives to the detective mode segments where he analyzes crime scenes in order to find out where his next objectives lay in conjunction with all information assembled on the batcaves massive computer network earns him a 10 out of 10. The biggest aspect that batman appears to be lacking in on this title is the willpower that it takes to be batman. Because it is a videogame and all it takes to drive batman forward is to press up on the controller it doesnt dedicate as much time to what it takes and what hes really giving up to take on these villains and save Gotham time and time again. When it is present it is an excellent element, but it is not typically explored save two or three brief cutscenes and so in this category batman earns a 4 out of 10 for a total average of 8.6. From these scores it becomes evident that the videogame media source was able to most completely showcase the abilities and capabilities of Batman, but now we are left with why. The medium itself boasted comic book like representations of his skills and traits in most categories, but came up lacking in showing his willpower due to most of his decision and resolve to press forward being done through the players decision to continue playing. In addition the ability to design different missions requiring different gameplay types to proceed allowed for the developers to give batman the freedom to use gadgets accordingly. Whereas in a story the addition of new tools slows down the narrative it can instead be used as a reward for completing challenges and a new device to use to for taking on gradually more difficult challenges that require more strategy on the part of the player. By utilizing the medium as a tool to showcase the character the production team is able to give players choices on how to take on scenarios, but not force them to utilize these new solutions, and casually hide objective markers through showing batmans detective skills pointing him where to proceed with his investigations. In addition to the benefits gained by utilizing the mediums strength the project also benefited from being a large budget undertaking unlike the relatively low budgeted animated series and being within the realms of animation unlike the Nolan films and therefore able to avoid real life problems that can arise during the creative process. Because the videogames were released after being given a long amount of production time like the films they were able to enjoy the benefits of being able to have a large amount of work go into all aspects of it and show everything that they had planned to showcase, but still manage to avoid the practical problems of having a man in a rigid costume having to do acrobatics in fighting due to living in the world of animation and having the ability to simply contort the model with animation any way that they chose to do so. In conclusion while the stories and events of the dark knight trilogy and the television program may be entertaining and very good stories in their universes the Batman: Arkham series of games manages to utilize the medium to the fullest in order to best recreate the batman who was featured in the comics.