Bill Finger Built Real Batman

In 1939, comics artist Bob Kane pitched Batman as a red-suited hero with stiff bat wings and a small domino mask, then brought in American comic-book writer Bill Finger to help shape the character. Finger pushed the look into the darker version fans recognize, and he also supplied core building blocks like Bruce Wayne, Gotham City, and major story elements that defined Batman’s mythos. In a September 14, 1965, open letter, Kane blasted claims that Finger created Batman as “fraudulent and entirely untrue,” and he insisted he alone created Batman. Finger still died in 1974 largely uncredited, but DC later reversed course, and in 2015 the company began formally crediting Batman as created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger.

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