The Role Of Drugs In Batman's World: Unmasking The Dark Side Of Gotham

By Santiago Alonso via El Planteo.

Bob Kane and Bill Finger's creation transcends generations and genres. There is no person who does not know the superhero, even if he or she has never bought a comic book in his or her life. There is no product that does not have the image of Bruce Wayne's alter-ego: from toothpaste to shampoo, licensed dolls, tissues, socks, and much, much more.

The hot debate has its core again on social media, especially on Reddit, where fans condemn or praise different interpretations on the big screen. In fact, recently the controversy was sparked by an "operational outcry" from a large group of fans calling for Ben Affleck to return to play the mythical hero after the destruction of the scheme of films proposed by DC and Warner WBD a few months ago.

See also: 10 Weirdest Batman Ripoffs Of All Time

On the other hand, others are calling for a sequel starring Robert Pattinson. In 2008, the famous and multi-awarded Argentine producer Axel Kuschevatzky referred to Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight as "the definitive Batman", in direct allusion to the film starring Christian Bale.

Is There A Favorite Batman?

The reality is that there is no final or determining version of Batman and there are as many as the number of people in the world.

Besides the endearing incarnation given by the iconic Adam West, there was a Batman on horseback in the Wild West, another in space, a gangster Batman, a Nazi Batman in a parallel universe, a preacher Batman, another merged with Logan (Wolverine) and even sharing universes with The Punisher, Spawn, Aliens from the movie Alien, Judge Dredd, with Spider-Man, Spirit, The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy, The Darkness, Predator, The Ninja Turtles and even with the Avengers and the X-Men in the historic Marvel vs. DC.

Drugs In The Batman Universe

The link between this creation and the world of drugs is more than close and became popular among non-comic book audiences thanks to the aforementioned film director.

In 2005, Nolan decided to explore Batman's origins and his tough training with Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins, once again produced by Warner and Legendary Pictures.

The feature film recounts how Bruce Wayne adopted qualities and abilities to become almost invincible. The second part of the film shows his fight against Dr. Jonathan Crane (played by Cillian Murphy, one of the director's favorite actors), a psychiatrist who experiments with a drug that induces the highest stage of fear in the patients of Arkham Asylum, an institution that houses particularly dangerous criminals.

Crane uses a mask to enhance the terror produced by the so-called "Fear Toxin", which produces hallucinations and visions related to the victim's phobias.

The first appearance of this drug and the character is in World's Finest number 3 of the year 1941. In the wide field of animation, The Scarecrow arrives in Batman: The Animated Series of 1992 and in the video game world, on two occasions thanks to the Arkham saga for PlayStation 3 and 4, Xbox, and PC.

In the latest issue entitled Batman: Arkham Knight, it is the villain himself who creates the conditions for the whole world to know the true identity of the hero, revealing that Bruce Wayne is Batman during a live broadcast. He then gets off the hook and it is the hero who injects him with the drug to drive him insane. The latter is usually the norm in every version in which the two face off.

In addition, the Scarecrow has a villain origin story (that takes place after the events in Crisis on Infinite Earths, a foundational publication of DC Comics) which is narrated through Batman Annual 19, a comic book that was published in 1995 under the title Batman/Scarecrow - Year One: Masters of Fear.

The plot places Crane as obsessed with terror to the point of feeling deep trauma for this reason since he suffered bullying for being skinny in his teenage years. At the age of 18 and dressed as a Scarecrow, he decides to take revenge on his abuser Bo Griggs and his partner Sherry Squires by causing them to have a traffic accident, which results in his death and partial paralysis for the young woman.

See also: Michael Keaton Returns (Again) As Batman In New 'Batgirl' Film

There, he unlocks another "drug" that is not physical but mental: Crane becomes addicted to terrorizing others, even leading to their deaths in the process. The only case in which the toxin did not produce any effect is when he tried to apply it to the Joker.

Steroids In Comic Books

The drug used by The Scarecrow is not the only one in the Batman universe. Another antagonist also used substances to strengthen himself and stand up to the night vigilante. We are talking about Bane, famous for being the one who broke Batman's spine in the comic book Knightfall.

Bane's father, Edmund Dorrance, was a revolutionary sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. The same fate would befall his son, forcing him to spend time reading books and training, plotting revenge as soon as he could escape.

He would also learn languages during his time in prison, from Spanish to English, Latin, and Portuguese. In his nightmares, Bane would glimpse a bat-man, torturing him, so he developed a deep fear of that animal and -later on- a hatred of Batman for being the personification of that being from his dreams of the past.

When he became unmanageable in prison, he was injected with a poison called "Venom", which had killed the other convicts. This was not the case with Bane, to whom it gave him an almost supernatural strength, enhancing his privileged physique. However, he must consume it every 12 hours, so he has tubes connected to his neck, which provide him with this substance.

The creator of this liquid was Random Porter, a chemist specializing in narcotics whose main objective was to apply this substance to U.S. soldiers. Initially, it was in the form of pills, which also produced addiction.

With Bruce Wayne unable to move as a result of the events of Knighftall, he passes the baton to Jean Paul Valley, who will pick up the gauntlet to become his successor, with different rules to those of the Classic Batman.

His alias will be Azrael: a bat with a futuristic and more violent metallic suit, who uses his claws to mortally wound any opponent and cut the tubes in Bane's neck, causing a crisis in his system.

Some time later, he recovers and becomes a normal person again to ally himself against Batman and fight against a gang of criminals who distribute "Venom" to dope common criminals so that they can go out on the streets, fed by this new energy.

Batman Is Pop Culture

There are multiple versions and stories of this character, the most popular being the one that appears in Joel Schumacher's 1997 film Batman and Robin, cataloged by the press and fans as the character's worst film, with George Clooney at the helm.

In this nineties adventure, the protagonists stop the plans of Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman) and Bane (Robert Swanson), who has no dialogue or depth in the much-criticized film.

It would take more than a decade for Nolan to give Bane the backstory and intelligence of his paper counterpart. To do so, he used Tom Hardy and repeated scenes similar to Knightfall in the closing of the trilogy that began with Batman Begins, in this case in The Dark Knight Rises, in 2012.

In Batman of the Future, there is no poison, but steroid patches that cause a similar effect. A different situation is presented in the spin-off entitled Gotham (available on HBO Max), "Viper" is a compound created by Wayne Industries, for war purposes.

See also: Benzinga Asks: Will 'The Batman' Continue Box Office Success Or Are People Still Waiting For HBO Max?

"Venom" adopts the name "Titan Formula" in the video game Batman: Arkham Asylum, which provides superhuman strength, but eliminates the rationality of whoever consumes it.

Naturally, it had other versions in Batman: The Animated Series, video games and comics, as wide as the world of Gotham itself, which has always had something new to show for decades.

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