Friday, May 18, 2012

Batman Icon's Mutation – 70-year Evolution of the BATMAN logo from 1941 till current 2012

The Batman logo has undergone quite a lot of mutations and changes over the years while still maintaining the appearance of the BAT. I came across this series of Batman logos and it was certainly interesting for me as I tried to recollect the many logos from the past and there were some I had no recollection of until I googled for references ;p Anyway, here are most of them. ENJOY :) [source: businessinsider]

These BATMAN logos are different from the Batman Bat-suits I posted on earlier this week, on Monday (you can see the full post / entry HERE where it covers almost all the bat-suits that have been created since 1939 up till 2012). In most of the entries, the logo does not appear on the bat-suit.

1941 BATMAN Logo in Detective Comics: In the early years, the Batman logo had a face.


1965 Logo: The symbol became narrow and less personalized (see below). Scroll down to see all 21 Batman logos that have appeared so far ;p




1966 Batman Logo as seen on the Batman TV show with Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin: Most of the differences lie in how compact or stretched out the logo gets.


1977 Logo: The New Adventures of Batman, Filmation


1983 Batman and the Outsiders Logo: Batman had slits for eyes and a downward arc


1989 Logo: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller


1989 Logo: Tim Burton's BATMAN movie with Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne / Batman


1989 Legends of the Dark Knight Logo: The bat's head was small and fit tightly into the v-shaped spread of its wings. 1989 was a GREAT year for the BAT :)


1992 Logo: Tim Burton returns with the sequel – "Batman Returns"


1993 Batman Knightfall logo: The disc-like shape was a dramatic change from past bats. This was Azrael Batman who took over the reins after Bane broke Bruce Wayne Batman's back


1995 Batman Forever logo from the film: Val Kilmer takes over as Bruce Wayne / Batman in the third film.


1997 "Batman & Robin" logo with George Clooney as Batman, Chris O'Donnell as Robin and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl. The less said, the better ;p


1999 Dark Knight of the Round Table Logo by DC comics


1999 Logo: Batman Beyond animated series – also called Batman of the Future


2001 Logo: Batman Vengeance video game (very similar to "New Batman Adventures" animated series from 1997 – 1999)


2003 Logo: Batman Gotham Knights by DC comics


2005 Logo: Batman Begins film by Christopher Nolan with Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman. He brought the Dark back into the Bat!


2006 Logo: The Batman animated series


2007 Logo: Batman and Superman VS Alien and Predator. Yup! It did happen. I didn't know about this either ;p Gotta go look it up at the comics store.


2008 The Dark Knight Logo: finally Batman can turn his head :) Best costume ever? Filmwise that is.


2011 Logo: Batman, Arkham City video game


There you go. All 21 Batman logos spanning over 70 years – Batman Icon's mutation all the way back from 1941. Best viewed alongside my other toy blog post: Every (Significant) Bat-Suit Ever Created! Then you can get a truly comprehensive view of Batman through the years, from his humble beginnings to the icon that he is now!

And here's a poster of all the Batman logos - click on the picture for a bigger and better view :)


UPDATE JUly 2014: 75 years of Batman Iconography


2 comments:

KG said...

Great compilation. I thought I would see somewhere along the way the bat in a yellow oval...? Perhaps these just focus on the bat silhouette.

alex teo said...

thanks KG :) I didn't do this actually. Took from a source because I felt compelled to share since I'm a little BAT crazy haha. You are right about the bat silhouette part there as well CHEERS