‘Deadpan do-gooder’ to ‘ultra-violent vigilante’: How 1980s comic The Dark Knight Returns transformed Batman

For a long time, that was Batman – or, at least, Batman as the general public saw him, thanks to the camp 1960s television show and film. In his DC Comics adventures, he was depicted as a more serious and even sinister character, but the average person still saw him as Adam West in a self-mocking comedy with an infuriatingly catchy theme song.