Bill Finger Actually Created Batman

Batman is an international icon

He's beloved the world over and has been adapted into nearly every artistic medium known to mankind

And he's even got his own ceiling lights. I'm Dave Baker. Today on Total Nerd, we're going to explain the story of who created Batman

and how it isn't quite as simple as you'd think, and how one man got robbed of his rightful creative legacy

Milton Finger, known professionally as Bill Finger, was born on February 8th, 1914

He was born in Denver, Colorado, to a Jewish family. Bill graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1933, alongside many future comic book professionals

a small selection of which include Stanley Lieber, a.k.a. Stan Lee, William Eisner, a.k.a. Will Eisner, and of course, Robert Kahn, a.k.a. Bob Kane

DeWitt Clinton was kind of like the Skull and Bone Society of future comic book movers and shakers

except, you know, without any of the weird ritualistic hazing involved. Bill Finger met his future Batman collaborator at a party

where they bonded over comic books, pulp novels, and adventure films. Bill was living a simple life at the time

After graduating, he was working as a part-time shoe salesman, when he agreed to come help Bob Kane work on some concepts for some comic books

He had been writing in his free time, and Kane had been working somewhat steadily in the newly blossoming comic book industry

The state of the comic book industry at the time, well, it was in something of an upheaval. Superheroes had become all the rage in 1939 with the creation of Superman

National Publications, which would later be renamed DC Comics, wanted more caped characters that they could exploit

So they approached freelancers to come up with ideas for other superheroes

That's where Bob Kane really enters the picture in a big way. Bill Finger got to work in Bob Kane's studio as a ghostwriter

Bill began writing scripts for Kane to take credit for and for other artists to draw

which Kane would also take credit for. Bob Kane was ostensibly a middleman

He was more of an agent. He just happened to put his name on everything that got published

He didn't actually write or draw anything that's credited to him. Look at it this way. This is what the original Batman in the comics looked like And this is what Bob Kane artistic cameo looked like in the 1989 Batman movie It almost like two completely different and utterly distinct

people made these drawings. The story goes Bob, after visiting a museum

had an idea to create a character that would utilize Da Vinci's flying man

as the under skeleton for a superhero. He thought the flying contraption Da Vinci had

theorized looked like it could be a bat or maybe a bird

And then he came up with the name of the Batman. that's when DC approached him for a new character

He broached the subject with Bill Finger to see if they could shape this idea into a new full-fledged superhero

Or, you know, if Bill Finger could take the name and make it into something completely different

and just keep the name. So, you know, basically create a whole character from scratch. Which then, of course, Bob would take credit for

Only problem being all of Bob's ideas, well, they kind of sucked. He wanted Batman to be blonde and wear red spandex

and have a flying machine. And that's kind of all he had. Bill suggested that they make him more of a spirit of vengeance character and molded him on pulp characters like Zorro and the Phantom and the Shadow

Creature of the night with a dual identity like all of the previously mentioned characters

Bill Finger was the one who came up with the idea of Gotham City based off him looking at the phone book and seeing Gotham Jewelers

One, I guess, who came up with the ideas for the Batmobile, Robin, the Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Commissioner Gordon, and basically everything else

Yeah, Bill was the person who said that Batman should be clothed in dark grays and blacks

and that he should have a cape and a cowl, and that he should have a Bat logo on his chest

Flat out, Bill came up with Batman. Except he didn't, because Bob had come up with the name, and Bob was the one that was approached by DC Comics

And here's the kicker. Bob's father was a lawyer, and in the early days of comic books

where everything was created by young, poor Jewish kids who didn't have access to legal representation

you want to guess what happened? The guy whose daddy was a lawyer got a better deal

than the dude who was already working as a ghost artist. To put it bluntly, Bob Kane was a piss poor excuse of a man

He was a habitual liar, actively worked to undermine Bill for the rest of his life

and was just a shallow, womanizing, complete turd of a bottom feeder

Obviously we know the story from here Batman becomes a massive success and because of the specific clause in the contract that stipulated Bob Kane could be the only person ever credited for creating Batman Bill Finger

was never given any sort of credit, let alone monetary compensation. The exact terms of Bob Kane's deal are still unknown

However, they were altered at least once. Siegel and Shuster, the writer and artist who created Superman

were putting in motion plans to sue DC Comics for the rights to Superman, claiming

that they had been swindled. They approached Bob Kane in an attempt to get him on their side and to form a would-be class action lawsuit

Bob expressed interest, but inquired as to their legal strategy. He wanted to think it over

He then went to D.C. and promptly informed them exactly what Siegel and Schuster were planning on doing

He said he wanted to renegotiate his deal for Batman. He wanted an increased ownership stake, or he'd join the lawsuit

If they agreed to his terms, then he'd just look the other way. This only served as a way to make things even worse for Bill Finger

Bill ended up leaving comics mostly. He worked on some other comics like Green Lantern and Legion of Superheroes

before moving on to work in film. He also wrote the movies Green Slime and Snow Devils

He also wrote two episodes for the Batman 66 TV show in a cruel twist of fate

Bill Finger passed away on January 18, 1974, alone in an apartment in New York

Bob, however, he reaped the benefits of pretending to be the man who created Batman

From appearing in the 1989 Batman film to the Legends of Comic Book Art VHS series

he made the rounds pretending like he could draw and hamming it up for anyone who would listen

He also made a shitload of money off the merchandise for Batman. To add insult to injury, he was anything but passive about he was the only person who worked on Batman

saying in one fanzine... fanzine. Creation is execution. You can't copyright an idea, only an execution of an idea

So even if Bob is saying, I had the idea, it doesn't really matter. Bill is the one who came

up with the specifics. So Bill is at least the co-creator, if not in actuality, the full creator

Bob was so doggedly haunted by Bill Finger Spectre that he even tried to fake Batman creation by pretending to find uncovered early designs which he released in his autobiography Now this just isn real

He just made this up, plain and simple, the date right next to the costume design

Come on, man. Bob is such a lying piece of that, honestly

you have to see his gravestone. And that's not something I can often say

The inscription on the front of it reads, God bestowed a dream upon Bob Kane

Blessed with divine inspiration and rich imagination, Bob created a legacy known as Batman

Come on. Just come on. Who believes this? Over the years, many people have taken up the quest to restore Bill's name to receiving widespread credit, but all failed

Legal precedent set was that there must be an heir to bring the claim. Only problem being, no one was aware of any children or grandchildren that Bill Finger had had

Enter the writer and obsessive Batman researcher Mark Nobleman. He found Bill's long-lost son

And after years of searching by just blindly calling people with the last name Finger, Mark Nobleman

found his granddaughter, Athena Finger. They brought a legal suit against DC

And after years of fighting, they won. They didn't do it for the money

They literally just wanted Bill's name on the books and the films

And now the good guys actually won for once. Mark actually went on to write a children's book titled

Bill the Boy Wonder, and even produce a documentary titled Batman and Bill. Since being discovered and welcomed into the comic book community

Athena Finger regularly tours on the convention circuit. She speaks on panels and answers fan questions

But the real part of this that's beautiful is that this outpouring of love and support

from the comic book community, it's enabled her to embrace her own artistic ambitions

She paints and sells her artwork at shows. She said multiple times that this is something that she's consistently been scared to pursue

because of a fear of rejection. Now, here she is, painting Hugh Jackman

Good for you, Athena. Good for you. This is a sad story with a bittersweet victory

that came 50 years too late. Thankfully, Bill is finally getting credit

But that doesn't change the fact that Bob Kane ostensibly ruined his life

Bill Finger is the co-creator of Batman, period. Bob Kane, just a shitty rich kid and an ass cop