Certain things just are.
This sky is blue. Water is wet. And Batman never, ever uses a gun. Except when he does. Like this:
Or like this:
Or this:
I know, I know — those are all exceptions. The early version of Batman in the first picture is little more than a carbon copy of ultra-violent pulp magazine hero the Shadow. In spite of his best efforts to resist, the Batman in the second image had been brainwashed into forgetting his aversion to firearms. In the last shot, Batman is only shooting at bomb-carrying dolphins. (Wait, what?) The point is, traditionally the Caped Crusader does not use firearms. Sure, sometimes they sneak into the movies or other non-cannon media, but the Batman of the comics is strictly anti-gun. So why do so many bear his likeness?
While there may be earlier examples, we’re going to start with the Bat-Mania of 1966 because that’s where merchandising the character really took off. As you will see, DC granted license-holders a lot of leeway in their depiction of the companies’ characters. The Batman line of books had nearly been cancelled two years before, and DC were happy to make some money off of what was then a 20-year-old property. This hands-off approach led to the Caped Crusader being represented in some less-than-Batman-ish ways.
Baravelli’s Batman Rocket Gun is the most egregious of our offenders. While the gun itself is given a more “kid-friendly” color scheme of red and white, the packaging avoids any such pretense. In a scene that prefigures Starlin and Wrightson’s The Cult by 20 years, this Batman is shown grimly firing what appears to be military ordnance. It’s a powerful and unsettling image, especially in the context of a child’s plaything.
Other companies attempted to downplay the overtness of issuing Batman such a weapon by de-emphasizing its real-world nature. The Lincoln Batman water pistol looks less like an actual gun than the lovechild of a wrought-iron candleholder and Buck Rogers. At least some of this is due to its re-use, as the deco on the handle and under the barrel point to the mold’s previous life as a ray gun. Still, the molded grip looks undeniably Bat-like, especially in black.
This fanciful Japanese tin toy is given a sci-fi spin. Then again, the Japanese have always had their own take on Western culture — who’s to say their version of the Caped Crusader didn’t use a ray-gun? I’m guessing the challenges of being Batman are a bit different over there. I mean, no matter how hard you throw it, you’re not gonna take out a kaiju with a batarang. We’ll give the Land of the Rising Sun a pass on this one.
The gun is front and center in this Batman playset. Interestingly, it comes with a “message sender” — was this an attempt to de-emphasize the weapon-y aspect after the fact? An external message sender seems redundant considering the 2-way radio built into the belt-buckle, but maybe I’m just overthinking it?
With the immense popularity of 1989’s Batman film, there was a crush of Bat-product not seen since 1966. Inevitably a few guns were going to sneak in there. Hey, metal tooling costs serious money, and toy manufacturers are going to try and squeeze every dime out of that investment. Case in point:
Kenner’s Star Wars Electronic Laser Rifle was reborn as Batman’s Sonic Neutralizer. The original piece was modified by placing a large day-glo cap over the barrel and a big shiny bat emblem on the stock, but we older kids knew the score. In spite of modern-day griping, reuse of this type has been common for decades. That said, even a dedicated sculpt can still come back to haunt you. Case in point:
No, your eyes do not deceive you — this is an honest-to-goodness licensed product. Back in the mid-1960s someone at DC Comics actually signed off on this. “The trigger goes where? Whatever, as long as the check goes in the bank! Haw, haw, haw!” Then I can only assume they lit a fat cigar with an original page of Curt Swan artwork and chased their secretary around the desk to the tune of Gopher Mambo by Yma Sumac until taking lunch with Don Draper.
Secondary. but still interesting, is the depiction of Batman using guns on product packaging. While the product may be something as incongruous as orange juice, the label might show Batman unloading a volley of lead into some off-panel victim. Speaking of lead, here the Caped Crusader protects a pencil set with extreme prejudice. One would expect DC Comics to balk at such casual dispensation of violence on the part of their A-list property.
And it wasn’t just pencils Batman was willing to get homicidal over, as evidenced by this package of candy cigarettes. This happy-go-lucky Batman rocks a serious hand-cannon while Robin looks lovingly on. Smoke ’em or else, kids!
Batman action figures as a rule do not come with guns, with an exception being the Dark Knight Returns Batman from Mezco, reviewed here. Figures come with either a Webley revolver or a high-powered rifle, depending on what version you have purchased. It’s odd to see a toy Batman armed like this, but it is comic-specific and the figure holds the weapons beautifully.
So yeah. One could argue that “Batman used a gun.” Briefly, and that’s more of a footnote than anything. In spite of several “first appearance” Batman action figures being issued, none has ever been released with a gun accessory. Mattel even went as far as giving their figure fists so he couldn’t hold a gun. And yet, the allure remains. Is it merely the lure of the forbidden, or is there something more destructive within us that forces a weapon into its most vocal opponent’s hand? Answers? Sometimes even the world’s best detective can’t find them…
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