Batman

From bat + man; originally the Bat-Man. By surface analysis, Bat- + man.

You’re afraid of being ashes. You’re afraid of being forgotten. And you will be forgotten, Joker. Because of me. I am vengeance! I am the night! I am Batman!

2015, Batman: Arkham Knight, spoken by Batman (Kevin Conroy), Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, via Rocksteady Studios:

“But next time—” Night vanished before the guard could finish—just kind of disappeared like Batman—which Viv found almost as annoying as the fact that he'd dragged her down a well. He didn't think he had to explain himself?

2015, Sarah Cross, Tear You Apart, Carolrhoda Lab, →ISBN, page 68:

I watched through squinted eyes as the driver-side door opened and a man stepped out wielding a Maglite, his other hand placed on his Batman-like utility belt. What all did they keep in those things? Surely the pistol, a few clips, handcuffs, ...

2019, Sean Johnson, Strange Like Me, page 212:

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Batman.

A fictional hero and the main protagonist of DC Comics, noted for his intellect and stealth, who uses a bat-themed costume and equipment (including a belt with an array of utilities) and is assisted by his sidekick Robin.


Joker

...grinning like the Joker, Batman's nemesis, a character described in the story as being a favorite of Douglas's.

2007, Joe Layden, The Last Great Fight, page 217:

He started to laugh that maniacal laugh that sounded like the Joker on speed.

2008, Deborah Eden, The Destroyer, page 82:

I would've liked to have learned more, but the lady working the booth was a monstrous titan with dyed black hair, about ten rings on each hand, and a mouth like the Joker (Jack Nicholson version), and she spooked me.

2011, Steve Hely, How I Became a Famous Novelist, page 185:

Wide and taut, fixed and immobile. Like the Joker from Batman, he thought. Or one of his victims.

2014, Tania Carver, The Doll's House, page 22:

He looks like the Joker, the Latino one, what was his name? Cesar Romero.

2015, Manuel Luis Martinez, Drift: A Novel, page 16:

A fictional villain of DC Comics, noted for his insanity and cunning, who either wears clown makeup or is disfigured to appear as such, and who is archenemy of Batman.


Gotham

Salmagundi (periodical)
Washington Irving

When originally used in England, the meaning of the place name Gotham was literally “homestead where goats are kept”, from Old English gāt (“goat”) + hām (“home”).
As nickname for New York City, first used 1807 by Washington Irving in his Salmagundi Papers.

Naturally sweetened desserts—delicious ones—have several hiding places in Gotham, and the Upper East Side's Candle Café is among the best.

2010, Jared Koch, Alex Van Buren, Clean Plates Manhattan 2011 […] , page 99:


bat phone

From bat- + phone, after Commissioner Gordon's secure line to the Batphone in the 1960s-era Batman television show.

(informal) A telephone that has a direct connection to an important caller, or is only used for important calls


batmobile

en-verb

batmobile (third-person singular simple present batmobiles, present participle batmobiling, simple past and past participle batmobiled)

batmobiles (present singular third-person)
batmobiling (participle present)
batmobiled (participle past)
batmobiled (past)

From the Batmobile driven by superhero Batman in the eponymous media franchise, from bat + -mobile. The second verb sense references the retractable shielding featured on the vehicle in the 1989 film.

Genericans live on fast food bought with $20 bills (Yuppie food coupons) taken out of automatic teller machines.
They tend to be young men and women prone to batmobiling, defined as "putting up protective emotional shields just as a relationship enters an intimate vulnerable stage," like the steel plates that cloak Batman's car.

1997 June 8, James Coates, “Generica, Semisweet Land Of Jitterati”, in Chicago Tribune:

Baby's antennae stood straight up. She tried to read him but Jake was too quick for her. He was batmobiling. His deflector screens had shot up—he was an emotional escape vehicle, complete with tinted windows. Bullet-proof, bomb-proof, utterly impenetrable.

1998, Linda Jaivin, Rock 'n' Roll Babes from Outer Space, page 243:

Meredith (Gillian Anderson) is a frosty, uptight theatre director being romanced by an architect (John Stewart), but she is, as we say in the 90s, batmobiling - her defences are up.

1999 August 6, Peter Bradshaw, “Sex in the windy city”, in The Guardian:

(dated slang) To put up an emotional or intellectual shield, especially to protect oneself from something that makes one uncomfortable.


Bats

From Bat(man) + -s (hypocoristic suffix).

The Dark Knight Returns, published in four installments in 1986, is an extremely grim vision of a near-future Batman in a crime-ridden Gotham (reminiscent of Death Wish–era New York) that went to seed after Bats hung up the cape and cowl years prior.

2014 July 23, Abraham Riesman, “Dear Hollywood: Stop Using Frank Miller’s Batman Stories As Source Material”, in Vulture:


Batmaniac

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The DC comic book recently ran a two-day telephone poll asking Batmaniacs whether they wanted Robin, who was seriously injured by an explosion at the end of one issue, to live or die.

1988, Raymond Moley, Malcolm Muir, Joseph Becker Phillips, Newsweek, volume 112, numbers 19-26, page xxxi:

(informal) A fan of the Batman fictional franchise.


Batcape

From bat + cape, by analogy with Batman.

He had four months to make a special-effects extravaganza that had to make every want to wear a Batcape next Halloween.

1996, Nancy Griffin, Kim Masters, Hit & Run, page 168:

Tears streaming down the boy's face, though he was still hanging on, blanket flapping out like a Batcape.

2008, James Jauncey, The Witness, page 42:

Jamie was sitting in Daisy's cot next to her, wearing his new Batman outfit, back to front, attempting to tie his Batcape around his protesting baby sister.

2014, Maeve Haran, The Time of their Lives:

A cape, particularly one that resembles the long, black one worn by Batman.


Batnipples

The Batnipples are gone, but they should not be forgotten.

2012 August 5, Mason Krollig, “The Nipples that Batman Deserves, But Not the Ones He Needs Right Now”, in UniLife Magazine, number 20, University of South Australia, page 23:

As long as you don't get the George Clooney suit with the batnipples, you're golden.

2012 October 25, Tristan Cooper, “Cape down, sass up”, in Vanguard, volume 67, number 17, Portland State University, page 7:

Will the earth-inheriting geeks be assuaged that this super-suit is free of the Batnipples that helped make a mockery of George Clooney’s suit (“putting the ‘mocker’ in ‘Joel Schumacher’ since the mid-’90s”), which seemed to signal brightly, like some areola Borealis, that those Bat-films were troubled from the get-go, if not the get-up?

2014 May 13, Michael Cavna, “Ben Affleck’s Batman suit? Channing Tatum’s Gambit role? Welcome to the new (screen) world order…”, in The Washington Post:

(fandom slang) The molded nipples on the rubber suits worn by the characters Batman and Robin in the films Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.


Batverse

In this hard-boiled version of the Batverse, the characters were gritty, tough and more realistic.

2011, Tyler Brown, "'Batman: Noel' a dark tale, reversion of old classic", Kansas State Collegian (Kansas State University), Volume 117, Number 64, 18 November 2011, page 5

So overall in my mind at least this is a great film, the best of the trilogy by far, and even though they say it is the end of this perticular storyline arc, I hope it isn't the end of Christopher Nolan's Batverse, as I would be one very sad person…

2012, Tim Knight, "The Dark Knight Rises", Amaze, 3 August 2012, Edition 5, page 117 (approx.)

It's a ballsy move to reject fan-favourite and mainstream recognisable elements of the Batverse such as Robin and The Joker, but fingers crossed Beware the Batman will finally return Bruce Wayne's animated shenanigans to the heights of the early 1990s.

2013 April, “A Midsummer's Dark Knight”, in Cult TV Times, number 00, page 3:

(fandom slang) The fictional universe which serves as the setting for the Batman comics, films, and television series.


riddle me that, Batman

From the formulaic phrase riddle me this, additionally referring to the Batman comic book universe, in which the fictional supervillain the Riddler would pose puzzles for Batman to solve (riddle).

"That too. But it's this: how can a benevolent being let such bad things happen? Terrorism, world hunger, AIDS, people dying too young of cancer. Riddle me that, Batman.”

2009, John C. Stipa, No Greater Sacrifice, page 55:

"You have no idea what's going on, Melanie," she snarled. "No. Freaking. Clue. I'm going to have to join witness protection, and then where will you be, huh? Riddle me that, Batman!"

2014, Marni Bates, Awkwardly Ever After, page 77:

Why can't Jerry and I be together forever like a real couple? Riddle me that, Batman? Society? No. Idiots.

2014, Jason Medina, The Diary of Audrey Malone Frayer, page 135:

Said to demand that the listener take notice of a question or situation just mentioned, especially one that is particularly difficult to solve or explain.

riddle me this

a demand that the listener solve a conundrum


Bat-

Originally of the nature of a noun adjunct forming compound nouns, first bat + man = the batman or the Bat-Man = Batman, then later bat-phone = Bat-phone, bat-signal = Bat-signal, and so on.

Holy unsafe sex, Batman! Did you forget to use your Bat-condom?

2002 October 27, Richard B. Becker, “Re: The most implausible thing about BoP (no spoilers)”, in rec.arts.comics.dc.universe (Usenet), message-ID <3DBCA45A.F8B8C1AF@mindspring.com>:

Belonging to or associated with Batman; sometimes said of bat-themed objects used by him.


Dynamic Duo

A nickname for the fictional superheroes Batman and Robin as a team.


Nolanverse

From Nolan + -verse, after Christopher Nolan, the director of the films.

(fandom slang) The fictional universe of the Batman film trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan: Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012).


Batmanverse

Not exactly, because in the Batmanverse, Robin's love is reciprocated by the super hero, so his leaving would be a romantic betrayal. >:-)

2003 February 27, Rose, “Re: ME vs The Fans (Storyteller spoilers)”, in alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer (Usenet), message-ID <20030227110035.23170.00000150@mb-mk.aol.com>:

I think it is too soon for talking about the details of the story, but I can't wait to have the chance to work again with Jeph Loeb, the man who has stated the pillars of the modern Superverse and Batmanverse.

2003 December 1, Briker, “Loeb es la rehostia, Pacheco dixit”, in es.rec.comics (Usenet), message-ID <bqfts0$2339c3$1@ID-112383.news.uni-berlin.de>:

(fandom slang) The fictional universe depicted in the Batman comics, films, television series and video games.


Bat-embargo

From Bat- + embargo, reflecting a morphologic pattern established earlier by such terms as Bat-phone and Bat-signal.

Since certain characters are currently exclusive to The Batman, and therefore off-limits for JLU (not to mention Teen Titans--man, the Batman family is getting pretty spread out), I was wondering if any of those characters could appear in the Justice League Unlimited comic?

2005 August 4, Richmond, “Does the bat-embargo extend to JLU comics?”, in rec.arts.comics.dc.universe (Usenet), message-ID <mCiIe.158498$HI.30430@edtnps84>:

But Robin is currently occupied in Teen Titans and I think this is a side effect of the Bat embargo affecting the DCU shows (No Bat-villains in the JLU any more for example).

2005 October 14, Brian Doyle, “Batman villains Q”, in rec.toys.action-figures.discuss (Usenet), message-ID <434FEA9D.5C6C8C54@nyc.rr.com>:

Of course, the bat-embargo works out here since the Batman villians need to survive for Batman Beyond. ;)

2006 February 9, Astrobiochemist, “Re: JLU Ep 5x12 Alive! SPOILERS AHEAD!”, in rec.arts.comics.dc.universe (Usenet), message-ID <1139534265.256960.25620@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>:

Yes it did.I believe the name of that ep was "For The Man Who Has Everything".It had all the main players in it except,Robin.Which was probably due to the Bat-embargo the suits had going on which basically made it impossible for anyone from the Bat-books other than Batman to appear on JLU.

2007 February 13, George Alexander Jr., “Re: when was the last incredible Superman story?”, in rec.arts.comics.dc.universe (Usenet), message-ID <12024-45D1642A-1219@storefull-3335.bay.webtv.net>:

But folks were also irked by the fact that the DCAU's beloved Justice League Unlimited, still in production when The Batman debuted, was forbidden from using most of the Dark Knight's rogue's gallery, since a "Bat-embargo" reserved them for the new series, while Batman Begins made the Scarecrow and Ra's Al Ghul unavailable to either show.

2017, Joseph McCabe, 100 Things Batman Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, Triumph Books, →ISBN, page 375:

(fandom slang) A prohibition against having the same fictional characters appearing in multiple DC Comics animated series in the decade of the 2000s, which caused Batman's allies and enemies save for Batman himself to be unavailable for the animated series Justice League (although Joker, Clayface and Firefly made appearances in this show) and Justice League Unlimited, and Robin to be unavailable for animated series other than Teen Titans.


Dickbats

From Dick (first name of Dick Grayson) + Bats (nickname for Batman).

compound

I refuse to call him Dickbats. I know many of you call him that, but I won’t.

2012 October 13, Andrew Asberry, “Batman: Knightfall Vol. 3 – Knightsend review”, in Batman News:

With the man who beat him out of the picture, Croc settles for a scuffle with Dickbats and Robin.

2016 July 16, Brian Warshaw, “Batman: Arkham: Killer Croc review”, in Batman News:

The dialogue is also classic King, with Gordon saying to Dickbats “you’re not him. You’re that other him.”

2018 July 20, Quinn Morris, “Comic Review: Batman #51”, in Sequential Planet:

(fandom slang) Dick Grayson in the role of Batman.


Batfleck

Blend of Batman + Affleck, from the actor Ben Affleck.

The man under the batsuit in Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice is actor Ben Affleck, a casting decision that had been loudly critiqued as out of step with Batman's character. With reservations about “Batfleck” already resonant, Snyder's photo was an apt target for a flurry of memetic reappropriation.

2016, Ryan M. Milner, The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 55:

Chloe holds up her cell, showing me the text I'd sent of Ben Affleck in the Batman costume. “You sent us Batfleck.”

2018, Elyssa Patrick, With Me Boxed Set Books 1 - 4, page 1711:

Sure, in the early 1960s, Superman was lean and toned, but at that time he lacked the hyperbolic, indeed, comic musculature that came to mark so many other entries into the superhero genre. (Yes, I'm talking about you, Batfleck.)

2019, Douglas E. Cowan, Magic, Monsters, and Make-Believe Heroes: How Myth and Religion Shape Fantasy Culture, Univ of California Press, →ISBN, page 11:

(fandom slang) A nickname for the version of Batman interpreted by Ben Affleck, which debuted in the film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) from the DC Extended Universe.


Batfan

(informal) A fan of the Batman comic-book franchise.


clowncel

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The thing about Joker that specifically appeals to clowncels is the heroic mirage imparted on the Joker.

2019, Caroline Cabe, "Inside Todd Phillips’ Joker and the Rise of the ‘Clowncel’, The Texas Orator, 22 October 2019

As for Joker, after the FBI warned of mass-shooting threats from so-called “Clowncels,” some theaters in the United States banned makeup and costumes during the screening of Phillips’s movie (Margolin and Katersky).

2021 March, Manuel Herrero-Puertas, “Super Whitman 1885”, in Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, volume 47, number 1, page 311:

There is a key difference here, however, in that clowncels seem to replace the self-pitying discourse common in incel forums with anger towards the rich and the powerful.

2021, Aylin Kuryel, “Looking at and with images: Crowds in Joker, Joker in the crowd”, in Sean Redmond, editor, Breaking Down Joker: Violence, Loneliness, Tragedy, unnumbered page:

(incel slang) An incel who identifies with the Joker from the Batman franchise.


Batfamily

Ace the Bat-Hound, a formerly lost dog, joined the Batfamily in 1959, wearing a black mask while assisting Batman and Robin […]

2010, Mitzi M. Brunsdale, Icons of Mystery and Crime Detection: From Sleuths to Superheroes, page 15:

To put it simply, Dick Grayson has always been the “Relationship Robin”; he's the member of the Batfamily most known for cultivating relationships, and deeply trusting those who he cares for.

2015, Jordan Hass, Star Schneider, “The New 52 (2011-present)”, in Kristen L. Geaman, editor, Dick Grayson, Boy Wonder Scholars and Creators on 75 Years of Robin, Nightwing and Batman, page 160:

Each member of the Batfamily merges the world of Batman with different subject positions.

2018, Jeffrey A. Brown, Batman and the Multiplicity of Identity: The Contemporary Comic Book Superhero as Cultural Nexus, unnumbered page:

(fandom slang) The superhero Batman and his closest allies as a group.


Dark Knight

A moniker for Batman, the fictional superhero.


Harlivy

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Dr. Harleen Quinzel ("Harley Quinn") and Dr. Pamela Isley ("Poison Ivy") from DC Comics.


Kitivy

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Charles Brown ("Kite Man") and Dr. Pamela Isley ("Poison Ivy") from the Harley Quinn TV series.


Bat-Signal

From Bat- + signal: the extended (general) sense comes from the Bat-Signal, a searchlight-based distress signal in the DC Universe, used by Gotham City police to summon the superhero Batman.

The power of that promise is part of why Trump's election win was like a Bat-Signal for hatemongers of all kinds.

2017, Naomi Klein, No Is Not Enough: Resisting the New Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need:

"Have you met my mom? She's like a Bat-Signal for jerks. I'm never falling in love, Kellan. Ever. It's so stupid."

I honked the horn and flickered the lights as a bat signal for my mom to save me.

2022, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, Who Do I Think I Am?: Stories of Chola Wishes and Caviar Dreams:

(idiomatic, informal) A thing which serves to attract or summon something.

Bat-Signal
Batman
DC Universe
Gotham City


Battinson

Blend of Batman + Pattinson, referencing actor Robert Pattinson.

Enter Pattinson, the former "Twilight" heartthrob, who has done plenty of movies since, which hasn't prevented another flurry of hand-wringing over whether “Battinson” was really a good fit.

2019 June 16, Brian Lowry, “Batman movies' casting has a long history of bringing out fans' batty side”, in Gwinnett Daily Post, page A13:

[…] and a look at the Battinson bod has has also hit the net.

2020 January 30, “The Batman Confirms Cast: Robert Pattinson, Colin Farrell, More”, in Pakistan Today, page 13:

We get a quick shot of Battinson taking down a thug using 1 hand, the Batmobile exhaust firing up and a vertical grapple upwards.

2020 September, Emmanuel Naicker, “The Biggest Highlights of DC Fandome”, in Alpha Magazine, page 9:

(fandom slang) A nickname for the version of Batman portrayed by Robert Pattinson in the standalone film The Batman (2022).