We all know the infamous Bat-slap– it’s been the subject of hundreds of memes since before the time any of us knew what a meme was. But what is the history of it? Where does it come from and why in the world would Batman slap Robin like this–especially in those pre-Burt Ward days?
It all begins in the pages of WORLD’S FINEST #153 November 1965– and it would seem from this splash page that #1 Batman is actually really mad at Superman and #2 This is an imaginary story– and as Jack will tell us, we all should readily know this.
All right so let’s play along, Batman has what looks like one of those posters of Superman you could get by sending in fifty toothpaste box tops and he’s had it mounted and stuck it on an easel in the batcave so he could slash it to pieces– so why does he hate Superman so much? Well, because he murdered his dad.
All right so hold on, this is a fast paced tale. We start, many imaginary years ago when Superman was Superboy and Bruce Wayne was Bruce Boy and we discover that Bruce’s dad has developed a serum which would protect Superboy from Kryptonite. One night Superboy calls on Dr. Wayne and his boy Bruce and asks him for some, because that “Youthful criminal scientist Lex Luthor plans to use green kryptonite against” Superboy. Unfortunately, Dr Wayne can’t give it to him right now because the serum hasn’t been tested enough but Superboy flies away looking both disappointed and angry.
That night, Bruce pops in to say goodnight to pops and finds him dead as a door nail on the floor of his lab, and sure enough, a blue and red blur flies away at the last second– Superboy!
Superboy vows to help Bruce find his dad’s killer, but secretly Bruce knows the truth, and he makes a personal vow to get his revenge against the boy of steel.
Flash forward a few imaginary years later Superboy is now Superman and Bruce Boy is now Bruce man, I mean, Batman and he takes a vow that no matter how long it takes he’ll bring his dads killer to justice. I’m not sure what he’s waiting for, but lucky for him he decides to go to the circus on the night Robin’s parents are killed so now he’s got a partner to help him on his vengeance quest.
Robin isn’t clued in on Superman’s murderous deed so naturally he expresses some excitement to meet the hero as only a boy in tiny shorts could. Batman bites his lip but only for a panel because as soon as Robin is out of the room he vows to end Superman’s career to the portrait of his dead parents in the Batcave.
Trouble is Robin is back in the cave just in time to hear this vow and tells Batman he must be mistaken about Superboy– which causes Batman to bitch-slap the boy wonder something the rest of us would desperately want to do a year or so later when Burt Ward starts spouting his endless torrent of “holy this” and “holy that”. Batman is so outraged by Robin’s defense of Superman that he ends the partnership and wipes out all of Robin’s memories thanks to a Hypnosis Machine he’d taken from The Crime Doctor, then Batman ships Dick Grayson off to an orphanage and heads out to take out Superman!
Okay, this is an imaginary story but WOW– I really dislike this era of Robin too but this goes too far in my opinion. You can read the rest of the story in WORLD’S FINEST #153.
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