Mr Batman, on this wonderful and momentous occasion of your 75th birthday, we here at Mahabore’s Mumblings would like to wish you a very happy birthday and ask you a few questions, if you are inclined to answer them.
Batman : Go on, what are you going to ask me that I haven’t already answered through my actions over all these years.
First up, and I am sure that you get asked this question all the time. Which of the bad ones do you find the most challenging to deal with?
Batman : That’s quite a simple one and you would surely know this if you have read more than a few of my stories. Hands down, The Joker would have to be the one criminal lunatic that I have the most trouble with.
The problem with him is that I really cannot even begin to fathom what is going on through his mind, with it being so completely irrational and unconventional. That, and the fact that he pretty much stands for everything that I strongly oppose make him my ‘worst enemy’ if I can call him that.
And sir, what about Bane? This guy almost managed to break you in half in your last movie outing?
Batman : Bane, I personally am not too worried about a guy whose weakness is well, a series of small hoses which allow him to breathe. Yes, he did gain an upper hand in the last movie that you saw me in, but then you have to allow for cinematic liberty from the filmmakers. Unless you have me losing out to him, allowing him to run riot (which he did almost literally) and then me coming back to defeat him, the movie will not have enough oomph to carry it through.
Truth be told, other than The Joker, I personally find these other so called villains quite a joke.
Ok sir, enough about the bad guys. Let’s talk about the good ones now. Can you tell us a little bit more about your collaborative experiences such as The Justice League and The Outsiders?
Batman : The Justice League when it lasted was quite fun. We were the original league of superheroes, each one of us with a lot of history, pedigree and good solid reasons why we were the way we were. Superman by virtue of his birth, Green Lantern by virtue of his inheritance of the ring, Wonder Woman by virtue of her divine origins, we were the true superheroes, who were committed to ridding the earth from evil and man, did we do a good job or what.
Later on when romantic and other tensions started brewing within the group, I had no choice but to leave and go on to found The Outsiders. When in the league, I understood that although each one of us there was from ‘outside’ the society in terms of the fact that we were very different when compared to the rest of the world, the rest of them were trying at some level or the other to fit in, but I didn’t want to do that. And that was why when I formed the outsiders, I ended up recruiting similar superheroes like me who wanted to remain ‘outside’ societal norms, hence, the name, The Outsiders.
As the outsiders, we could do things that the league couldn’t while fighting the villains. For example, since we didn’t have the pressure of conforming to societal norms, we could fight the villains and deal with them with extreme severity. We could ‘take the fall’ unlike the league which was kind of a role model to society.
In any case, I have nothing against the league whose intentions are extremely noble, and they still remain good friends with me.
What do you have to say about all the young sidekicks you have mentored over the years?
Batman : It began with Dick Grayson who was the first Robin who went on to become the Nightwing in the future. It was only the first time that I truly found having a sidekick kind of irritating. It kind of ate into my image of being this silent, brooding, lone warrior. But having him around also helped me discover a great deal about myself as well, and the fact that he saved from more than one tight situation goes on to prove that I couldn’t do everything all by myself.
Over the years, I have had the pleasure of working with and mentoring a couple of more Robins and some Batgirls as well. While the experiences have had their shares of ups and downs, I would like to believe that it has overall been a good experience working with all these youngsters and teaching them the tricks of the trade of fighting crime.
Mr Batman, it has been an absolute pleasure talking to you on this wonderful 75th birthday of yours. I sincerely wish you at least 75 yrs more so that we could maybe talk to you a little more about the changing contours of crime and crime fighting over the years.
Thank you once again sir.
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This post has been written for the WordPress Daily Prompts : 365 Writing Prompts where the idea is to publish at least one post a day based on the prompts provided.
Today’s prompt was to interview my favorite fictional character, and I chose to interview Batman who remains one of my all time favorite fictional character on the occasion of his 75th birthday.
Mahabore's Mumblings 