12 Most Notorious Batman Urban Legends

7. Bob Kane Purposefully Diminished Bill Finger's Role In Creating Batman

Verdict: True

It sounds awful, particularly now that DC have started crediting Bill Finger as co-creator of Batman, but Bob Kane spent a lot of effort crushing the perception that Finger was as important to the character's creation as he was. He consciously and very publicly called out those claims as incorrect, threatening to sue those who published them.

Infamously, he sent a letter to fanzine BatMania's editor Biljo White stating in no uncertain terms that it was "All hogwash! I, Bob Kane, am the sole creator of "Batman." I created "Batman" in 1939 . . . and I signed the first strip.."

The long letter called such accusations "fraudulent and entirely untrue", mostly because the original Batman strip carried only Kane's name in the by-line (as if that was any concrete indication):

"The truth is that Bill Finger is taking credit for much more than he deserves... I created the title, masthead, the format and concept, as well as the Batman figure and costume. Robin, the boy wonder, was also my idea, . . . not Bill's.The only proof I need to back my statement is that if Bill co-authored and conceived the idea, either with me or before me, then he would most certainly have a by-line on the strip along with my name, the same as Siegel and Schuster had as creators of Superman."

It's all pretty cutting to read, and the intent to diminish influence - particularly in context of what happened later - is discomforting to say the least.

To give Kane his due, in his 1989 autobiography 'Batman and Me', he did eventually concede that Finger was "a contributing force" on the series, saying "I must admit that Bill never received the fame and recognition he deserved." He changed his tune massively, in other words.