15 Most Inappropriate Comic Book Movie Storylines Of All Time
8. The Time Batman's Enemies Were Racist Depictions Of Japanese People
Whilst most mark either Richard Donner's Superman, Tim Burton's Batman or the recent MCU-lead renaissance as the beginning of modern superheroes on film, comic book adaptations have actually been around since the forties. It's just back then they appeaed as movie serials, and more often than not as World War II-era propaganda.
That's why Batman's first movie appearance, in a series of black-and-white shorts from the era, see him not dealing with colourful supervillains but crazily racist depictions of Japanese mad scientists, driving a wholly unremarkable Batmobile and telling Robin (and by extension the audience) about the importance of investing in war bonds.
All propaganda films of the WWII era are bizarre to watch now, with their blend of jingoism and extreme xenophobia (fight fire with fire when it comes to the Nazis?). But it's especially inappropriate when you see a recognisable pop culture icon being totally racist; that's the case for those Looney Tunes shorts, and doubly so for the heroic Dark Knight.