Batman's most common nickname is the Dark Knight. This is because, in addition to the black cape and grim demeanor, he's a very serious hero who uses fear and brutal tactics to keep the underworld of Gotham City in line. He's not known for his jokes, and he does everything possible to keep his intimidating facade intact.
However, this hasn't always succeeded. Batman has over 80 years of history behind him, and that means that countless creators have had their go at Batman since he was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Batman has had some very silly moments, and they're just as memorable as his serious ones.
10 Batman Thinks Rock And Roll Will Corrupt The Youth Of Today
This particular oddball moment comes from Batman: Fortunate Son by Gerard Jones, a one-shot that came out in 1999. The story itself revolves around a young musician who vanishes. Batman and Robin try to track down this musician, whose name is Izaak Crowe.
Batman says, "Insanity reverberates in every chord of this music you love," to Robin and blames it for Robin's failures in trying to find Crowe. Batman comes off as a character in a 1950s PSA here, and it's a fairly surreal depiction of Bruce.
9 Any Moment Involving Bat-Mite Is Sure To Bring Things To A Silly Place
Bat-Mite is the Batman equivalent of Superman's Mr. Mxyzptlk. Bat-Mite is an imp from the Fifth Dimension who is absolutely obsessed with Batman. However, he tends to cause more trouble for Batman than he solves.
Bat-Mite makes a notable appearance, though only as a figment of Batman's imagination, in the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. Originally, Zur-En-Arrh was actually another planet in the universe that had its own Batman. However, the remade version of Batman of Zur-En-Arrh was just Batman losing his sanity while dealing with Doctor Hurt and the Black Glove.
8 Batman Trying To Intimidate Superman In Superman: Year One
Superman: Year One by Frank Miller is a recent retelling of Clark Kent's early years and first adventures as Superman. After Clark became Superman, he soon met Batman in Gotham City. Naturally, this was a very young Batman, and he tried very hard to intimidate and pacify Superman.
Nothing Batman tried worked, and he tried to trash-talk Superman as his attacks failed to make an impression on the Man of Steel.
7 Joker Declaring That He Is The Devil At The End Of Three Jokers
Batman: Three Jokers by Geoff Johns was a three-part miniseries put out by DC's Black Label imprint. It told the story of Batman, Batgirl, and the Red Hood discovering and taking on three different Jokers that have supposedly been in rotation for a very long time. Over the course of the story, two of the Jokers die, leaving one left.
The one that is left is called "the Comedian," while the other two were "the Criminal" and "the Clown." The Comedian Joker is supposed to be the most vicious, and, in the prison truck taking him to Arkham, the Comedian Joker has a one-on-one with Batman. During the encounter, this Joker goes on a rant, declaring "I am the devil! I am nothing to you and everything." This was a silly moment in an otherwise stellar story. It read like the Joker buying into his own hype, which isn't really what the character is known for. It's a bit more self-awareness and ego than the Joker usually has.
6 Batman Needs A Different-Color Suit For Every Night
This is among the more infamous Batman moments. It's also a weirdly endearing moment for Batman. It comes from a Detective Comics issue by Edmond Hamilton and Sheldon Moldoff. Robin hurts his arm while saving a girl one night, and Batman suddenly begins wearing brightly-colored costumes of every shade, ultimately wearing an all-out rainbow costume.
The explanation for this is that Batman was attempting to take attention off Robin while his arm was still injured. That's...weirdly smart, and rather sweet in a way. After all, this isn't known as the Batman story where Robin hurt his arm.
5 The Batman Slapping Robin Moment From World's Finest
This moment comes from an all-around fairly odd issue of World's Finest by Edmond Hamilton and Curt Swan. This story retells Batman's origin. Instead of Bruce's parents being killed when he was a kid, Martha passes from an illness while Thomas is killed after Bruce reached young adulthood. For fairly convoluted reasons, Batman blames Thomas's death on Superman.
This leads to Batman swearing vengeance on Superman and recruiting Robin to this crusade. However, Robin thinks Batman is going too far with his obsession, and Batman slaps Robin while calling him a "brat."
4 The Thrilling Adventures Of Bat-Baby And Regular Robin
This is another fairly wild Batman tale, and it was actually written by Bill Finger himself with art from Sheldon Moldoff. It was Batman #147, and the book contained three separate stories. The "Batman Becomes Bat-Baby" story has Batman being turned into a four-year-old by an evil scientist. Batman, not one to be deterred, continues his Batman career with a modified costume.
It turns out the device used by the scientist really wasn't much of a hindrance, as Batman maintained his adult strength, speed, and intelligence. Eventually, Bat-Baby and Robin find the scientist and turn Batman back to normal.
3 Batman And Joker Laughing Together At The End of Killing Joke
The Killing Joke is the infamous Alan Moore and Brian Bolland in which the Joker shoots Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, crippling her and implicitly assaults Barbara. Alan Moore himself has gone on to express his regret for writing this story, and the ending is one of the sillier and more bizarre moments of the piece.
Batman takes down the Joker, and the police are on their way. As the police arrive, Batman and the Joker are laughing together in the rain for ambiguous reasons. The scene feels edgy to the point of silliness.
2 That One Time Batman Used Too Big A Bomb And Wet Himself
In Batman: The Widening Gyre by Kevin Smith, Batman teams up the Green Arrow villain Onomatopeia, who is going around as a "new vigilante" called Baphomet. At one point, Baphomet is talking to Batman about how inexperienced he still feels.
To console Baphomet, Batman admits to a time, early in his career, where he used too strong an explosive to enter a location and it caused him to have a "bladder spasm." Baphomet calls it for what it is: Batman peed himself.
1 The Infamous "I'm The Goddamn Batman" Moment From All-Star Batman And Robin
All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder has a lot of things about it that are rather silly. It gives the reader a hyper-edgy Batman with a sadistic and cruel streak to him. It gets to the point where it's so over-the-top that it's hard to take Batman seriously in the story.
However, the most infamous and laughable moment from the comic is when Batman declares that he is "The goddamn Batman." The moment is, unfortunately, followed by the use of a homophobic slur which puts a red flag on this issue.
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