112 Years Ago, Batman’s Most Important Creator Was Born (But His Legacy Was Almost Lost to History)

As comic book characters go, there are few bigger than Batman. From his debut in Detective Comics #27 in 1939, the character has been a staple of DC Comics and has become a wildly popular and iconic figure whose stories have appeared in every form of media imaginable. It’s hard to imagine a world without Batman, but if it weren’t for one creator the hero we know and love might look very different or might not even exist at all. 112 years ago today, the creator who made Batman the icon he is today was born, and his story is almost as dramatic as the Dark Knight’s itself.

Bill Finger was born on February 8, 1914, and while he may be most widely known as Batman’s co-creator today, his importance to the beloved character is greater than many fans may realize. While Bob Kane widely gets the credit for the creation of Batman, the reality is that Finger gave the hero everything that makes Batman who he is today — and it is only in recent years that we’ve come to know just how important Finger is to Batman’s history.

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Bob Kane Came Up With “the Bat-Man” But Bill Finger Truly Created Him

While Bob Kane was given sole creation credit for Batman for decades, the reality is that he didn’t create the character alone. Kane came up with the idea of “the Bat-Man” and offered a general outline of a superhero vigilante influenced by Douglas Fairbanks’ portrayal of Zorro, but one that looked more like Superman in terms of his design. Kane’s concept for the character had only a small domino mask, stiff wings, and reddish tights as part of his costume, a costume that lacked other details like gloves. It was when Kane brought Finger into things that Batman as we know him now started to take shape.

Finger made key changes to Batman’s costume, adding the cowl and the cape instead of wings, changing the color scheme of the costume from bright red to gray and black, among other changes. He also gave Batman his civilian alt er ego, Bruce Wayne and, more than that, Finger even wrote the first Batman story with Kane doing the art. However, since Kane already had the contract at DC, he was the only person given credit for the character and effectively erased Finger from the character’s origin. It’s a slight that would last for decades.

Over the years, despite not getting proper credit for his contribution to Batman’s creation, Finger remained a key figure for the character. Finger wrote most of the early stories for the character, establishing his origin, his overall tone, and even introducing key characters in Batman’s overall story, including Robin, the Joker, the Scarecrow, the Riddler, and the Calendar Man. However, it wasn’t until after Finger’s death in 1974 that he started to get any real acknowledgement for what he’d done for Batman. In 1989, Kane said that Finger was “a contributing force” in the character’s creation and expressed that he wished he could go back and put his name on the character but it would still be years before Finger finally got his due.

DC Finally Gave Finger Credit in 2015 — A Small Measure of Justice Even Batman Would Appreciate

Despite Kane’s comments and the accounts of other artists and writers who worked with Finger and Kane that made it clear just how much of Batman came from Finger rather than Kane, it wasn’t until 2015 that DC finally gave Finger full credit as a co-creator. In September of that year, DC Entertainment announced that Finger would receive co-creator credit for Batman formally in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as well as the second season of Gotham. This action followed a deal between Finger’s family and DC. He got his first, official credit on the pages of comics in October 2015 in Batman and Robin Eternal #3 and Batman: Arkham Knight Genesis #3 with the acknowledgement of the character now appearing as “Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger”.

Since then, Finger’s place in Batman history has become more widely known and understood — and appreciated — by fans of the character. In 2017, New York City honored Finger for his contributions to Batman by naming a street after him. Bill Finger Way was established in the Bronx with a sign located at East 192nd Street and the Grand Concourse, an area right by Poe Park where Finger and Kane originally met to discuss the character. Finger’s story also made it into a Hulu original documentary, Batman & Bill, which was released in 2017 as well, firmly preserving Finger as a major part of Batman history. While it’s acknowledgement that comes decades after Finger’s death in 1974, Finger finally getting the credit he is due and the appreciation by fans is exactly the sort of righting of a wrong that Finger’s greatest creation himself would appreciate.

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