All The Batmen

The guys at Traveler's Tales have made quite a good little niche for themselves knocking out third-person action adventure games in the world of LEGO. LEGO Batman followed in the footsteps of LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Indiana Jones, letting players battle through Gotham City as Batman, Batgirl, Robin and many other characters. The gameplay is nothing special, but the game lets you unlock so many unique playable characters - Bane! Killer Croc! - that it's an awesome representation of the Bat-universe.

Both Batman and the Joker make appearances as playable characters in Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe, the crossover fighting game that pit ninjas and cyborgs against heroes and villains. The game used classic Mortal Kombat fighting styles, but DC's heroes weren't allowed to have "fatalities" because they're nice guys, so they got "brutalities" instead. Batman's involved throwing a Batarang that summoned a flock of bats to bite the crap out of his humiliated opponent. Publisher Midway was supposed to support the game with DLC, but instead went out of business. Whoops!

Attempting to recapture the lightning in a bottle that made Batman: The Animated Series so great is a futile attempt, which is why Batman: The Brave And The Bold decides to go the other way. This awesome cartoon hearkened back to the glory days of mid-60s Bat-kitsch, making the protagonist fight crime with a nod and a wink, paired up with a bevy of hilarious and ridiculous guest stars from all over the DC Universe. Characters like Metamorpho, the Doom Patrol and even Space Ghost all featured over the show's three seasons.

The franchise had a lot to live down after the Schumacher atrocities, but in 2005 Batman Begins hit theaters and things got a whole lot better. The casting of Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne was a great move, as he brought a deep commitment to the part. Director Christopher Nolan intended to helm a trilogy of films, and 2008's The Dark Knight was even better. That might well be the best superhero movie ever made, due in no small part to a truly magnificent performance by Heath Ledger as the Joker. 2012 will see The Dark Knight Rises close out the cycle, featuring the debut of the Catwoman and Bane.

Jetting way, way into the future, we meet the Batman of the 853rd Century. DC One Million was a crazy experiment in prognostication, showing what would be happening when existing DC titles reached their millionth issue. The Dark Knight is now the ruler and warden of the prison planet Pluto. With an I.Q. score of 1045 and mastery of every form of martial arts known to sentient life, this guy is not screwing around. Accompanied by Robin, the Toy Wonder (a robotic sidekick), he keeps the nastiest crooks of the far future on lockdown.

Batman came roaring into the current generation of games in awesome form with Batman: Arkham Asylum. Developed by Rocksteady Studios, this was the first game that really got the total package of Batman right - using stealth to get the jump on thugs and then beating the holy crap out of them, using Batman's detective equipment to find clues, and battling some of his most iconic foes. Sure, the boss fights were kind of crappy, but the game was just too sweet. The sequel, Arkham City, is dropping this week, complete with almost a dozen different pre-order skins.

The first Robin, Dick Grayson abandoned the role of Batman's sidekick to take on his own heroic identity as Nightwing. But when Bruce Wayne was killed by the Omega Effect in the pages of Final Crisis, Gotham City needed a protector. Dick stepped in as Batman and did a very capable job, making Wayne's bastard son Damien the new Robin and tackled some dastardly foes. Of course, Bruce wasn't dead, just displaced in time, and he eventually made his way back to the present to reclaim the cowl.

Flashpoint was the event that reshaped the DC Universe into the form we know today, so it's only fitting that the Dark Knight of that alternate universe get his own entry. Many different permutations to Batman's origin have been tried over the years - as this list has no doubt demonstrated - but Flashpoint's was a new one on us. In this universe, instead of Bruce Wayne's parents dying in an alley in front of him, Bruce himself takes the gangster's bullet. His father Thomas then picks up the path of obsession and becomes a costumed vigilante - and his wife Martha becomes the Joker. Creepy!

The next phase in the animated career of Batman comes in 2013 with the upcoming Beware The Batman, a completely CGI-animated series that looks like an incredibly cool take on the character. Returning the hero to a little more bad-ass mode, the new series pairs Batman up with former Outsider Katana and his loyal butler Alfred (who looks to take a more hands-on role in the adventures) against some of the hero's lesser-known villains like Professor Pyg. Under the direction of Glen Murakami, the froth levels are high for this one.