It is quite true that Batman is generally considered way cooler than Superman. With a plethora of shows to his name, the character of Batman has been generally observed to get more attention from the people, rather than Superman.
With a plethora of animated projects surrounding Batman, Bruce Timm, the American artist and animator at the DCAU talked about the debate. Fortunately or unfortunately, Timm chose Batman’s side and stated that Superman suffers from middle child syndrome!
Bruce Timm Reveals That Superman Suffers From The Middle Child Syndrome!
For those of you who haven’t experienced it yet, the middle child syndrome refers to ignoring and neglecting the needs of the middle child. With the youngest child being a troublemaker and the eldest being themselves, the middle child often gets neglected or outshined by their siblings.
The same thing is happening in the DC Animated Universe but this time, it’s with Superman and Batman. In a resurfaced interview on DC Animated, Bruce Timm talked about this syndrome and agreed that Superman indeed suffers somewhat under the shadow of Batman.
“Yep. Well, not only that [the middle child syndrome], but Batman is just cooler….Alex Ross is gnashing his teeth even we speak. Batman’s darker, edgier, just plain s*xier all around. Even so, I think we did a pretty bang-up job on Superman, and it seems like it will keep finding appreciative audiences in re-runs, and hopefully someday, home video.”
As the interview further continued, Bruce Timm talked about how his 2000 film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker was considered too dark and has multiple controversial elements.
Bruce Timm Talked About Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker!
It was the year 2000 when animated movies weren’t really considered seriously by adult people. During this year, Bruce Timm created and released Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker which had quite some controversy to it. Speaking about the film, Bruce Timm revealed that although he got what he wanted in the end, it was too much work for him!
“Well, I’d probably be a little less adamant about pushing for such edgy material…bottom line is that the home video dept. markets their cartoons directly at children. I’m very proud of ROTJ, but a “kid-friendly” movie it definitely isn’t!”
He further continued,
“I mean, ultimately, it all worked out; they got the “age-appropriate” version they wanted (kind of!), and we fans eventually got the nastier version WE wanted, but that whole editing and Re-editing process that we went through was torture. Like cutting the fingers off your own baby.”
With an iconic storyline, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker received a rating of 7.7/10 on IMDB and a whopping 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. The iconic Bruce Timm film is available to stream on Max in the U.S.
