What is the real history of Batman's famous Batcave? Time has been kind to Batman. When modern readers pick up his first stories, they are surprised to find many core aspects of Batman lore entirely absent. In reality, because the Dark Knight has been in print for so long, many aspects of his character have been absorbed into the canon.
Take the example of the Batmobile, which made its debut in Detective Comics #27. This earliest incarnation was just an ordinary car, allowing Batman to drive through the streets of Gotham without drawing attention. It gradually changed shape, becoming a distinctive vehicle that incorporates Batman's bat-motif, and it's been everything from a mobile crime lab to a prisoner transport.
Most comic book readers believe the Batcave was created in 1943, in Batman's first black-and-white 15-chapter serial. In reality, it's more correct to say it was created for that movie. The scriptwriters came up with the idea of giving Batman a secret underground base, and they did so for an amusing but practical reason; they didn't have a big budget, and as a result they had no access to hangar and mansion sets. They did, however, have lots of caves; thus they created the Batcave. This idea was mentioned to Bill Finger, who incorporated it into the comics in 1942's Batman #12. He'd previously had Bruce Wayne set aside rooms in Wayne Manor to serve as crime labs and the like, with vehicles kept in old barns on the grounds of the estate. Curiously, although the Batman movie called this the "Batcave," the name didn't make its way into the comics until 1944.
The Batcave continued to change shape over the next few years, and it wasn't until 1948 it incorporated the famous Trophy Room. This had originally been another room in Wayne Manor, but the cover of Batman #48 - which featured a similar sketch of the Batcave's interior - incorporated it into the design. While the basic layout went unchanged, the concept had been subtly reworked; now it really did look like a gigantic cavern, complete with stalagmites hanging from the room and no walls dividing the different compartments. This was much closer to the Batcave as modern readers would know it.
Comics aren't exactly known for their consistency, and as a result even now there's no 'fixed' design for the Batcave. Its layout regularly changes, and sometimes the Batcave is even imagined linked to a network of tunnels that crisscross beneath Gotham City. It isn't even unusual for some artists to sketch completely different layouts in the space of just a few pages. Little wonder the various big-screen adaptations have been able to get remarkably creative.
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