Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Superheroes are serious business. That’s what diehard, lifelong superhero fans like me have said to naysayers time and time again when our favorite characters are dismissed as trivial. They’re for children. They’re silly. They’re too violent, or they’re too heavy-handed. Even after the critically acclaimed Dark Knight or the genre-defying spectacle of the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe, detractors still boil superheroes down to tights, pun-tastic dialogue, and “Biff! Bang! Pow!” action.
Largely, that’s all because of the effect the original Batman TV series had on pop culture after it exploded onto the scene in 1966. The series–starring Adam West as Batman, Burt Ward as Robin, and a cavalcade of ’60s character actors as Batman’s rogue’s gallery–was beyond campy. It took the Caped Crusader’s colorful and kooky Silver Age adventures and adapted them for the small screen, sometimes on a shoestring budget. The series dazzled audiences with its over-the-top color palette and downright ridiculous plots. Postage stamp heists and hat factory showdowns were treated with the same severity as Joker’s terrorist attacks in 2008’s The Dark Knight. It was a weird and wild show, one that forever branded superheroes as campy fluff. For a long time, Batman was viewed as kids’ stuff, the defiler of our Very Serious Artform.
That wasn’t fair. And it’s not true.
With Adam West’s passing on June 9 at the age of 88, it needs to be stated just how important Batman was, and just how important Adam West was. To get personal, Adam West was–and is and will always be–my Batman. I grew up in the ’80s watching reruns of the ’60s series on Nick at Nite, eyes glued to the TV, perched on the edge of my dad’s lap on the recliner. I loved that show. It captivated me. It was unlike anything on TV in the ’60s, and it was still unlike anything on TV in the mid-to-late ’80s. Like millions of others, Adam West’s Batman was the first superhero I ever saw. I was 5 when Michael Keaton suited up in Tim Burton’s grim (and, in retrospect, silly in its own macabre way) big screen Batman. I loved that movie, but even at 5, I knew Keaton was no Adam West. My Batman wore blue and gray.
Watch Batman as an adult, which I’m doing right now in honor of West, and you see that the magic is still there. You get what the cast, specifically Adam West, was doing. The stories were purposefully ridiculous; the show was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1966. Just like John Lithgow, Alex Baldwin, and Andre Braugher after him, Adam West got comedy mileage out of playing everything deadly serious–out of treating ludicrous leaps of logic and aggressive alliteration like Shakespeare. West, with his cowl-ready jawline, barrel chest, baritone voice, and commanding posture, held the show together. West’s Batman conveyed the importance of wearing a seatbelt and the danger of being trapped in a human-sized snow cone with equal gravitas. That’s the show. That’s what made the show work. That’s what made the show a spectacle for kids and subversive pop art for adults.
Batman gets unfairly blamed for causing people to write off superheroes with its campiness. I’ll counter with this: Batman and Adam West are responsible for so many things we all love about superheroes. As the pop culture grandfather of the modern superhero boom, Adam West’s DNA runs through every superhero property. Robert Downey Jr.’s stylish Tony Stark swagger originated with West’s ascot-wearing Bruce Wayne. You can draw a direct line from Chris Evans’ unbreakable Captain America back to Batman’s unwavering morality. The earnestness and optimism of West’s performance can be seen in so many superheroes, from Christopher Reeve’s Superman up to Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. Every time a superhero makes you laugh, like the Guardians of the Galaxy crew, you have to thank Adam West for helping to link comedy and heroics 40 years ago.
Adam West gave us a hero that was equally cool and smart, suave and strong, hopeful and pragmatic, cunning and caring. He helped turn Batman into a cultural icon. He inspired generations of kids, and now he’s inspired a generation of superhero performances. Batman ’66 is not everything that’s wrong with superheroes; it’s everything that’s right about superheroes. And Adam West is why that show worked.
Thank you, Adam West.
