1. Batman first landed on the scene in 1939 in “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate,”  Detective Comics #27 published in May 1939.

2. The name Bruce Wayne, which writer Bill Finger came up with, was inspired by Scottish hero Robert Bruce and Mad Anthony Wayne, a U.S. Army Major-General who fought in the Revolutionary War.

3. The Batcave didn’t appear until 1948.

4. The famous Bat-signal didn’t come along until 1942.

5. Robin’s days were numbered – he was supposed to appear in only one issue in 1940. Sales of that issue doubled and Robin got a reprieve.

6. That lasted until In 1988, DC Comics left his fate up to the fans, who could vote via a 1-900 number about killing off Robin. The results weren’t good for the sidekick. Following the will of the people, DC Comics killed off Boy Wonder, having the Joker murder him. He  made a return in 2005, however.

7. Batman’s cape was inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci’s sketch of an ornithopter, a flying device, which creator Bob Kane had seen as a child and included when he drew the first sketches of Batman.

8. One of the most endearing moments involving the Caped Crusader came on November 15, 2013, when Make-A-Wish granted the wish of Miles Scott, a five-year-old leukemia patient, who wished to be Batkid, Batman’s sidekick. The entire city of San Francisco got in on the act, with the Penguin capturing the San Francisco Giant’s mascot to a rally at City Hall, a tweet from President Barack Obama and Mayor Ed Lee presenting Batkid with a key to the city. More than 409,000 tweets were sent that day with either #batkid or the #SFBatkid.

9. Batman’s home, Gotham City, is a fictional town because the creators wanted it to be a place anyone in any city could relate to. That may not have worked, though, because New York had been referred to as “Gotham” since the 19th century. The word “Gotham” derived from the Old English term referring to where goats were kept, you know, the goat home. Somehow it loses something knowing that.

DC Comics declared July 23, 2014, Batman Day to mark Batman’s 75th anniversary. They moved the celebration to September 26 in 2015 and said it would be an annual event. You can learn more about Batman Day here.

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