Dark Knight (nickname)

The Dark Knight is the nickname of the superhero Batman who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The nickname was first applied to Batman in Batman No. 1 (1940), in a story written by Bill Finger.

Batman's nickname was capitalized upon with the 1999 two-issue comic book story Dark Knight of the Round Table. The story was set in Arthurian England, where Bruce is a scion who initially opposes King Arthur but eventually joins him at the Round Table and fights against Mordred and Morgana.

The nickname was highlighted in Frank Miller's 1986 comic book series The Dark Knight Returns. The book The Monster Hunter in Modern Popular Culture said Miller chose the name for a reason, "In this case, 'dark' is not so much referring to the fact that he works at night or that he wears a black suit. Instead, the 'dark' here refers to the soul of the Caped Crusader which may or may not be every bit as tainted as those he captures." In The Dark Knight Returns, when an electromagnetic pulse has shut down Gotham City, Batman travels on horseback. The book Riddle Me This, Batman! describes the scene as "a knight errant in a medieval romance" and cites Jesse Nash in how the story's Batman is a postmodern revision of Arthurian myths. The book said in addition to the horseback ride highlighting "the medieval aspects of Batman's worldview", it also notes that Batman is hardly representative of King Arthur. It said, "What we see when Batman charges in on horseback to restore order is not Arthur restoring a golden age, but a more essentially medieval scene of a lord using his power and authority as blunt instruments to protect and restore the social structures that serve his hegemony."

In the 2008 film The Dark Knight, Batman and Police Commissioner James Gordon "decide Batman cannot embody both chaos and order" so they conceal the crimes of District Attorney Harvey Dent and make the public think that Batman murdered Dent. They "preserve Harvey's value as the White Knight", and Batman "will only be the Dark Knight". He is able to play this role because "the public and at times vigorous debate concerning his moral quality, which, more often than not, is amplified by the mass media". The book The 21st Century Superhero says, "Batman can convincingly play the dark knight only because his role is perceived as (potentially) evil from the outset—at least by a few. While Batman is the one who theatrically produces signs, those few represent the constitutive counterpart."

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