FAQ

It's a long story so here goes....

After the success of the comic book Superhero Superman, artist Bob Kane tried to come up with his own hero "The Bat-Man", the character Kane created wore a red suit with a domino mask, blonde hair and a pair of bat wings. Kane then asked for writer Bill Finger's assistance on the project. Finger rejected several of Kane's initial ideas about the character and suggested several changes in design and characterization. His changes included changing his hair colour, a black colour scheme for the costume, adding a cape and cowl, the idea that he shouldn't have any superpowers, his civilian identity of Bruce Wayne (which Finger named after Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland and general Anthony "Mad Anthony" Wayne), the origin story about his parents being shot in an alley and the idea that he should also be a detective.

Kane marketed the "Batman" character to National Comics, and Batman's first story was published in "Detective Comics" #27 (May 1939). The script was written by an uncredited Finger, making him the first of many ghost writers to work on comics officially credited to Bob Kane. When Kane negotiated a contract about selling the rights to the "Batman" character, he claimed he was the sole creator and demanded a sole mandatory byline acknowledging him as such on all comics and adaptations. Out of fairness, Kane agreed to pay Finger his share with money out of his earnings. Unfortunately, the agreement was never put into writing, and Finger never saw a cent.

Finger would go on to ghost write Batman stories up into the mid 1960's, either with Kane or for DC Comics directly. During his writing tenure, Finger was responsible for the unaccredited creation of many key players and pieces in the Batman universe.

These included the Batmobile, the Batcave, Gotham City, and Batman's nickname "The Dark Knight". He also came up with several secondary Batman characters including, his sidekick Robin, his arch-nemesis The Joker, and his occasional love interest Catwoman, as well as Commissioner Gordon, The Riddler and The Scarecrow. Despite all of this, the only writing credit that Finger received for Batman in his lifetime were two episode of Batman (1966), The Clock King's Crazy Crimes (1966) and The Clock King Gets Crowned (1966) which he co-wrote with friend Charles Sinclair.

Eventually, the truth did come out. Finger attended the first official New York Comic Con in 1965 and sat on a panel with other comic book creators where he revealed the role he played in Batman's creation. Finger's story gained exposure in a two-page article titled "If the truth be known, or a Finger in every plot!," written and distributed by pop culturist Jerry Bails. Kane caught wind of Finger's appearance not long after and replied in the form of a printed letter to Batman fan magazine, "Batmania," where he labeled his old friend a fraud. Finger, who by this time was deeply in debt, continued to write for various projects in and outside of comic books until his death in 1974, when he was found alone in his apartment by friend Charles Sinclair. Finger died penniless and his contributions to the character was never acknowledged in his lifetime.

However, after the popularity of Tim Burton's Batman (1989), Kane acknowledged Finger as "a contributing force" in the character's creation, and wrote in his 1989 autobiography "Batman and Me" that "Now that my long-time friend and collaborator is gone, I must admit that Bill never received the fame and recognition he deserved. He was an unsung hero ... I often tell my wife, if I could go back fifteen years, before he died, I would like to say. 'I'll put your name on it now. You deserve it.'"

Many failed attempts were made over the years by Finger's family to get him recognition for his work, including a request from his second wife Lyn Simmons to have his name listed in the credits of Tim Burton's Batman (1989).

Finger remained largely unknown, even to Batman fans, until writer Marc Tyler Nobleman began investigating the late author's life for a book being written about him called "Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman". Nobleman went in search of Finger's family to help fill in the gaps and give him credit. While Finger's autopsy report claimed no relatives were present, Nobleman discovered that Finger had a son, Fred.

Unfortunately, Fred, who was an outspoken proponent of his father, had died in 1992. Nobleman learned that Fred was also homosexual, leading him to believe that Fred had no children before his death. The trail was starting to go cold.

However, after receiving new information from Finger's nephew, Nobleman discovered Fred indeed had a daughter, Athena Finger, who was born two years after Finger's death. Nobleman met with Athena and convinced her to meet with DC about getting recognition for her grandfather. DC in turn welcomed Athena with open arms, cut her a check and invited her to the premiere of The Dark Knight (2008) with all expenses paid. It wasn't until around 2012 that DC offered her more money. This time, however, she had to sign away her rights to her grandfather's claim. With encouragement from Nobleman, Athena rejected the money and took DC to court.

It took years of litigation before a settlement was reached. A major turning point in the case was the unearthing of recorded interviews with Bob Kane during the writing of his autobiography. During one of the interviews, Tom Andrae, Kane's co-writer, asked Kane to what extent Finger contributed to Batman's creation. "Bill was responsible for 50 to 75 percent," Kane bluntly responded.

Finally, in September 2015, DC Entertainment issued a statement informing the public that Finger would be listed as co-creator on any piece of Batman media henceforth. Starting with the superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and the second season of Gotham (2014), an updated acknowledgement for the character appeared as "Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger".

Finger's story was later used as the subject of the Hulu original documentary, Batman & Bill (2017).