We remember the headline from what was probably ten or 15 years ago … “DC Comics Celebrates Release of 500th Batman Action figure.” It was a glorious and baffling milestone. Since Batman’s debut in 1939, 500 different action figures had been produced.
If you think about that, it’s quite a feat for a little orphan boy. Something like an average of seven Dark knights a year. But in reality, 99% of them happened after Michael Keaton blessed us with his interpretation of the caped Crusader in 1989. So when you do that math, the number of bat-faced Detectives falls between 20 and 25 per year.
(And to be clear, we can’t find the actual article that we saw this Bat-factoid in, so we’re only guessing on the specific timeframe — STILL — What we’re getting at here is that there’s been an awful lot of Batman action figures over that time.)
BATMAN & IMAGINEXT!
In the time since that release, the number of Batman has only increased exponentially! One of our favorite below-the-Radar toy lines was Imaginext, which supported a very robust DC Comics line-within-a-line. Imaginext alone probably added 150 Batmans to the Batman Action Figure Count. As it worked out, every wave of the Imaginext DC line featured one or more Batmans. Every set of new two-packs or multipacks also included a Batman. Most of the playsets were Batman-themed, and those included a whole new Batman design as well. Superman, DC’s flagship character, might have had 50 during the toy line’s heyday, and that’s when you include all the Superman derivatives like Supergirl, Superboy and Krypto.
No need to make Superman. The kids wanted Batman. The parents buying the toys for the kids wanted Batman. So Fisher-Price/Mattel happily obliged. They gave the world more Batman – and they redesigned his outfit each time. And that’s how they really boosted the Batman Action Figure Count — little variations for each new release. New gloves. A different Bat-symbol. A color swap. More armor. Less armor. A new utility belt. Big-boy boots. Mask off. Goggles. Maybe even a bow in his hair. Little by little we got every variation we could think of, and then some
To be clear, that’s just the ImaginNext line. As that toy line was continuing to mint more Wayne orphans than the treasury department once spewed out pennies, more “sophisticated” lines like DC Direct, Mattel, McFarlane Toys, Spin Masters, Funko and a dozen other licensors were busy with their own Bats-in-Action.
Years later, the idea of counting them all is a bit mind-boggling. We’re way past 1,000 different figures. More likely the count is rapidly approaching 3,000.
But why are there so many? And do we really need any more?
THANK GOD THEY MADE ANOTHER BATMAN ACTION FIGURE!
A common joke in the toy collecting community is that “this toyline needs more Batmans”, even if the subject at hand is My Little Pony, Star Wars or even a Marvel Comics release. Really, wouldn’t they appreciate the nice sales bump?
What the continuing success of Batman action figures shows is the enduring popularity of a character who can be interpreted in a million different ways. He can be a 1930s pulp hero. A 1940s cliffhanger star. A scifi adventurer from the 1950s. A campy 1960s goofball. A debonaire 1970s playboy. A 1980s action hero. A 1990s cartoon celebrity. A gritty 2000s Vigilante guardian. A 2010s franchise-builder. A 2020s Absolute Whatever!
This is a hero whose adaptability is only matched by his iconic design and his unforgettable backstory.
So, if we get another Batman action figure — or another 10 — this year, I guess we’ll just have to grin and bear it. Someone out there is buying them. From grandmoms looking for the perfect birthday gift for little Johnny to the die-hard collectors who can never have enough, there’s always going to be a market.
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