While most Batman fans know the character’s alter ego is millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, here’s why he was redubbed Bruno Diaz in Latin America. Batman made his debut in Detective Comics in 1939 and hasn’t stopped fighting crime ever since. The character is easily one of the most popular comic book characters ever created, and talented writers, artists, and filmmakers have been able to take the concept and mould it in exciting new ways.

He’s a character that can jump from the hilarious campiness of the Adam West Batman TV show from the 1960s, to the brooding darkness of the 1989 Tim Burton movie. The same goes for the comics, ranging from Frank Miller’s acclaimed The Dark Knight Returns to the DC/Looney Tunes crossover where he battles Elmer Fudd. The character has adapted to each new decade and his popularity never seems to wane. While Ben Affleck’s DCEU reign as Batman wasn’t greeted with the warmest reviews, many considered his turn in Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice to be the highlight of that entry. Robert Pattinson was recently confirmed as the latest actor to don the cape and cowl for Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman.

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Even for those who’ve never read a Batman comic or seen any of the films, they probably know who the character is or the basic beats of his backstory. Batman is secretly millionaire Bruce Wayne, who vowed to protect Gotham City from crime after his parents were gunned down in front of him when he was young. He dons the symbol of a bat to strike fear in his enemies, and in addition to a line-up of high-tech gadgets and vehicles, he’s also skilled in hand to hand combat and being a detective.

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When the Batman comics first arrived in Latin America, it was decided to change Bruce Wayne’s name to Bruno Diaz to make it more relatable to younger readers in that part of the world. Most of the characters in the comics had their names altered in this way, with Joker becoming El Guasón, Dick Grayson becoming Ricardo Tapia and James Gordon redubbed, Jaime Fierro. These names stuck and were also used in the 1960s TV show, Batman: The Animated Series, and some of the live-action movies, though usage of the translated names has been phased out in recent years, with The Dark Knight trilogy, for instance, changing back to Bruce Wayne.

Batman isn’t the only comic that received these translated names either, with X-Men’s Wolverine becoming Guepardo and Peter Parker becoming Pedro Marquez.

Key Release Dates
  • The Batman (2022)Release date: Mar 04, 2022
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Padraig Cotter
(3484 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

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He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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