a look into character archetypes:

Being the super-nerd that I happent o be, I knew I wanted to analyze Batman's character archetypes more than any other characters I have ever encountered. The dark knight, of course, has a huge and varied history. He has been taken on by writers, artists, cartoonist, actors, and filmmakers over the span of decades. To make this archetype analysis more precise I'll use his most recent popular culture manifestation in the 2008 Christopher Nolan film The Dark Knight.

Examining first our minor characters, Lucius Fox (not always a DC constant) acts as Batman's donor, , he gives the vigilante the tools that he will need to be able to fulfill his quest (the lofty goal of cleaning up the streets of Gotham, but more often interpreted more sinisterly - the vengeance of his murdered parents).

Lovable Alfred, Bruce's butler and surrogate father, acts a helper. He patches up his charge, keeps him fed and healthy, and offers important insight into Bruce himself. Other helpers (not featured in Nolan's sophomore comic book film) include; Robin, Batgirl, Batwoman, and sometimes the slinky Selina Kyle, Catwoman.

Photo credit: clevercupcakes

The mysterious Joker is Batman's ultimate foe. He is not just a villan for the caped crusader, he is THE villan. He hinders Batman on his mission more than any other adversary in that he fascinates Batman, he becomes an obsession for him.

Finally, Batman is a vigilante, and although his quest is (essentially) that of the hero Batman embodies the anti-hero archetype.  It could be argues that Batman is "too tame" to be an anti-hero, but I strongly disagree. He may not kill his enemies (usually) but Batman does operate outside of the law. He challenges the justice system (as demonstrated in The Dark Knight with his opposite, Harvey Dent) and thus cannot really be called hero at all.