Is it true that the photo shows the butcher Bill Smith, who became the prototype of Batman?

For several years, posts have been walking on the network that the image of a superhero from comics was based on the story of a real person who, back in the 19th century, fought with New York crime in a bat. We checked the photo and history for reliability.

In social networks, you can often stumble upon posts with an old photograph of a bearded man, on whose head a dark mask with ears is worn. According to such publications, the picture was taken in 1892 in New York. He allegedly captures a man named William Smith, who emigrated in the USA from the English sufferer and began to work as a butcher. It is reported that Smith beat store thieves, and also made a bat in the form of a bat and patrolled the streets at night. Moreover, he supposedly even had an assistant named Robin, thanks to the diaries of which it became known that all the criminals in the area knew about the fighter with thieves, nicknamed Batman.

On VKontakte, posts about the real Batman of the 19th century began to spread massively since 2020. For example, in the public “Pipe of the War” about the “historical prototype” of the superhero wrote three times (here, here And here) - a total of 66,000 views, 1,100 likes and 740 reposts. There are also other posts with hundreds of likes and tens of thousands of views (here, here And here). Bill Smith's life history is found in Telegram channels, such as "Lost past"(207,000 views), Lost (72,000), "The story of the past"(68 000) and" Forgotten History "(twice: 68 000 And 59,000), V Facebook*, "Zen", On"Classmates", As well Some entertainment And news sites.

If you write Suffolk Batman in the search engine, then one of the first results will be Suffolk Gazette, where is the material about Smith I went out On December 4, 2016. According to the text, the newspaper’s editorial office allegedly conducted a journalistic investigation and found out that the image of the popular DC comics superhero was based on a native of the suffocol. Since translations in Russian have been distributing on the Internet for several years and over this time overgrown with various details, we have been transferring the starting article under the heading “The original Batman was a thick old man with a beard”.

In Hollywood, he is portrayed by a muscular superhero, which is idolized by millions of fans around the world, but we can reveal that the original Batman was a thick old man with a thick beard.

Until now, it was believed that Batman was completely invented by DC Comics in 1939, in the 1960s he received his television series, and then in 1989 laid the foundation for the cult film franchise. But the Suffolk Gazette investigation showed that the real story of Bill Smith, who moved to America from English sufferer in 1870, served as a source of inspiration for creating this character and settled in New York, where he worked in a meat shop.

We studied historical notes in Eastern England and the USA to collect together an amazing story about how Smith became Vigilant because of the repeated attacks of thieves on his store. According to the city archives, the first accusation to Smith was charged in 1878 for caught and beaten a thief who ran out of a store with a lamb's foot over his shoulder. At that time, 43-year-old Smith was released by a sympathetic judge, who was undoubtedly fed up with an endless list of small criminals, whose cases he had to deal with.

This incident inspired Smith, who, according to parish records, had previously left Dallingha in the county of Suffolk, where he worked on a farm, and in search of a better life went on a Liverpool liner to New York. Inspired by a short note about his trial in the New-York Tribune newspaper, he continued to fight other thieves and soon became sadly known as Vigilant. Four more years passed before he began to put on his famous mask on his head in order to be like a bat and hide his real person. Then he patrolled the area at night in search of criminals.

Excerpts from a diary written in 1892 by a comrade -in -arms, known only by the name Robin (also The name is Batman's partner's partners. - approx. Ed.), include an exclusive photograph that we first publish today. The diary says: “Everyone in the district heard Batman about it. He walks the streets at night, and bandits, thieves, drunkards and tramps are holding away from him. ” And added: “He is retribution. He is night. He is Batman. "

But on this the story of the original Batman is breaking up, and the only remaining Smith document is a certificate of his death. We received a copy from the central archive of New York, and it says that he died at the age of 66 from hypothermia, left alone on a frosty night in February 1896.

So, now it is definitely known that the creators of the Batman character for DC Comics - Rob Kane and Bill Finger - founded him on the local legend about Bill Smith. And when you watch the next film about Batman in the family circle, you can tell them that Batman actually worked on a farm in Suffolka, England.

After reading, it really may have the impression that the authors of comics knew about Smith back in the 30s of the XX century. However, if you look at the description of the newspaper, you can make sure that all this is just an invention. “Suffolk [Gazette] is full of strange and wonderful stories, and although our stories are clearly satirical, they are reprinted by gullible large media, including Sky News and national newspapers,” - says The text on the page "About us." Although the satirical nature of materials in explicitly was not indicated in the description of the project before end 2020, there were obvious hints. So, the slogan of the site is “You COULDNYT MAKE It Up” that literally into Russian can be translated as “you could not come up with it”. In addition, among employees indicated People with speaking names and surnames: for example, the editors of the criminal section is called Rob Banks (Rob Banks sounds like the phrase “grab banks”), and Polly Ticks (Polly Ticks) is responsible for the policy of politicians.

The question remains: what kind of person is depicted in a viral photograph in a bat mask?

In different years, factor and journalists from the origin of this photo USA, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Peru And Mexico (In the summer of 2020, the story of Bill Smith Flayed Many countries of Latin America). They found out that the initial picture was created by a photo workshop Foto Marvellini, Based In 2011. On the site of the workshop, a picture of a bearded Batman called Batbarbone, and the description indicates how the work was carried out: “Paper based on cotton fiber with silver salts. It is printed in the dark room and treated with tanning acid. Inserted into a wooden frame dated approximately the beginning of the 1900s. ” In Facebook by the studio photo of a bearded Batman is Avatar profile, and in the gallery on the site represented Other works on which people of different eras wear masks that refer to science fiction works.

Brothers Andrea and Carlo Marvellini from Foto Marvellini Confirmed Snopes that Batbarbone is their original work created in 2012. They subjected the digital processing of photographs of the 1860s and 1890s from the library of the US Congress, adding masks. At the same time, photo artists Refused From the term “fake”, claiming that “with their deliberately deceptive works they offer viewers to remember that the photo as a whole, by their nature, cause and forms emotions and understanding of the world.”

As for the real sources of inspiration for Batman's authors, among them artist Bob Kane called The films “Sign Zorro” (1920) and “whisper of the bat” (1930), as well as the radio floor “Shadow” and the aircraft of Leonardo da Vinci. However, many iconic details of the costume, such as a hood with ears, white eyes without pupils, a long cloak and gloves, was suggested by screenwriter Bill Finger. Character debuted In the release of Detective Comics No. 27 in 1939.

*Russian authorities They think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Photo on the cover: Foto marvelini

Satirical news

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