A Twitter/X post claims that Wayne Bruce of Scotland was the inspiration behind Batman
A picture of a man with facial hair and a mask was shared on the “Travel Scotland Goals Group” Facebook page. The photo’s uploader, Jake Shearer, asserted that the bearded man served as the original inspiration for the well-known superhero Batman.
Many reposts of the Batman inspiration image over the previous few years were displayed in the results of a Google reverse image search. There have long been unfounded rumours that the picture served as inspiration for Batman’s persona.
Was the Batman superhero character inspired by Wayne Bruce of Scotland and is the claim real or fake
The original source of the image is Foto Marvellini, a 2011-founded art and photography workshop.
“Little known fact that Scotsman Wayne Bruce was the inspiration for The Batman Comics. Wayne who would wear a disguise and used his inheritance to take on criminals in the 1880s,” Jake Shearer wrote.
DOES HE LOOK LIKE BATMAN TO YOU?
This photo was taken in 1892 in New York. It is an image of Bill Smith. He was not a rich man, philanthropist or playboy like the fictional characters in comics and movies. He worked in a butcher shop.
Bill Smith began his personal fight against… pic.twitter.com/ywARc87qY0
— @AndTartary and antiquity (@andtartary2) May 13, 2023
The post received a lot of replies and rapidly went viral.
The diverse assertions regarding the trending Batman inspiration image point to distinct places of genesis. As per media reports, some people say the person seen is a Scottish man named Wayne Bruce who is purportedly descended from Scottish nobles, while others say the person is a New York City butcher named Bill Smith, who is seen in an 1892 photo.
When trying to locate the photograph’s original source, reverse image searches have turned up numerous instances of it being shared along with erratic sources. In 2017, the picture was initially spotted in a Reddit post.
The Original Bruce Wayne aka Batman pic.twitter.com/oAhVABd2ft
— NFT Freaks 🗝️🏰🦸🏿♂️ (@nftfreaks) April 20, 2024
Later on, it was discovered on Bandcamp, where Dennis Kelly, among others, had used it as his profile picture. The picture is also accessible on the website of Foto Marvellini, an art and photography workshop that was established in 2011 and specialises in vintage image manipulation.
Despite the unfounded rumours that have circulated online, it is evident that the previously described photo has nothing to do with the beginnings of the Batman identity.
Batman was created by Bob Kane and his collaborator Bill Finger. Detective Comics published the first appearance of the masked vigilante in 1939. “The Shadow,” a radio show; “The Mark of Zorro,” a film from the 1920s; and “The Bat Whispers,” a 1930 film starring a mobster with a bat symbol on his cape.