"What Batman provides, what all superheroes provide is this notion that good will triumph over evil," says author Glen Weldon. "That evil will have its day, but there will be somebody up there who will keep trying, who will keep looking out for us. ... He's catharsis in a cape." Above, Adam West, as Batman, makes a road safety film with child actors in Kensington, London in the late 1960s. (Getty Images)
