This DC superhero is named after a Batman gadget

Maybe you didn’t know that an unknown DC superhero was named after a Batman gadget? There really is a Batwing superhero with the same alias as Batman’s famous flying device!

Obviously, the name “batwing” is most often given to Batman’s plane. The first flying device appeared from issue 31 Detective comics (1939) with the term “batgyro”, a type of helicopter with fins stylized as bat wings. The following year, in Batman n°1, the batgyro becomes a bat-plane.

The car would become the title from Tim Burton’s first Batman film (1989) and the term would stick around until it was used in subsequent films and influenced subsequent comics.

The origin of the hero Batwing can be traced back to the Batman comic book 250 published in 1973, where the youth tells the vision of the Dark Knight. Among them, an African-American conjures up a black Batman with a crime-fighting jet that may be the first inspiration for the future Batwing.

The real superhero Batwing makes his first appearance Batman Incorporated #5, a 2011 story arc in which Bruce Wayne trains various heroes around the world for the Batman brand “franchise”. He trains David Zawimbe, aka Batwing, in Africa.

The character will have a new incarnation in 2013, in which Luke Fox, son of Lucius Fox, wears the suit. We’ve seen this version of the character in the animated film Batman in Bad Blood, but also in American television’s Arrowverse, played by Camrus Johnson. We see her alongside Batwoman in the series of the same name, played by Javicia Leslie.

After the series’ cancellation, Batwing may be forgotten again. Let’s hope that the connected DC universe in cinema, especially under the supervision of James Gunn, gives this character a second life on screen, despite his confusing name!