Batman leaves Gotham to fight the rising cost of living in London

LondonA small mystery has been running through London for a month. Little by little it has spread like an oil slick. And in the 21st century, that means it has gone viral. In this case, through an Instagram account (Officiallondonsbatman) which currently has 126,000 followers, with one of its eight posts that has been viewed by at least 1.8 million people.

Yes, you read the account name correctly. It is the official one of the London Batman. Because, whoever this character may be, the comic book superhero seems to have left Gotham and started carrying out acts of charity in the British capital to combat the rising cost of living.

Unlike the original, this Batman does not chase crime. In his first message, recorded with the London Eye in the background and released on September 22, he made his intentions quite clear. "London, I am your Batman and I have come to save this city. For too long we have been left without a hero, completely forgotten. But that is over. I will be the hero that London deserves. Tell me your problems and I will make them disappear".

Created in 1939 by cartoonist Bob Kane, Batman is the rich man who, faced with the corruption and inefficiency of institutions, takes justice into his own hands. Christopher Nolan's trilogy, especially The Dark Knight (2008), ended up making global a figure that remained on the fringes of comics, despite previous film adaptations.

And what has this local superhero with an American accent done so far? Nothing about chasing the Joker. Much more everyday actions related to the aforementioned cost of living, which he has documented in detail on his Instagram account. On October 16, he burst into a Texaco gas station in the Greenwich neighborhood, in southeast London, and handed out 70-pound vouchers to pay for fuel. According to witnesses, he gave away vouchers worth over 3,500 pounds. "The price of gas is too high," he said in one of the videos.

He has paid fines imposed on people who had parked near Kingston Hospital, in the southwest of the capital, to visit family or friends. In another of his posts, he approaches a woman to inform her that he has paid her penalty. "People going to the hospital shouldn't have to pay parking fines," he argues. In other interventions, he has filled potholes in front of a youth center, picked up litter from the streets in the Tower Hamlets neighborhood, helped pedestrians cross the road, given portable fans to subway users during the hottest days, and last weekend he handed out umbrellas during a storm.

Municipal campaign?

But perhaps none of their actions has had as much repercussions as the sale of Freddo chocolate bars for just five pence, half the price they were when they were launched on the market in 1994. The gesture has added a clue to the game of identities.

Because the price of five pence had been part of one of the best-known election promises of a former candidate for mayor of London, Niko Omilana, a popular youtuber, 28 years old, with more than nine million subscribers. It must be remembered that there are municipal elections next year, and for this reason it is believed that all of this is part of a long and original pre-campaign. But he has emphatically denied it. The satirical artist Count Binface, who a few months ago faced ultra leader Nigel Farage in a by-election for a Westminster Parliament seat, has also been pointed out. But Jon Harvey, who is his real name, has also denied having anything to do with it.

Is Batman, and his usage, just another joke typical of the digital world? The action of another comedian? Is there a political dimension to all of this? The discussion could be very substantial.

Because the premises from which the comic book superhero starts is that society suffers from corruption everywhere, that institutions do not work and that the only way to solve all of this is through individualism. As long as one has a great fortune to invest in charitable works or, as in the case of the character of Bob Kane, to fight crime. The debate is often the same: does charity solve structural problems or does it perpetuate them, despite the punctual relief it also offers?

In addition to the viralization on social media, both the BBC and ITV and the press have dedicated enough space to the Batman phenomenon. In one of his television appearances he said: "People are having a hard time and need someone to show their face". Or the mask, in fact. In his videos it is clear that any large city can be Gotham, including London. But real life is not the cinema or the comic book. And Batman can pay for gas one day, but it will be difficult for him to solve the war in Iran and the rising cost of energy. The powers of superheroes are also limited.