Are Batman's cowling eyes actually white?
The Animated Series had a seemingly legendary take on Batman. However, my main question is:
Batman's cowling eye slits made it look like they are all white. As though they are some sort of covering? Or some sort of transparency to make him look scarier?
Was this effect just for illustrative purpose (to illustrate Bruce's "dark" side), and Bruce having "normal" eyes illustrated his "human" side?
Anything in/out-of-universe that alludes to this?
Best Answer
Many (most?) of the masked superheroes in comic books have white eyes. There are 2 probable reasons:
- dramatic effect: as the rest of the mask is darker, drawing the eyes entirely white make them more visible, and easier to convey expressions. You don't need to see the rest of the face in your example picture to know Batman has an angry expression.
- as usually the eyes are a pretty small part of the image adding colors would probably just blur them together with the rest of the face. In old comic books unmasked superheroes (like Superman) also had less detailed eyes (until comic books started being printed in higher resolution).
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Does Batman have white eyes in The Batman?
ROBERT PATTINSON'S BATMAN AND HIS WHITE EYESThe statue features an interesting addition to this new iteration of Batman as evidenced by the inclusion of white eyes that the character is known for in the comics.Why are superhero eyes white?
\u201cMatt was really keen that there were remains of [the eye makeup] when he took his cowl off,\u201d Donne said. \u201cSo we pushed that. We actually took the cowl off and looked at what was left, and we used that. It's really hard to get black eye makeup off, and we used that.\u201dThe Legacy Of Batman: The DCEU And The Batman
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Answer 2
It is for the expressions and dramatic effect, just as Luciano said. The white glowing eyes make Batman look mysterious and a bit frightening, just as how you would be scared when an animal's eyes glow in the dark. This is probably why Bruce does not have glowing eyes and you can see his pupils, to show that he is a normal person irl.
Answer 3
Eyes are the most expressive thing in a face, so costumes and art like to make the most of them (or else have reasons for hiding them). And white spaces are simply the easiest way to show eyes against a dark mask. In various comic media, the masks worn by the Bat Family are Lenses.
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