The character, still made popular by afternoon reruns of it's
60's smash TV Series, was a standout seller for Mego. The early
figures had a removable cowl that allowed children to go from
Batman to his alter ego Bruce
Wayne.

To learn more about what a Removable Cowl Batman should and shouldn't
have, please visit the Removable Cowl Batman
guide.
After a while (somewhere
in 1974 by any guess)
Mego switched to a molded head, or "Painted Cowl" Batman. The
sculpt was a very light-hearted and kid-friendly approach. Note
the small stubby ears on the caped crusader. It's not known whether
this was caused by consumer complaints (kids would lose the cowl
in a heartbeat) or a cost cutting decision.
One of the more fondly remembered features of the Mego Batman
figure are the "oven mitt" style gloves that the early
WGSH characters had. The "oven mitt' gloves had a relativly
short tenure at Mego, by 1974 the Green
Arrow had painted
hands with a cloth cuff. In 1975, characters like
Iron Man began appearing with a solid plastic glove. Despite
the fact that the company kept improving the gloves, Mego never
thought to go back and fix the oven mitts from previous releases.
"If it ain't broke don't fix it", seems to be the motto
here.
The character of Batman has always been appealing to toy manufacturers
because of the many vehicles and gadgets the character uses. Mego
was quick to exploit Batman with many
Bat related playsets and vehicles.

Because Batman was produced from 1973 until 1982 by Mego, there
are a staggering amount of variations both subtle and obvious to
the figure. Here, Tom has provided a dramatic group shot of various
Mego Batman figures all in someways different from each other.
While the graphic is the same on the back of all Mego Batman boxes,
this is in fact a solid box from the very first wave of Heroes.
The solid Batman box is one of the hardest to find items of all,
because it was in circulation for a very short period of time.
Retailer's complained tthat kids ripped the solid boxes open to
see the doll, so window boxes and bubble cards were quickly introduced.
This example is proudly owned by Imp

This regular version Batman box is one of many variations. Earlier
boxes featured Captain America but were replaced with Shazam!

Above is the Mego Fist Fighting Batman in box.
See the FF Gallery for more info.


Above, a First Issue Mego Kresge RC Batman (1st issue by the
four heroes on the header). Note that the Mego logo doesn't appear
on this card. Courtesy of Tom.
Left is a later Batman on the Kresge card, note the Green Arrow
replacing Tarzan in the header. This is the last Kresge card variant
in the series.
Tom provides the Museum with a look at all of the US cards. Note
the ever changing style guide artwork.
On the Left is Batman on his 1979 Pin Pin Toys Card (France) Courtesy
of Troy. Left is a 79 Harbert Italy card (From Scott Arendsen) Many
foreign companies simply chose to put their logo over stock Mego
products.
Palitoy (UK) Mego Carded Batman and Popy (Japan) Boxed Batman courtesy
of Palitoy
Palitoy (UK) Mego Carded Fist Fighting Batman's card shows how
creative
New to the Museum is the Mexican Batman produced by Lili Ledy
under License by Mego. It seems Mexican toys had to be produced
locally so Mexican Mego figures have a different, albeit charming
look. This UBER rare boxed figure comes courtesy of Luis, a friend
to the Museum.

Mego Batman had two playsets and five vehicles produced in his
name, not to mention role play items. Visit the Playsets
department in the left menu bar.
A number of Batman playsets and vehicles were produced in other
formats by Mego. Of particular note would be the
Super Softies ,
Bend N Flex and
Comic Action Heroes but if it was a Superhero item made by Mego,
Batman was there.