The Good People of Gotham
The rest of the world likes to believe the Batman doesn't exist. The Gotham police have refused for years to admit that he aids them. The criminals (those who are willing to admit to being beat up by an urban legend) are called crazy, and the newspapers either claim disbelief or come up with one insane story after another, contradicting each other every week.
Everyone knows that Batman doesn't exist.
And the people of Gotham smile and nod, humoring all those nuts inhabiting the rest of the world.
Of course Batman doesn't exist, the good people of Gotham say patronizingly. Don't you watch the news?
Don't be silly, they say with a smile. Surely you don't actually believe that some man dresses up as a giant bat and puts away all those criminals?
Batman? He can't be real, they say, exchanging smirks with the other Gothamites in the vicinity. Don't you think there'd at least be one picture of the man himself? No one can go that long without being caught on camera or video at least once.
Batman? I heard he was really Superman in disguise, they say with exaggerated naïveté. Really? the other Gothamites ask, the same wide-eyed expression on their faces.
Have you ever seen him? they ask, laughing. Yeah, me neither.
Except the news isn't always the most reliable source, and why should he have been caught on camera? He's Batman. And some have seen him, even if they say otherwise, and the people of Gotham most certainly do believe that there is too a man who dresses up as a giant bat and puts away the criminals. He exists in Gotham and for Gotham.
But the Bat likes the shadows, and the good people of Gotham are willing to indulge him.
They like the shadows, too. Especially ones shaped like bats.