Batman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). Originally referred to as "the Bat-Man" and still referred to at times as "the Batman", the character is additionally known as "the Caped Crusader", "the Dark Knight", and "the World's Greatest Detective", among other titles. Batman is the secret identity of Bruce Wayne, an American billionaire, industrialist, and philanthropist. Having witnessed the murder of his parents as a child, he swore revenge on criminals, an oath tempered with the greater ideal of justice. Wayne trains himself both physically and intellectually and dons a bat-themed costume in order to fight crime. Batman operates in the fictional Gotham City, assisted by various supporting characters including his crime-fighting partner, Robin, his butler Alfred Pennyworth, the police commissioner Jim Gordon, and occasionally the heroine Batgirl. He fights an assortment of villains, often referred to as the "rogues gallery", which includes the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, Two-Face, Ra's al Ghul, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman, among many others. Unlike most superheroes, he does not possess any superpowers; he makes use of intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess, martial arts skills, an indomitable will, fear, and intimidation in his continuous war on crime. Batman became a very popular character soon after his introduction and gained his own comic book title, Batman, in 1940. As the decades wore on, differing interpretations of the character emerged. The late 1960s Batman television series used a camp aesthetic which continued to be associated with the character for years after the show ended. Various creators worked to return the character to his dark roots, with varying results. The comic books of this dark stage culminated in the acclaimed 1986 miniseries The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller, as well as Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison, among others. The overall success of Warner Bros.' live-action Batman feature films have also helped maintain public interest in the character. An American cultural icon, Batman has been licensed and adapted into a variety of media, from radio to television and film, and appears on a variety of merchandise sold all over the world such as toys and video games. The character has also intrigued psychiatrists with many trying to understand the character's psyche and his true ego in society. In May 2011, Batman placed second on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time, after Superman. Empire magazine also listed him second in their 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters of All Time. The character has been portrayed in films by Lewis Wilson, Robert Lowery, Adam West, Michael Keaton, Kevin Conroy, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and soon by Ben Affleck.

Batman Beyond (known as Batman of the Future in Europe, Latin America, Australia and India) is an American animated television series created by Warner Bros. Animation in collaboration with DC Comics as a continuation of the Batman legacy. Depicting teenager Terry McGinnis as a new Batman in a futuristic Gotham City under the tutelage of an elderly Bruce Wayne, the series began airing on January 10, 1999, and ended its run on December 18, 2001. After 52 episodes spanning three seasons and one direct-to-video film, the series was put on hold for the Justice League animated series, despite the network having announced plans for a fourth season. Batman Beyond is set in the chronological future of the DC animated universe (despite being released before Static Shock, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited). Batman Beyond is said to explore the darker side of many Batman projects, playing on key elements such as emotions, personal relations, fear of the unknown, to cyberpunk and sci-fi themed elements such as issues and dilemmas of innovation and technological and scientific progress affecting society, and to the disturbing psychological elements of the character of Bruce Wayne. As such, it was considerably darker than most other children's programs at the time, although producer Bruce Timm recalls it was conceived as a kid-friendly Batman cartoon. It is also the first Batman series to portray the hero as a teenager. IGN named the show 40th on their list of "Top 100 Animated TV Series." The premise of Batman Beyond has been used in various comic book stories published by DC Comics, including an ongoing series beginning in 2011.

"Beauty and the Beast" (French: La Belle et la Bête) is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins in 1740. The best-known written version was an abridgement of her work published in 1756 by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont, in Magasin des enfants, ou dialogues entre une sage gouvernante et plusieurs de ses élèves; an English translation appeared in 1757. Variants of the tale are known across Europe. In France, for example, Zémire et Azor is an operatic version of the story, written by Marmontel and composed by Grétry in 1771, which had enormous success well into the 19th century; it is based on the second version of the tale. Amour pour amour, by Nivelle de la Chaussée, is a 1742 play based on Villeneuve's version.

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Big Mutha Truckers is a 2002 racing video game developed by British studio Eutechnyx. Set in fictional Hick County, the game revolves around completing trips between cities, delivering goods, and competing in races while at the helm of an eighteen wheeler. The game is available on Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, Xbox, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance and PC, but enjoyed only mediocre critical and commercial success due to repetitive gameplay, dated graphics, and lackluster sound. The game uses Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" as its theme song. The sequel is Big Mutha Truckers 2. The game's plot revolves around one of four available characters and their quest to inherit the family business. With plans to retire from the family business, Ma' Jackson challenges her four children, Cletus, Earl, Rawkus, and Bobbie-Sue, to a "Trial by Truckin". She gives each sibling 60 days in which to make deliveries to various cities in Hick State County, with the company going to the sibling with the most money in the end.

Billy Bob may refer to: Billy Bob Thornton Billy Bob Brockali, member of the animatronic robot band The Rock-afire Explosion

Bionicle (stylized as BIONICLE) was a line of contraction toys created by the Lego Group marketed primarily for 5-to-16-year-olds. Originally a sub-theme of Lego's Technic series, the line was initially launched in early 2001 in Europe and Australia and the following summer in North America and over the following decade became one of the Lego Groups's biggest-selling properties. The theme's concept is based on two earlier Lego themes that featured characters based on classical elements and incorporated a similar building system. In 2009, The Lego Group closed down the production of future Bionicle sets due to a lack of new sales in the product, and in the wake of theme's cancellation "replaced" Bionicle with Hero Factory; a new contraction series that carries Bionicle's legacy and features a similar building system. The Bionicle story is set in a science fantasy universe in a time pre-dating recorded history, featuring part-organic, part-machine sapient beings and is told on a vast multimedia scale through comic books, video games, website content, feature-length films and primarily, the sets themselves, among other media types. Between 2001 and 2003, the story depicted the events of six heroic beings called Toa Mata (later Toa Nuva), who with great 'Kanohi' masks of power and the ability to control different elements, protected the villagers known as Matoran on the tropical island of Mata Nui against an evil being known as the Makuta (real name later revealed as Teridax) and his many threats. The setting shifted in 2004 and 2005 to the futuristic city island of Metru Nui in a prequel storyline explaining the origins of the Matoran. 2006 began a new story focusing on the quest for the legendary Mask of Life; an artifact said to be able to save the Great Spirit Mata Nui (the god-like entity the Matoran worship) who was originally put to sleep by Makuta. The story culminated in 2008 with the revelation that Makuta Teridax had taken over Mata Nui's body - revealed to be a giant robotic humanoid vessel that houses the homelands of the Toa, Matoran and other known 'bio-mechanical' beings - and placed Mata Nui's consciousness in the Mask of Life, ejecting it into outer-space. 2009 began what was originally intended to be a new saga in the Bionicle story; the former Great Spirit Mata Nui crash-lands on the desert world of Bara Magna after being banished from his own universe by Makuta Teridax. There, he forges new friendships with the planet's Glatorian and Agori residents while attempting to find a way back to his homeland to save the Matoran from Teridax's tyrannical rule. After the announcement of Bionicle's cancellation, the 2010 storyline was changed to Teridax arriving on Bara Magna and battling Mata Nui as well as the former completing his destiny of reforming Spherus Magna; the once-plentiful planet that used to be Bara Magna. The story ended with Mata Nui retreating back inside the Mask of Life, deciding to let the Toa, Matoran, Glatorian and Agori build a new society together without him.