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For many scholars, critics as well as fans, fidelity to the source material is the key word in a debate on film adaptation. This article, however, scrutinizes the issue of fidelity by reflecting on the character and story of Batman that has been so often rebooted and reinvented in its long history of comics and movies that one can wonder what the original is. Acknowledging today’s widespread cross-media exchange of narratives, the article shows that fans’ reactions to the filmic adaptations are as diverse as is the range of retellings of the Batman story. Focusing on the different interpretations of the villain Bane in the recent film franchise, it demonstrates that most fans prefer a sense of faithfulness towards the ‘essence’ of the character rather than an accurate resemblance in appearance or look. The study further acknowledges the growing importance of fans in the creative and economic process of adaptation.

News media play an important role in giving publicity and meaning to global suffering, as it is mainly through media reports that the world perceives international risk situations. This article focuses on natural and technological disasters as part of the contemporary risk society and their (de)construction by Flemish news media. Applying quantitative content analysis, the study reveals that 70.8 per cent of all disasters occurring between 1986 and 2006 are neglected by the newspapers, for the large part disasters in less developed countries. Regarding news coverage, proximity appears to be the guiding principle. Disasters developing in western or high-income countries are well covered while distant crises in the peripheral south are struggling to get attention, unless they affect a huge number of (western) people. In general, this article supports the claim that disasters and other instances of risk are essentially media constructs: they exist only when covered by the media.