darry being called superman and not batman is correct. why? due to how the superheroes were portrayed at the time in mainstream media—superman as a straight forward American Hero and batman more as a goofy adam west serial. darry is meant to be a reflection of 1950s values that were mainstream, didn't oppose authority, father knows best attitude. trying to say he should be viewed as batman is wrong not only because darry doesn't have the traumatic empathy that bruce has, not only because darry is not at all as observant as batman has ever been, but also because darry would never go against the status quo or norms the way that batman has. that is the whole point of him and trying to retcon him into batman or a batman figure both intrinsically misunderstands what se hinton was doing with that line and assigns him qualities he innately does not possess. if the greasers viewed him as batman of the time, they wouldn't be taking him seriously and furthermore, it would undermine how darry is with the status quo.
