According to scientists, children do believe that Batman thinks Robin is real. At least not at first.
In a recent study, scientists were interested in seeing if children could understand the difference between fictional worlds. While it has long been observed that very young children can tell the difference between reality and fantasy, it was unclear whether or not they could determine the difference between fictional worlds. Thus, children were asked a series of questions that concerned whether one fictional character believed another fictional character to be real. For the most part children agreed that Batman would think Square Bob Sponge Pants, Blue (of Blues Clue fame), and Finding Nemo were fictional creations. However, scientists were baffled when the children answered that Batman thought Robin was fictional. Did children think that Batman lived a very elaborate fantasy life? It turns out the results were anomalous and might stem from children’s inability to see things from Batman’s perspective. Why they can see things from a talking sponge’s perspective and not a grown man is baffling, but whatever. When asked whether or not Batman could “touch Robin” (this just sounds bad) or “talk to Robin” the children agreed that Batman could.
When I was a kid I wouldn’t even play with different lines of action figures. Part of this was no doubt due to the fact that my He-Man and Superman action figures were radically different sizes, but I also remember saying in my child-like squeal to a friend not in the know, “They’re from different universes though. Superman doesn’t even know who He-Man is.” As you might have guessed, I was not very popular.
