Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang doesn't need a Batman costume to be Borussia Dortmund's superhero

There’s a reason why Batman is often considered the best comic book superhero by fans, above the likes of Superman, Captain America and the X-Men.

Shrouded in a veil of mystique, the Dark Knight makes his presence known in the darkest of times, caring little for the whos or hows and focusing solely on restoring justice.

It is, then, little wonder that one Batman diehard is Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Aubameyang, unlike Batman however, does not conceal his identity – the Gabon international is a very open comics fan and infamously donned a Batman mask last season to celebrate a goal against Schalke – with Marco Reus his equally-potent sidekick in a Robin eye-mask.

This past weekend came a sequel as well-received as The Dark Knight Rises.

Aubameyang was again on the scoresheet as Dortmund emerged triumphant from a thrilling five-goal Ruhr derby, and this time celebrated by removing his shirt to reveal a vest displaying the notorious ‘Bat-Signal’ logo, a classic caption logo from the original Batman TV series reading ‘Boom!’ and the words: “Do you remember?”

Schalke fans will, unfortunately for them, struggle to forget the striker’s constant threat even without the running gag. But they’re not the only ones.

Aubameyang arrived at Signal-Iduna Park from Saint-Etienne in 2013 at a time when the club were the toast of the town. Jurgen Klopp’s approach to football left fans worldwide weak at the knees, and Dortmund had just featured in that year’s Champions League final, a year after temporarily halting Bayern Munich’s domestic dominance.

Though he boasted a strong reputation, thanks to his 37 goals in 80 starts with Saint-Etienne, he was moving to one of the strongest teams on the continent and a side that already boasted the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Marco Reus in their attack.

The early stages of his German adventure were good - and his start was spectacular. He scored a hat-trick on his debut at Augsburg in August 2013 and while the fireworks dried up a little thereafter he added a further 11 for a fine debut season. The last of those goals came in mid-February, however: Klopp’s tendency to employ him as a wide flanking forward to utilise his pace and direct style meant flat-out goal-getting wasn’t Aubameyang’s sole mission.

The following campaign he netted an impressive 24 times, filling the gaping hole left by Lewandowski quite nicely, and yet found his goals overshadowed by Dortmund’s shockingly-awful campaign and Klopp’s resulting decision that it was time to move on.

Of course, superheroes are known for being there when someone is in distress – and without a host of their best players from their 2011-2013 peak, without Champions League football and without the inspiration behind the club’s return to prominence in Klopp, Dortmund were certainly in distress.

Now, just three months into the 2015-16 campaign, new coach Thomas Tuchel will be over the moon that Dortmund can rely on ‘the Batman of the Bundesliga’ to save the day.

Aubameyang’s scoring exploits so far this term certainly place him in the role of ‘Caped Crusader’ compared to Lewandowski’s ‘Superman’, after the man who defected from Ruhr Valley to rivals Bayern single-handedly destroyed last year’s runners-up Wolfsburg with five goals in just 15 minutes.

While that staggering substitute’s performance helped ensure all eyes were on the Pole in Germany, Aubameyang is tied atop the Bundesliga scoring charts with his predecessor at 14. We’re only 12 games in.

Not only that, but Aubameyang scored in each of the first eight league games this campaign, form which has sent Barcelona scouts scurrying to Germany for a closer look.

"Sometimes I think to myself: 'F***, I'm really good'," Aubmeyang joked in a recent interview with L'Equipe.

"I need to continue like this, to repeat this form over several seasons like Messi and Ronaldo have done. For years I've said that one day I'd like to score 40 goals."

If he carries on playing the way he has been, there’s a chance in the not-too-distant future he could be playing alongside someone like Barca’s living legend, and this kind of form would even challenge such a feared attacking trio as Messi, Suarez and Neymar.

But for the time being, Aubameyang is the star of perhaps Europe’s second-best three-man strike force at present – flanked either side by Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Back on the Gotham-esque streets of Borussia Dortmund’s attempt to return to past heights, Aubameyang is playing 'Batman' to Tuchel's ‘Commissioner Gordon’. And the new boss surely needs a superhero on his side if he is to succeed the incomparable Klopp and bring trophies back to Dortmund.