What would have happened to Bruce Wayne if his family had been poor?

[Something Amyss]

Assuming he still decided to go all vigilante he would have ended up getting shot, stabbed or bludgeoned to death without sufficient training or equipment. That or permanently incapacitated by severe injury.

Actually, come to think of it, that would have happened to regular rich Batman too except, y'know... comic book logic.

I don't know, Batman's greatest power is neither his wealth nor his planning. It's the level of plot armour he already posesses. So powerful that he rises to whatever the necessary challenge is.

Besides, he'd become Daredevil or something. Matt Murdoch was trained by a blind hobo and learned to take on guys made of Adamantium.

It's not like superhero comics are aimed at realism, even when people don't have powers (Note that after the rewrite of DD's origins, he no longer got superpowers from the waste that blinded him, but went emo until Stick taught him. Unless theyvé changed it again).

I mean, Spider-Man can afford a highly durable, biodegradable polymer that can compress to be wrist-mounted but fired in extraordinary quantities in amounts great enough to allow him to travel New York City not just for combat, but for fun and exercise. On a freelance photographer's salary (and sometimes a teacher's). I know rent in Manhattan is high, but I don't think he's saving enough by living with his mom aunt to make that plausible.
And Catwoman seems to do okay for herself, using not only an in-universe example, but an in-Batman example. Even shen she's not stealing.

 

[Genocidicles]

They were actually going to make a film about this, before the Nolan trilogy. It got cancelled and it sounded horrible.

Bruce Wayne ends up as a homeless orphan, who grows up into a borderline psychotic who begins taking vengeance on street thugs. Because he's poor he just uses whatever junk he can find, like brass knuckles and a knife. He also wears a cape and a hockey mask and the batcave is an abandoned subway station.

The whole thing's at Cracked:

http://www.cracked.com/article_19206_5-superhero-movies-you-wont-believe-almost-got-made.html

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I can assume he'd play out much the way Nolan's movie Robin did - suck it up and join the cops.

 

[broca]

Super villain of course. His parents get murdered, he ends up in foster care and runs away. The experience of growing up on the streets without any moral guidance lead him pursue a life of crime. After he has earned his reputation as a criminal, he teams up with Lex Luther who sponsors him the equipment original batman would have had so they can fight Superman together.

Damn, now i really want that to happen in the batman vs. superman movie.

 

[Vivi22]

This is what Batman would be like without a budget, and without Alfred and the rest of the Bat-Clan his levels of paranoia would probably go through the roof.

I hate to bring up the /thread meme, but seriously, this is the only acceptable answer assuming you want a Batman that isn't a complete raging psychopath. I doubt /thread has ever been more applicable.

 

[SanguiniusMagnificum]

Cracked.com has already answered you question. The wall of text within the spoiler tags describes a script by Fran kMiller and Darren Arnofsky. These guys planned to make a "grittier" reimagining of Miller's "Batman: Year One" storyline with a twist: Bruce Wayne is poor.

Spoiler

In the script by Frank Miller, with input by Aronofsky, Bruce Wayne becomes a street-dwelling orphan after his parents are killed, growing up into "a borderline psychotic who begins taking violent vengeance on street thugs." Instead of using high-tech gadgets, this lower-class Batman is equipped with whatever junk he can find, since obviously he's working on a budget: a hockey mask, a cape, brass knuckles and a knife. Oh, and instead of the Batmobile? He drives a pimped out Lincoln continental.

Remember Alfred, the butler? In this version he's an auto mechanic called Big Al who takes in a young, raging Bruce Wayne ("more of a wild animal than a boy") and raises him. When the movie starts, Big Al has passed away and Bruce is living with his son, Little Al, described as "a gigantic, early middle-aged black man." Also, Catwoman is a sassy dominatrix working in a whore house across the street from Al's garage ... but that part actually is in the comic.


Our theory is that someone saw this scene and thought: "What if the whole movie was like that?"

The Batcave, rather than being a hidden base with intricate technology lining stone walls, is an abandoned subway station. The Batcycle is a regular black motorbike. Robin is an old Jewish lady with an axe. (That last part isn't true, but only that last part.) Even the name is different: In this version he actually calls himself "The Bat-Man." That's how much Aronofsky wanted to distance himself from the comic.



Literally quoted from: http://www.cracked.com/article_19206_5-superhero-movies-you-wont-believe-almost-got-made.html#ixzz2dXQJm4oX

 

[Geowulf]

He would become an crack addict

 

[Thaluikhain]

He could have been someone else's sidekick the way Grayson was with him.

For that matter, Batman Inc had low budget Batpersons.

 

[legend of duty]

He would have become Casey Jones from TMNT.

 

[Evonisia]

He'd probably turn into Slenderman, he has no personality and his parents wouldn't be murdered. So he'll be a faux-fancy man with no facial expression or personality.

Then again, Slenderman has an infinitely bigger personality than Batman ever had.

 

[baconsarnie]

He'd probably turn to crime, just petty stuff. Then one day a simple mugging would go wrong, he'd shoot a rich couple, leaving their kid a rich orphan, this would have serious concequences for the boy who, with the money he inherits would pay some people to act like his parents. This boy would grow up, Richie Rich.

 

[Gormech]

In short, he'd just become a non-lethal version of the Punisher. Well, maybe shives and knives instead of batarangs, a dog or group of hooligans instead of Robin.

 

[Fox12]

I've thought about this a few times and I figure that without major Plot Armor a young Bruce Wayne would never approach true Batman status without being filthy rich from the get go.

The classic story is that his (wealthy) parents were murdered in front of him after watching the movie "Mark of Zorro". He vows revenge against all criminals and grows up (under the care of his indulgent butler Alfred) using his inherited wealth to travel the world and learn multiple martial arts from Masters (including Tibetan monks who teach him all kinds of borderline mystical ninja-like skills) before returning to Gotham where he has Wayne Enterprises build him a few billion dollars worth of gadgets and tools.

He then proceeds to kick criminal butts all over Gotham, join the Justice League etc, etc...

But what would have happened if the same thing occurred only he'd been dirt poor to begin with?

No Alfred to rear him. He didn't even have any close relatives so he probably would have been reared in an orphanage (babies have far higher adoption rates than older children).

No massive fortune to travel the world and learn from the best of the best. No arsenal of tools and vehicles, etc.

I don't see him degenerating into a sociopathic Watchmen-type Rorschach or anything but without ridiculous levels of "IT WAS HIS DESTINY TO BECOME BATMAN" Plot Armour I don't see him becoming more than a well motivated wannabe who might become quite skilled at fighting, tactics, etc but NOWHERE near true Batman status.

So what do you think?

He'd basically be male catwoman. He wouldn't have the resources he has now, but the whole reason I love batman is that if you take away all his money, all of his gadgets, and and all of his weapons, he's still an insane ninja warrior bad-ass. That's not true for superman, or most other superheroes. Batman had to earn everything he's achieved, unlike other heroes, and that reflects character. Batman, I think, would still have his strength of character, and that's what matters.

This was also the main point of the new film, which was interesting despite its flaws. If you strip batman of his wealth and power, is he still Batman? I think he would be. There would be differences, yes, and he wouldn't have billion dollar supercomputers to help him solve crimes, but I think he could still get the job done.

 

[gdv358]

If Bruce Wayne had no money, but everything else about him stayed the same (except things given to him by the money) you'd have to remember that he'd still be a big dude with a genius IQ and a huge obsessive compulsive disorder. This would give him the martial arts prowess (which, while expensive in the long term, is something people pick up on a smaller budget all the time with practice), the detective skills (public schools + scholarships for the nut-job obsessive genius) and the science background to give him the ability to make a great deal of the gear he uses.

The thing is, does Batman's money give him the ability to buy what he needs? Yes. But does someone need his money to make equivalents? Not really. He wouldn't be able to power his stuff with a nuclear reactor or own his own private mini-jet. But the car, the ninja tools, the outfit are completely feasible. (you can get kevlar and other materials like it with a budget if you just do some looking around, it gets used in car and boat customization all the time).

Honestly, I think urban guerilla warfare MacGyver kit-bash Batman (tm) would be a more interesting character to play with. He could still obtain Batman status, but it would be much harder earned and he'd have to actually have a day-job to fund his improvised equipment.

Really the character has nothing about him that requires the money, it's just really easy for a writer to hand-wave away explanations by going "oh yeah, I bought it through Wayne Industries".

But back to the more interesting concept of Batman having to improvise and keep a day-job. What does a broke Bruce Wayne do for a living? "Hello students, I'm Professor Batman"? What job could Bruce Wayne hold while still running around getting shot at every night?

 

[gdv358]

What job could Bruce Wayne hold while still running around getting shot at every night?

mall security guard.

he's still get to beat the shit out punks...

Yeah, that'd be a good one but I don't think it'd quite be the perfect fit. It would fit the personality type, but it wouldn't pay enough to fund the improvised gear and sometimes they work night shifts to make sure no one breaks in, cutting into his late night activities.

I'd think he'd have to get into something like professional fighting where the majority of your year is training and then you work for a few rounds every couple months and get paid enough to carry you to the next fight. Or maybe he starts his own Dojo. Imagine your Dojo's Master being Batman.