Why Do People Like Batman So Much?
- Thread starter Drago-Morph
- Start date
When you think about it, Batman actually plays into our desires for what we want the wealthy to be. He sinks millions of dollars into projects designed to help those who can't help themselves (not just make him more money or serve his public image), and he puts his life on the line all the time to help those people. Essentially, he plays into our desires that the wealthy would use their money to look out for more than just themselves, but that they would also look out for us. At the same time, for those who believe the wealthy do help us out enough, he's a symbol of how the wealthy do help us but that we just don't see it and/or understand how they are doing it.
Personally, though, I've always liked him for his interesting and tragic backstory, his potentially mentally unstable state yet incredibly powerful will, his insane determination, and his general method of dealing with villains (he's more of a martial-arts master detective rather than an unstoppable superhuman). In many ways, he's still a fragile person but one who overcomes that through his determination to turn his tragedy into motivation to help others. When you consider his more human method of dealing with villains, it just makes him better.
Personally, though, I've always liked him for his interesting and tragic backstory, his potentially mentally unstable state yet incredibly powerful will, his insane determination, and his general method of dealing with villains (he's more of a martial-arts master detective rather than an unstoppable superhuman). In many ways, he's still a fragile person but one who overcomes that through his determination to turn his tragedy into motivation to help others. When you consider his more human method of dealing with villains, it just makes him better.
Well, he's a bit like Light/L mixed with some Ichigo from Bleach. At least that's the examples that spring to mind right now, maybe there is something better. But anyway - brilliant like both of those, and a good fighter to boot. So there you go - its something along those lines.Angie7F said:
OP are you dense? Are you retarded or something? HE'S THE GODDAMN BATMAN!
On a serious note, because people like good movies and superman movies are shit.
On a serious note, because people like good movies and superman movies are shit.
...Because he's a badass superheroe despite having no superpowers whatsoever? I can't help but think he's a bit overused though...
This is pretty spot-on, since I was lately asking myself the same question. Then I started playing Batman: Arkham City and suddenly warmed up for him.
I like the fact that he keeps to non-lethal methods, despite however fucked up the situation and however overpowered his enemies are. Nevertheless, he is rather intimidating and in many cases brutal which gives an interesting contrast. Hard and unrelenting justice combined with mercy of not killing. It impressed me.
The beginning of Batman: Arkham City was very well chosen as well. It gives away his vulnerability, the fact that he is just a human, just as well his determination and impressive skill in combat. The game would have been much weaker if he was Batman from the very beginning, because it would have left out an important layer of his personality.
Besides, that guy has style. Sometimes it's ridiculous, sometimes it's over the top and sometimes you grin smugly when a criminal whispers "It's Batman!" and you can hear everybody shitting their pants.
I like the fact that he keeps to non-lethal methods, despite however fucked up the situation and however overpowered his enemies are. Nevertheless, he is rather intimidating and in many cases brutal which gives an interesting contrast. Hard and unrelenting justice combined with mercy of not killing. It impressed me.
The beginning of Batman: Arkham City was very well chosen as well. It gives away his vulnerability, the fact that he is just a human, just as well his determination and impressive skill in combat. The game would have been much weaker if he was Batman from the very beginning, because it would have left out an important layer of his personality.
Besides, that guy has style. Sometimes it's ridiculous, sometimes it's over the top and sometimes you grin smugly when a criminal whispers "It's Batman!" and you can hear everybody shitting their pants.
My exposure to comics is exceptionally limited, it always was. One of the few comic book characters that caught my eye, ever, was Batman. To a child his dark visage is frightening. The Joker, as a counter point, is bright, colorful like a clown, all things juvenile frankly, right down to his reasoning and behavior. Where as Batman is something else entirely. And those are just two counter points between him and his villains. I think he taps something primordial in children.
I recall the first comic I saw with him in it just a crappy little three part series that came with an audio tape. Like I said, I'm not a huge comic fan and never got much exposure to them. He goes into this bar, first thing, and to my surprise isn't angry that some 'snitch' he's after threatened him with a gun. He's disgusted. "Really? Really?" And then he beat this guy. I mean plays with him, in public, just slapping him around like the ***** he was. That's when I fell in love and I've never looked back.
I recall the first comic I saw with him in it just a crappy little three part series that came with an audio tape. Like I said, I'm not a huge comic fan and never got much exposure to them. He goes into this bar, first thing, and to my surprise isn't angry that some 'snitch' he's after threatened him with a gun. He's disgusted. "Really? Really?" And then he beat this guy. I mean plays with him, in public, just slapping him around like the ***** he was. That's when I fell in love and I've never looked back.
I think it was once (and accurately) clarified that it isn't Batman that's interested about the Batman comics, but the villains.Drago-Morph said:
In the same note, I find Superman is boring even more so and his villains consist of one of two things;
They are a physical match for him (or variety of powers which rival his own) or they have kryptonite.
DC has a lot of iconic characters but I find the general feel of the universe(s) too goody-goody.
In this, Batman has the darker feel and easily fits into more serious stories without adding magic powers or unusual plot devices to be 'good'. Particularly with the Dark Knight trilogy.
It's a combination of factors really. Probably the most important one is the fact that (most of the time) Batman is written to be very human and realistic, nothing Batman can do is completely beyond the realm of possibly in real life. Batman is also not a completely psychotic mass murdering a****** like the Punisher is, (still a great character BTW) which makes more relatable. Fiction is ultimately about wish fulfillment, and having a very realistic and relatable character helps with that.Drago-Morph said:
However, when Batman is part of super hero team ups or otherwise goes up against superpowered opponents, both writers and fans have had this annoying tendency to make Batman this insanely prepared for everything Mary Sue character that can beat everyone or even just hope to survive against people he wouldn't stand the slightest chance against on his best day if they actually wrote him as being on the level he's actually supposed to be. Superman Vs. Batman? Who wins? According to the fans and writers, BATMAN! Darkside Vs. Batman? BATMAN! Galactus Vs Batman? BATMAN! As to why he always wins? BECAUSE HE'S THE GODDAMN BATMAN!!! In other words, no reason.
I think you kind of miss the point of Robin though, he's not there to destroy the "dark and gritty" tone, but to check that tone. Without somebody like Robin around the darkness of Batman fiction has nothing to balance it, it would build up to the point that audiences just care anymore whether Batman succeeds or not, because there's no sign that anything will ever get better. As usual, there's a trope for that: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarknessInducedAudienceApathy
The other important factor is the villains. Whether it be the Joker, Penguin, Poison Ivy, etc. all of them manage to be threatening while also being so over the top that they often come off as hilarious. It actually pretty difficult to put into words what's so great about them really, they either work for you or they don't.
I'm not much into comics, so I have a less bias than your average proper fan (and far less knowledge on the subject). I like Batman. The more I try to analyze that, the less it makes sense. Is it the villains? I like a few of his rogues gallery, but most of them lack superpowers and that's usually what I enjoy in villains. Is it his backstory? Not really, I wouldn't mind if Bruce Wayne's parents were still alive and happy and he found some other reason to dress up as a bat and kick the tar out of people. It might be the setting, which entertains me quite a bit.
But honestly, I don't know why. I can't point to a single thing or even a group of things and say "that's why I like Batman". I just sorta do. Maybe DC Comics has access to mind control tech?
CAPTCHA: Box of Chocolates
No Captcha, I don't think that's their method, though it would be nice of them.
But honestly, I don't know why. I can't point to a single thing or even a group of things and say "that's why I like Batman". I just sorta do. Maybe DC Comics has access to mind control tech?
CAPTCHA: Box of Chocolates
No Captcha, I don't think that's their method, though it would be nice of them.
....troll thread?Drago-Morph said:
No, but seriously, my favorite Batman moments have always been the ones of a lighter tone. Especially in TAS, though Batman was a grim, serious character, there were always a few moments of levity that put the character into a new perspective. One example that comes to mind is the Christmas episode. Something about The Dark Knight watching It's A Wonderful Life with his boy ward is hilarious to me. The character was so dark and angsty and full of self-doubt and conflict but there were these moments of joy and levity that I always liked (his relationships with the other heroes, Diana especially, were fun in the Justice League cartoon).
There's also the fact that he's a major badass, the smartest goddamned man on the planet, and the world's greatest detective. Do you know how awesome detectives are? Awesome.
As someone else said, I also like the different versions of Batman. There are so many and while most are consistent, there are some wild ones (the most obvious being Adam West's, my absolute favorite for the sheer amount of cheese) that change the character, yet all of them seemed to tie together. It's just always been fun to see the wild variations of Bats.
This probably doesn't seem very coherent but I just woke up and saw this on the front page, so oh well.
There's a lot of reasons to like Batman, so I'll try and list the top three off of my head.
1) He's a top notch tragic figure. Batman's tragedy isn't just steeped in his back story, as his countless portrayals have proven. Although he is defined by the events of his past, the events of his present are barely any better. Not only has he had three of his proteges murdered, suffered severe debilitations (one example being Bane breaking his back) and has a terrible love life but he's also a tragic martyr for his own cause. Whenever something bad happens, Bruce only blames himself - which in the comic books isn't far from wrong as most of his villains only exist due to the Batman's existence. He is burdened to take on too much to handle, and as a result always blames himself when things eventually go wrong.
2) Batman is a regular guy in a world of people who shoot lasers out of their eyes and shapeshift into tigers. In short, it's natural to root for Batman because he's the easiest character for readers to project themselves onto in the DC universe. Whilst most readers probably won't be able to relate to his riches or his mentality towards certain things, when a fight breaks out it's kind of hard not to root for Batman. He's the underdog in a lot of ways, regardless of how popular and skilled he is. Comic books have been playing off of Batman's mortality in the face of literal gods for years. Popular examples of this are Tower of Babel storyline (where Batman's designs to take down every member of the Justice League nearly defeat every member of the team, including him) and the extremely popular Dark Knight Returns (in which Batman almost single-handedly beats the ever living shit out of Superman). Even the recent DC videogame Injustice: Gods Among Us deals with this idea, with Batman pretty much going up against most of the super-powered heroes and villains of the DC universe almost by himself.
3) Part of liking Batman isn't just about liking Batman himself. Batman has spawned several other different creations in the DC universe, all of which would be impossible without Batman's existence. There are the obvious examples, such as Gotham City itself - a city designed in the DC universe primarily as a plot device to serve Batman's quest. You also have the Robins, who have gone on to be extremely popular in their own right and have resulted in a bunch of successful spin-off titles such as Nightwing, Red Robin, Red Hood and Batgirl. And then there's the rouge gallery, with dozens of the DC's top villains who came into existence just to battle Batman. The Joker, Bane, The Riddler, Scarecrow, Ra's Al Ghul, Calender Man, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy and god knows how many others. No other villain in the DC universe, can boast such a wide and varied rouge gallery - not even Superman. Hell, Batman's rouge gallery might just be the best one in comic book history. The only other contender would be Spider-Man, but that's a different argument for another day.
1) He's a top notch tragic figure. Batman's tragedy isn't just steeped in his back story, as his countless portrayals have proven. Although he is defined by the events of his past, the events of his present are barely any better. Not only has he had three of his proteges murdered, suffered severe debilitations (one example being Bane breaking his back) and has a terrible love life but he's also a tragic martyr for his own cause. Whenever something bad happens, Bruce only blames himself - which in the comic books isn't far from wrong as most of his villains only exist due to the Batman's existence. He is burdened to take on too much to handle, and as a result always blames himself when things eventually go wrong.
2) Batman is a regular guy in a world of people who shoot lasers out of their eyes and shapeshift into tigers. In short, it's natural to root for Batman because he's the easiest character for readers to project themselves onto in the DC universe. Whilst most readers probably won't be able to relate to his riches or his mentality towards certain things, when a fight breaks out it's kind of hard not to root for Batman. He's the underdog in a lot of ways, regardless of how popular and skilled he is. Comic books have been playing off of Batman's mortality in the face of literal gods for years. Popular examples of this are Tower of Babel storyline (where Batman's designs to take down every member of the Justice League nearly defeat every member of the team, including him) and the extremely popular Dark Knight Returns (in which Batman almost single-handedly beats the ever living shit out of Superman). Even the recent DC videogame Injustice: Gods Among Us deals with this idea, with Batman pretty much going up against most of the super-powered heroes and villains of the DC universe almost by himself.
3) Part of liking Batman isn't just about liking Batman himself. Batman has spawned several other different creations in the DC universe, all of which would be impossible without Batman's existence. There are the obvious examples, such as Gotham City itself - a city designed in the DC universe primarily as a plot device to serve Batman's quest. You also have the Robins, who have gone on to be extremely popular in their own right and have resulted in a bunch of successful spin-off titles such as Nightwing, Red Robin, Red Hood and Batgirl. And then there's the rouge gallery, with dozens of the DC's top villains who came into existence just to battle Batman. The Joker, Bane, The Riddler, Scarecrow, Ra's Al Ghul, Calender Man, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy and god knows how many others. No other villain in the DC universe, can boast such a wide and varied rouge gallery - not even Superman. Hell, Batman's rouge gallery might just be the best one in comic book history. The only other contender would be Spider-Man, but that's a different argument for another day.
Jack the Potato said:
sigh was going to stay out of this... promised myself i wouldint jump into a supes V.S bats fight becsue when i go batman fanboy i go batman fanboy hard. but then you had to being the angry joe video into this, dont get me wrong i love joe but he made some bad points on in there and i made an account just to comment on them(been lurking there forever without really commeting on any vids but this was the straw that broke the camles back so to speak)omega 616 said:
1. Batman admits that superman COULD win, not that he WOULD win, and i agree that they shouldn't be fighting each other (that stchik got old awhile ago)(fun fact: canonically supes has killed, he executed a parallel dimension zod gang with kryptonite after genocide on an alternate earth)
2.if superman were pushed past his limit and in a berserker rage he would not be thinking clearly AT ALL, true his limits would be removed and he be at his stogest he would blunder into batmans traps even easier since his mind would be clouded by rage and grief dare i say it hed be even weaker,as for batman being scared i don't buy it not one bit,batman has faced death many many time before hell hes even died once just like every cape worth his salt,here's a mortal man that gos out every night and fights things that would give you and me nightmares and still he shows little to no fear,compared to what someone like the joker would do to bats on a normal Tuesday a pissed off superman is a blessing(quicker,cleaner death and less chance of necrophilia/corpse mutilation ;P)
3.about Superman's resurrection that was with outside help from the eradicator who took superman's body back to the fortress of solitude and placed it into a krytion regeneration chamber(it would be like letting robin put bruce's body into a lazarus pit, but that's something no one wants to deal with), so superman cant comeback to life on his own he needs someone to put his lifeless body in the chamber to do it in other words when supes is dead hes dead for good
4.you also have to admit that any threat level big enough requires batman and sometimes the JLAs help as its even a bigger challenge tan superman can handle,however i prefer to think of this one as batman's just using the tools at his disposal (in the case of supergirl it was supes wonde and barda) as for the instilling fear and hope and the frontmansship bits batman inspires fear in CRIMINALS but hope in the people(that's one of the reasons i contend that he hasn't ended the jokers life but that's a debate for another day)one comic captures the point perfectly when Bruce took 3 kids out camping and they told batman stories and in the end he tried to scare them as batman for shits and giggles but they just laughed it off proving that he inspires hope the the people but fear in criminals, as for the frontman thing you and i both know that's a marketing thing as well as a personalty thing Batman's in the shadows while Superman's in the spotlight hell even there costumes reflect this.ad for "the single darkseid punch" bit hes done that before from things punching at or beyond spues power(heck you even played the clip of it happing debunking your own argument)
5.your approaching this from the wrong angle joe your think that Bruce is just going to come to this fight with batarangs knockout gas and shark repellent, its hardly inconceivable that bruce would not reverse engineer most if not all the alien tech he finds to use in his war on crime(hell he even has a boom tube kicking abound in the cave somewhere and i remember reading a superman story where he was narrowly defeated and the only way he escaped was because MR.miracle the greatest escape artist in the mutlivers was there to help him and even then it was close) most of the tech that Clarke would bring to the fight can be conceivable countered in one way or another cowl can see past the hologram(think arkham asylum) the radiation suit can be ripped of circumvented(like i said boom tube) and while the phantom zone projector has the very real possibility of ending the fight in an instant he still has to HIT batman with the damn thing.all that being said if it comes to a fight batman's going to make him run the gauntlet like he would a super villain robot mooks lasers deathtraps the whole shebang(will theses kill Clark? in all likelihood no but that's not the point the point is to weaken him so barman can beat him in the time and or place of his choosing with all of his advantages
6.yes superman is the stronger of the 2 no ones in there right mind even the most die hard batfanboy would debate this so course hes going to need help from gadgets kryptonite, magic yada,yada, that's just part of the batman package. is batman the better fighter? yes Hes mastered 127 styles of martial arts,is that going to help in in a fight with superman tho? not really
7.Beating Lex Luthor doesn't make you smarter than him. And Lex has his own weaknesses. such as aggence and the like. also Cunning, cunning my good man. while i can admit Batman's pretty arrogant,he's not SO arrogant that he doesn't think other people could ever outdo him. And while I don't think Superman's lacking in that trait himself,he cant hold a candle to batman in that respect (you got to be pretty damn smart/cunning if you go toe to toe with gods on a weekly basis) simply put Batman will almost always be the more cunning one.also lets not forget about the joker who is the basically the evil equivalent of batman (who as another poster pointed out has defeated superman twice, i even remember one of them which was on the animated series/movie)so i wouldn't be talking bad about Mr.j. knowing something and knowing how to use it effectivley are 2 different things entirely so while yes superman can read ALL the books (which i believe hes done)he still wouldn't be as good at it because he doesn't have to rely on it, where as batman had to rely on it or else hes toast not to mention form and experience, which Superman doesn't have. And even then there's the instinct of a fighter. in other words while its another tool in superman's arsenal,its batman's bread and butter and as others have pointed out Superman has enhanced hearing, Enhanced sight, and senses, You don't think Batman could exploit that and cause Superman crippling pain with a well-timed sonic bombardment? and again when it comes down to brass tacks those are great tools but there great weakness as well. funny enough that you also metion 5-d beings as batman has to contend with his own,batmite and there are other cosmic beings that batman has had to fight and win, more so than supes as he cant fallback on his superpowers
8.ah! the kryptonite deale here it is, as we have all established is all over the place but even if you don't think the ring could do much its not beyond the possibility that batman can supercharge the krptonie to make it more potent in effect "enriching" much like uranium plus lets keep in mind batman's not going to go running at supes with a huck of kryptonite enriched or not hes going to get creative with that shit and rest assured with is rescures hes going to have a lot at his disposal and in every color that gives him an advantage(like a rainbow of death)as to that one moment is all batman needs for the killing blow
9.first got to start this one off by saying not cool on misquoting doom(bats said the JLA was his plan).as others have pointed out batman holds back as well(see tower of Babel) if we wanted to make them lealth he would but he doesnt....for the most part.your right plans don't always go according to plan batman's had a few that have blown up in his face(wargames was one of those)but hes a mater at impozition and can bounce back as for the others plans the solution is simple...MAKE MORE PLANS!!!while they know about those plans do you really think he would stop at one plan? no he keeps making them this is the kind of paranoid nut who beats up criminals at night only to come home during the day and make plans on how to beat everyone up, but seriously batman only needs his one plan against superman to work in this case. hes the chess master to superman's cheackerplayer you can be the best damn checkers player in the universe but play against the chess master and odds are it will be gg in 8 moves.superman can have the prep time the problem is batman knows this and will counter supes preptime(as lets face it if superman gets prep time odds are hes going to make a bulwark against his weakness such as the rad suit or find a way to debuff batman in some way)
10.as for the batman never beating him in canon i'm going to have to call shennagins on that one the higher ups at DC dosn't want superman to lose hell in the Marvel/DC crossover they had supes fighting Thor and Thor lost let me put that into perspective an ACCTULE GOD WITH A MAGIC HAMMER lost to superman(i later found out that DC would not even do the crossover unless they let superman win...that is all)that's why all Batman's DESISVE (because hes had many close ones or ones that weren't fight against superman but battles of wits or just keeping supes on his toes.)were elseworlds stories
in short superman may be OP but batman is the nerfbat
OT:for me the reason why i like him is simple hes the atheist hero, he represents what man can do at his finest, he stands shoulder to shoulder with gods as equals, hes basically the Odysseus to supermans hercules he uses his brain to win fights, hes got style, his mythos is cool he has the best villians in the DC universe(the flash runs a close seconed, see what i did there) those are some of the basic reasons why i like him
Can you do me a favor? Correct those spelling mistakes please, at one point you call batman "barman" ...Nerdstar said:
You just wrote a small story about how Batman would try to be superman, none of it sounds even remotely plausible!
Living Solar Battery
Superhuman Strength
Invulnerability
Healing Factor
X-Ray Vision
Eidetic Memory
Heat Vision
Superhuman Breath
Superhuman Hearing
Superhuman Vision
Superhuman Olfaction(smell)
Master Combatant....."has also learned more advanced martial arts techniques from Batman".
You can read more accurately on the wiki about superman.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_and_abilities_of_Superman
Superhuman Strength
Invulnerability
Healing Factor
X-Ray Vision
Eidetic Memory
Heat Vision
Superhuman Breath
Superhuman Hearing
Superhuman Vision
Superhuman Olfaction(smell)
Master Combatant....."has also learned more advanced martial arts techniques from Batman".
You can read more accurately on the wiki about superman.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_and_abilities_of_Superman
Batmans powers seem to be the ability to learn at super human speed, he is how old? Say less than 50 and you claim he knows 127 fighting styles? Then there is all the other shit he has learned as well.
Even if Batman shot a bullet made of the strongest kryptonite at superman, while he was distracted by some horrible event ... superman would still dodge the bullet!
He could hear the firing mechanism go off, feel himself weakening as the bullet drew closer and be out of there.
All I ever read from Batman supporters are references to canon, how about instead just looking at there abilities and skill set? Batman is just a man, 5 of supermans abilities are SUPERhuman ... if superman wanted to he could just play the rabbit as batman played the dog, just run away till batman got too tired.
Batman vs superman would like batman trying to knock down a house with a foam hammer ... the only reason it isn't, is 'cos "superman sucks and batman is teh best!".
The fight could be batman vs every other person in comic book history at the same time and batman would still win ... batmans greatest power is the fans, who would ***** and moan if he ever lost.