Have enough money to solve almost any social issue, but put on a weird black latex suit and beat up the mentally unstable at night instead.
Have enough money to solve almost any social issue, but put on a weird black latex suit and beat up the mentally unstable at night instead.
There's a clip from The Batman ( the animated show) I can't find at the moment, but it basically involves Batman clearing a room of thugs by offering them jobs. They all walk out, without a punch thrown.
In the real world, no one that has Bruce Wayne's degree of wealth is a truly positive influence on the world on the whole. There are no ethical billionaires. But within the context of the DC Universe, Bruce has been routinely demonstrated as using his wealth in the most socially conscious, progressive, and generous ways. He is always shown in stark contrast with the likes of Lex Luthor.
The line is quippy, but it's silly when you look at the batman stories. Anything can be funny if you get reductionist with it
When the writers have her saving plants, they do it in a way that you root for her. Same with Mr. Freeze, those episodes and the movie is really touching, solely because of his motivation.
You don't root for batman to beat them up or flex his wealth on them, you want Batman to help them. You want them both to get happy endings.
The stories usually end with batman stopping the carnage, while also arresting whatever CEO was cutting down trees or doing experiments on Nora. In other stories, he funds social programs and advocates for reforms as Bruce Wayne.
Maybe there are other stories where he acts like a frat boy. I skip content that has shitty writing
Time to take a meme on the internet too seriously! :D
There are two things that bug me about the weirdly frequent discourse on Batman.
Firstly, there's no one version of Batman. You can find bastard fascist Batman, and you can find actual justice Batman. Hell, you can find both by Frank Miller, depending on the point in his career. My favorite version is from The Animated Series, and you'll find tons of examples of Batman using kindness and compassion to affect meaningful change, instead of reveling in violence as though it solves anything. Heck, he's nicer to working-class folks, even sympathetic criminals, than to his fellow rich people.
Secondly, I think it's a talking point with bad optics. Batman rules. Why let the fascists have him? If there are loads of ways to look at and interpret the character, I'd rather focus on the one that makes him the good kind of class traitor, anti-fascist, anti-cop, and fighting for economic and social justice.
I love to hate this movie, but I think Freeze's costume, made by an actual armor fabricator is just sick as hell, nipples be damned.
Just say you don't understand batman comics.
I get the overall vibes but
- Poison ivy literally kills little children for littering
- Bruce does spend a fuckton of his money on Gotham. It has like 0.01% of the effect it would have in the real world because a warlock is interred on Gotham's soil.
The basic premise of the Gotham universe is that everything is fucked. It's grimdark, it's DC's 40K. Actually it would make near perfect sense if those two were one universe.
OTOH the Harley Quinn series (the one with Harlivy) does take jabs at Bruce's sheltered status, "People pay rent?". Lots of stuff going on in that series that don't fit standard canon, though, the series is as much a contemporary commentary on the universe as it's an in-universe show. Do watch that series btw even if you're not into comics, or the universe, or whatever, it's hilarious.
This is maybe the stupidest take on Batman in the history of the Internet. Prior to the Internet, anyone weird enough to think this way would've felt far too alone in the opinion to speak it out loud. Those were better days.
Anyone who has ever seen Harley Quinn has definitely rooted for Poison Ivy.
Bro hates millionaires so much he actually went and misunderstood Batman, a literal hero in the dryer and most basic way possible
... dressed as an ebola vector
How do you know he's not working on all those issues while beating others up?
Still better than any real life billionaire.
Costume design actually used to be more cool. Now everyone looks like an iphone.
That's why every heavyweight character from the fictional and mythic canon is getting 'rebooted' at the moment. Many things changing fast in culture, many people having studied the humanities.
Wait until artists start using these characters - then it will really start getting interesting.