Batman the Villain

Batman. Is there a ‘super hero’ more iconic? Even if you aren’t a massive geek like me, you know who he is and probably know his back story.

But is he a hero?

Let’s break his character down.

Back in the day, Batman had a gun and he actively killed people. I didn’t shoot the ‘main’ villains but in the early days he showed no issues pulling the trigger.

In recent years, Batman has come out stating that he won’t kill because he has to be better than the villains in the world he lives in.

But really?

No.

Batman is a crazy man who uses excuses to do what he wants. And uses a convenient line to carry on beating people up.

Still saying he is a hero? Okay, let's break this down.

In, ‘The Killing Joke’ Joker wanted to show that everyone is just one bad day away from becoming a villain just like him. For Bruce Wayne, this was the day he lost his parents. This gave an elitist the feeling of loss and grief. The Wayne manor (before that faithful night) was fully staffed. But after Mamma-Bat and Pappa-Bat bit the bullet it was left to one Butler to manage the homestead and raise a child from the age of eight.

So, rich kid who had one very bad day, is now growing up around just one other person… a person who constantly tells him how great his parents were.

Using his wealth, Bruce travels to the highest ranked schools and universities that money can get you into. As a real-world example, we can see that these institutions don’t actually have better results than community colleges and standard universities. We also know from real-world (modern) history that more than a few of these people get their qualifications just because they have money. This continues the elitist mentality. He is surrounded by people who were born rich and believed that they should be rich and think that they are better than everyone else…. From the age of eight Bruce is surrounded by this.

Things vary a bit in young Bat-boy’s life so lets skip ahead to where everything agrees. The magic and mysterious 7 years. Young Master Wayne travels off the grid for seven years. Learning, developing, evolving and refining himself. The Bale-Bat says he won’t kill, but then knocks out a handful of people and leaves them in a burning building… that seem ify to anyone else?

So he gets smart, learns to fight and learns to be all sneaky. Comes back to the city because reasons… I mean… because it’s his city and his home… sure.

What dose he do? Well this very smart man who has vanished for seven years with a lot of money and resources helps the city right? Well…. No. He dresses like a bat, goes out at night and beats people up.

Batman’s actions created people like Two-face and The Joker. These two people have caused an obscene amount of death and chaos in the world of the Batman. Poison gases, explosions, growing gang violence, theft and ole fashioned shoot outs. Pretty much all that horrible stuff Batman fights against.

Let’s say that Batman wanted to be better and not kill (Even after leaving people to burn to death) so that’s why he hasn’t killed. After 3 or four years of The Joker being on the streets, how many people had he killed, tortured and mutilated? A huge number. And more than enough people for a smart man to know that he won’t stop. And let’s not forget, that he keeps escaping the crazy farm.

But what could Batman do? Other than waiting for Joker to break out, chase carnage and spread his gang of mental delinquents? I suppose funding a place like Arkham would cost a bit more than Bruce can afford…. Looks like an expensive car. I wonder if… well… could there be a way to spend money productively? Well yeah. Remote island with the best of the best.

I know I know, he is only one guy and that would be too much for Bruce to pay for… except in real-world terms, it would cost $682 million to be Batman. That’s not how much Bruce Wayne has or what he makes a year from all the companies he owns, that’s how much the Batman life would cost. That… yeah that would pay for an island or artificial structures like oil rigs (which cost around 200 million a year to run)

Before we go there, yes, that is a massive amount over a long time, but as Bale-Bat pointed out, he friends are the wealthy elite. How much would their crowd funding get? How much would do these villains cost the city?

I won’t deny that the ‘Face Off- Oil rig prison’ is costly — although cheaper than the average prison in America; but it breaks no ethic codes.

But there is another way…. A way Batman refuses.

After the third year of Joker running around, there had been countless deaths, a load of people who had been twisted and broken and then there is the Joker-gang effect, where people act just like Joker because Joker gets away with it.

How many after the 4th year? 5th? Harley Quinn exists because of Joker and how many people has she destroyed?

How many people would have still been alive and helping to support the city if Batman had killed the Joker after the 3rd year? A heavy ask, yet Bruce sacrificed his protege (multiple Robins’, Batgirl and many others’ depending on sources) , his personal life, his money, his body to ‘save’ his city. And Even when Batman says he would never kill, we know that the comic book and none-comic book Batman has killed and has killed a lot.

A handful of deaths would have saved hundred and the fallout would have save thousands.

But Batman doesn’t do what he does to say the city or to be the guardian of Gotham. He goes out every night, because Bruce Wayne likes to beat the living daylights out of people. Keeping the Joker, Two-face, Penguin and all the others alive, means that he will have to go out and beat people up. Bruce is an elitist who simply enjoys beating people up. He seems to come down the hardest on the people who could be reformed, and as for those who will never change and never stop, Bruce keeps them alive and keeps them in places where they can get back into Gotham.

Batman is the best Villain. He has convinced people that he is a hero, risking his life to protect the city. The truth. Bruce uses his wealth and resources to beat the hell out of random people, while keeping monsters in play so that he never has to stop his crusade.

Mind Blown.