I don't see a need to bring this about. For Bruce Wayne, Batman is his higher purpose, so to speak. Why else would he sacrifice his mind and body every night for a dying city? He's certainly not doing it for money.
Bottomline, I'll prefer more Bruce Wayne in my Batman comics.
Off the top of my head, think Superman and Spiderman are the characters who most enjoy a healthy balance between their everyday lives and "costumed" lives.
The best thing DC did was get rid of Bruce and prioritize Batman
Bruce Wayne is a mask that Batman wears during the day time
What's interesting about Bruce? What are his hobbies? Even a random issue at Batburger highlighted how very dull the character is
DC cannot make a privileged billionaire interesting so they stopped trying
Batman is his true self
Guess there lies the problem.
It's also perspctives like yours i.e. Batman is his true self that make writers lean further into just Batman.
(Not saying you're right or wrong/ whether I disagree or not).
And surely it shouldn't be that difficult to make a billionnaire interesting. Stark seems to work for the most part.
I’ve always been a “Bruce is Batman’s disguise/Superman is Clark’s disguise” proponent. It’s part of what makes their friendship/partnership/falling out (depending on what story you read) so interesting.
That said, it’s no reason for Batman to be continuously grim. He’s surrounded himself w. a surrogate family for a reason; though he may push them away at times, it’s obvious he doesn’t WANT to be alone.
There's a world of difference between Tony and Bruce though for one big point tony does not have a secret identity
He is iron man inside and outside the suit
Bruce does not have that balance he plays an act of dumb playboy instead of truly being himself personality wise as batman all the time
All valid - but my point was more in relation to writers/fans being unable, or perhaps unwilling, to flesh out Bruce. He wasn't always written as "playing the dumb playboy" but actually had a personality. Check out Don Newton's Tales of the Batman and some other stuff from that era as an example.
As someone mentioned even Adam West worked (irrespective of being campy). So was Christopher Nolan's Triology.
Guess it's safe to say we belong in two different camps on this topic.
Tony Stark had his secret identity for most of his history. From the 60s through the 90s the charade was that Iron Man was someone he had hired to be his personal bodyguard. He even pretended that the 'original' Iron Man was killed and that he hired a new guy when he just built a new suit of armor. It's still a relatively recent thing for him to not have a secret identity.
I think there is room for both... he doesn't deal with loss well. He is friendly batman, then something bad happens like Dick leaves or Jason dies or Sasha dies and he becomes the broody jerk pushing everyone away, then something good happens and his friends rally around him and he gets back to smiles.
Do any of you think the concept of Batman would be "better" (not sure that's the right word) if Bruce Wayne wasn't famous?
This comes after reading Issue #78 of King's run and the whole Magnum P.I. disguise at the start. Dialogue asside, actually enjoyed seeing a seeminly happy Bruce on holiday.
If he wasn't famous, he wouldn't need to do this. Also there would probably be greater freedom in writing a civilian identity.
Sounds too much like Batman ripping off Superman, "Superman is what I can do. Clark is who I am."