Batman and his wealth/privilege-a better solution for Gotham than crimefighting?

[QuinnFillory]

Batman is one of the world's most popular superheroes, but for the past couple of decades, especially in the wake of the recession and Occupy Wall Street, he has become one of the few superheroes being taken to task over his wealth and status. Specifically, how he could or should be using his money to be helping Gotham as opposed to being Batman and fighting criminals. Now to be fair, he does in fact donate millions to charities and most of the people he fights are supervillains who won't care about stuff like economic inequality, but the real question is why the question is still be asked?

Here is an article :https://www.avclub.com/matt-reeves-t...yne-1848661503

[Vakanai]

A better or equal solution? Sure. A rather dull and boring story? You better believe it.

[Lightning Rider]

Sure, but in this comic book world, these Gotham super villains are a special kind of crazy genius. He might mitigate traditional organized crime and petty crime, but Riddler and Joker and Ivy and Freeze are still committed to their life of villainy. So he's still needed as Batman.

[bat39]

While there may be merit to this argument on some level, it's unfortunately become one of those 'hot' takes that people brandish to sound 'smart' or (as is increasingly the case) 'woke'.

Part of it stems from the left-wing worldview that all the ills of society are down to income inequality. Inequality (or rather poverty and marginalization among some sections of society) does fuel some amount of crime, but there are a variety of other factors at play. Not every poor person is motivated to become a criminal, and there are plenty of wealthy (or at least relatively affluent) people who turn to crime.

In any case, the fundamental conceit of the Batman mythos is incompatible with this left-wing perspective on the world. The vast majority of criminals that Batman fights are either psychopaths, terrorists or large-scale crime-bosses of some sort or the other. And yes, there's this iconic image of him taking down muggers in the street (the crime that created him of course) but his motivation there is not to ''wage a war on poor people'' (which is what some of these 'woke' commentators like to quip) but to prevent someone from getting hurt or killed the way his parents were. And in the context of these stories, we're meant to see these people as predators and not ''victims of society/capitalism'' or whatever the left-wing perspective on this is.

That said, I do like the angle that Matt Reeves took with this on The Batman - the idea that just waging war against criminals isn't going to fix Gotham's problems. Granted, the film also highlights the perils of a wealthy private individual like Thomas Wayne getting involved in running the city and how the loopholes and unaccountability fostered by such a public-private partnership can be exploited by the criminal element and other elites.

Ultimately, as in the real world, it's not a binary, no matter what politicians might want you to think. The answer's not ''policing OR social services''...it's ''policing AND social services''.

[Lightning Rider]

Not every poor person is motivated to become a criminal, and there are plenty of wealthy (or at least relatively affluent) people who turn to crime.

Sure, but the argument is that effective wealth redistribution could make large-scale policing and the existence of an obsessive vigilante largely obsolete, even if crime isn't literally 0%. There's sociological evidence that supports that. But it would take decades for that to take effect, and Batman doesn't typically age past late 30's, so his role is still necessary in the present/immediate future. Plus his villains are basically designed to be immune to social rehabilitation.

[Robanker]

File this under "but it doesn't make for a fun comic book."


Most characters should be doing something else with their skills, but that doesn't make for good superhero comics.

[charliehustle415]

File this under "but it doesn't make for a fun comic book."


Most characters should be doing something else with their skills, but that doesn't make for good superhero comics.

Also The Batman addressed this: corruption.

You throw enough money at anything corruption will enter the fold.

[Robanker]

Also The Batman addressed this: corruption.

You throw enough money at anything corruption will enter the fold.

Sure, but at this point there's enough Batfam that if they all retired they can basically staff a corporation to clean up Gotham with Wayne's infinite fortune.

But, again, it makes for boring superhero comics.

[Badou]

It is one of those things that doesn't work for serialized superhero comics. No reader cares about the random citizens of Gotham. They are just nameless background filler to make the backdrop that is Gotham feel lived in. That is their function. Trying to apply real world issues and problem solving to a comic book setting like Gotham is just a waste of time in the end. Readers want to see Batman and other heroes fighting villains and criminals with some mystery and thriller elements thrown in with the setting remaining the same story after story.

I mean Batman could give all his money away to charity, that is what Nightwing is doing in his book now, but who really cares in the end? Are the stories improved if the nameless background citizens of a Gotham magically are not as poor anymore? It doesn't really change anything as readers still want there to be villains and criminals to fight with the city falling under constant threat over and over. So the citizens' role remains the same whether they are poor or not. They are there to make the city feel lived in and to be used as leverage for villains to do things against the heroes.

If you try to apply real world ideas to comics then Batman could solve poverty, hunger, homelessness, and so many other issues overnight. As he lives in a world where advanced technology is commonplace. He works in a functioning space station with aliens and routinely travels through space. He's brought people back from the dead and has the resources to basically do anything he wants. He can create free unlimited energy, free healthcare, and shelter for anyone with that level of technology, but we ignore that aspect because readers want Gotham to function as a very specific setting that sort of resembles 80s New York City as that aligns with what we want Batman to be.

[KurtW95]

He shouldn't be taken to task over his wealth and status. There is nothing wrong with being rich. Besides, he does tons of charity work with that wealth and employees countless people. And when it comes to the idea that Bruce Wayne is a product of privilege, of course. The true privilege of having your parents gunned down in front of you as a child.

[charliehustle415]

Sure, but at this point there's enough Batfam that if they all retired they can basically staff a corporation to clean up Gotham with Wayne's infinite fortune.

But, again, it makes for boring superhero comics.

Now I would buy that book!

Bring back Batman INC with this as the premise!

[Robanker]

Now I would buy that book!

Bring back Batman INC with this as the premise!

It would get old fast is the problem. Kind of like a Superman book where he's allowed to solve world problems. Eight issues in and it's all wrapped up.

With Flash it'd be a page.

[charliehustle415]

It would get old fast is the problem. Kind of like a Superman book where he's allowed to solve world problems. Eight issues in and it's all wrapped up.

With Flash it'd be a page.

I think if they did it as a procedural similar to Gotham Central, it may have legs.

Each member can tackle one particular ill of the city and trying to accomplish it whilst also fighting off the more corrosive aspects of city government and governmental bureaucracy.

I mean the Bat-Fam has experience [see: No Man's Land]

[Lightning Rider]

It would get old fast is the problem. Kind of like a Superman book where he's allowed to solve world problems. Eight issues in and it's all wrapped up.

With Flash it'd be a page.

I think Peace on Earth is a good example of how it wouldn't be so simple.

[QuinnFillory]

Here is another article about Batman: https://comicyears.com/comics/dc-com...suSzSlXvtfaoWE