For those who say Bruce Wayne is 'obviously' Batman

[bat39]

Thats what I'd think. If a real Batman showed up, with all the amazing vehicles, I would imagine he was some crazy war veteran funded by a like minded rabid anti crime famous rich person.

That's precisely the 'cover story' Bruce adopted after Batman Inc...that he funded Batman because he was fighting criminals like the one who murdered his parents.

[ParticleFreezer]

Thats what I'd think. If a real Batman showed up, with all the amazing vehicles, I would imagine he was some crazy war veteran funded by a like minded rabid anti crime famous rich person.

Yeah. I mean if he really really was to show up in our reality. And the public witnessed all these great gadgets and feats. Who's to say Wed suspect it to be just 1 guy? And not actually a team or military squadron of individuals? An aerospace company, the CIA? To think 1 single guy is responsible for funding the batman and also having the physical prowess to BE batman? Not to mention smart enough to solve crimes singlehandedly without a Damn CIS unit. Bruce wayne is a left field guess on so many levels.

[Cypher]

Its comic books.

(:

[Punisher007]

-He saw his parents gunned down right in front of him when he was 8 (there's your motive right there).
-He disappears without a trace for like a decade. No one knows where he went or what he did during that time.
-He just suddenly reappears in Gotham, and not longer afterword a mysterious vigilante also appears.
-Said vigilante is using tech that's obviously really expense. Hmm, stuff that perhaps a billionaire could afford.
-He's the same general height/weight/and age range.

So no, it's not that hard to figure out. As for the whole "but he acts like a doofus in real life," well I'd hope that professional detectives/cops could see that for what it is, an act. And the comparison to Cuban or Zuckerberg or Buffett or whoever doesn't work because a. none of them have the inciting childhood incident, and b. none of them have these other obvious factors pointing to them.

[Powerboy]

If Batman showed up in our reality tomorrow, would you accuse him of being random Billionaires like Donald Trump, Mark Cuban or Mark Zuckerberg. Is that really where we'd start guessing?

I find, mostly non comic fans, want to poke fun at Batman's identity being as stupidly obvious as Kal-el hiding behind glasses. It's not. Unless you are commissioner Gordon or hold the omniscient perspective of the reader, I don't see how you could logically arrive at that conclusion.

When people say it's obvious, some of it is just the stock comic book stuff that makes it obvious.

I remember walking into work one day when it was freezing cold and I was wearing a ski mask. Someone instantly said hello to me by name and I joked, "Darn, I knew that "secret identity" stuff didn't work in the real world."

So some of it is just people who know both Bruce and Batman, such as Commissioner Gordon, who would instantly recognize them as the same person.

Some of it is the paper trail. The authorities know this is a guy who has a super sophisticated Batmobile and Batplane and Batcopter and a utility belt. Even if they don't know about the Batcave and possibly the computer, it's pretty clear this guy has no money limits. So he's a billionaire or being financed by a billionaire.

In John Byrne's take on Starbrand, there was a story where Starbrand went to a comic book convention and met John Byrne. Byrne explained to him in detail that comic book fans are the first ones to understand that this "secret identity" stuff would never work in reality and he gives him a huge detailed explanation why not that has Starbrand sweating.

The Batman version would go something like this:

First of all, Batman, since you center 99% of your activities in Gotham, it's a fair bet that you live here.

Considering the toys you have, it's a fair bet you are filthy rich or are financed by a filthy rich person.

You are obviously in fantastic shape and young enough to be doing this stuff, a brilliant detective, master martial artist, skilled scientist and tech.

Oh, you also appear to be between 6 feet and 6'6" with a large and muscular build.

Okay, hmm, so we may be looking for a billionaire. So, gosh, how many billionaires in Gotham City are in great shape, fairly young and the right height and build?

Oh but wait. There's more. Let's look for motive. Well, gosh, the billionaire who best fits this category or one of them that fits saw his parents murdered right before his eyes when he was a child? Can you say: motive?

Oh and then he disappears for years, an absence that would explain learning all of these abilities.

Oh but wait. There's still more.

He has a youthful ward while Batman has a young sidekick of about the same height, build and age.

Further, that young ward eventually leaves for college and- guess what?- the original Robin no longer seems to be hanging out with Batman.

Now I'm just a guy on the Internet thinking of all of these things as I type. I don't have the resources of the FBI or the CIA or any other organization that gets told to find out who Batman is. I'm not even a trained detective, conditioned to think deductively- and I still thought of all this stuff off the cuff. Do you really want to stick with this idea that it's just being an all-knowing reader?

How long, in the real world, do you seriously believe it would be before they tracked down who he really was? I didn't even get to the paper trail. In the real world, you are not telling me that he built every single component of all of his technology without there being some very specialized stuff that he had to get from various places.

Seriously, it would take the FBI part of one day to figure out who he was.

Batman is really like most comic book characters. In the context of reality, it simply is obvious who he really is.

Edit: I could keep going and going.

He has a mask that reveals part of his face.

He probably comes into Gotham in the Batmobile from Wayne Manor. No matter how many backroads he takes, it's at least fairly clear what direction he most often is seen entering or leaving Gotham. And nobody ever catches a glimpse of him on these back roads?

Honestly, I think the only secret identities that can work involve complete body covering, no connection between people you know as a hero and people you know in your everyday life and probably the ability to teleport so you are never ever glimpsed in the vicinity of your secret identity abode. Probably no public interviews would also help. Don't let your voice be heard, etc.

[buttler]

One thing that really bugs me nowadays is Batman talking to "Penny-One" on his communicator, especially when other people are around. Batman is known to have a connection to Bruce Wayne, whose butler is known to be Alfred Pennysworth. "Penny-One" is a pretty transparent code name, don't you think? Wouldn't people start to wonder why Bruce Wayne's butler is Batman's backup?

[Triple J]

There is a whole slew of factors that will (or can) potentially prevent someone from finding Batman's identity:

His status - (symbolism, what people think of him; many do think of him as a creature, not a human).
He is rich - but, like someone else mentioned, he is just one of the rich guys in Gotham (in real life, how many rich guys do we all know? Folks like Gates and Zuckerberg are not good comparisons since they are known for their products. Bruce didn't particularly invented anything. Sure, he is the 'owner' of Wayne Enterprises; he's not the CEO though).

Bruce being Batman, he will pay extra attention to remove any of his personal information from any or all government databases (possible, given his influence - money - and his skills) - DNA, blood sample etc...of course, he can just modify it, instead of removing it outright (he probably will).

As for the argument with Zero Yr..and Bats appearing right after Bruce comes back..I think most people are going to forget that (either that or their memory starts playing tricks on them, given that Zero Yr was first of its in Gotham; lot of things happened, so it's entirely possible for someone to misjudge/remember when Bruce or Batman showed up).

[Triple J]

When people say it's obvious, some of it is just the stock comic book stuff that makes it obvious.

I remember walking into work one day when it was freezing cold and I was wearing a ski mask. Someone instantly said hello to me by name and I joked, "Darn, I knew that "secret identity" stuff didn't work in the real world."

So some of it is just people who know both Bruce and Batman, such as Commissioner Gordon, who would instantly recognize them as the same person.

Some of it is the paper trail. The authorities know this is a guy who has a super sophisticated Batmobile and Batplane and Batcopter and a utility belt. Even if they don't know about the Batcave and possibly the computer, it's pretty clear this guy has no money limits. So he's a billionaire or being financed by a billionaire.

In John Byrne's take on Starbrand, there was a story where Starbrand went to a comic book convention and met John Byrne. Byrne explained to him in detail that comic book fans are the first ones to understand that this "secret identity" stuff would never work in reality and he gives him a huge detailed explanation why not that has Starbrand sweating.

The Batman version would go something like this:

First of all, Batman, since you center 99% of your activities in Gotham, it's a fair bet that you live here.

Considering the toys you have, it's a fair bet you are filthy rich or are financed by a filthy rich person.

You are obviously in fantastic shape and young enough to be doing this stuff, a brilliant detective, master martial artist, skilled scientist and tech.

Oh, you also appear to be between 6 feet and 6'6" with a large and muscular build.

Okay, hmm, so we may be looking for a billionaire. So, gosh, how many billionaires in Gotham City are in great shape, fairly young and the right height and build?

Oh but wait. There's more. Let's look for motive. Well, gosh, the billionaire who best fits this category or one of them that fits saw his parents murdered right before his eyes when he was a child? Can you say: motive?

Oh and then he disappears for years, an absence that would explain learning all of these abilities.

Oh but wait. There's still more.

He has a youthful ward while Batman has a young sidekick of about the same height, build and age.

Further, that young ward eventually leaves for college and- guess what?- the original Robin no longer seems to be hanging out with Batman.

Most people don't think that far (not that they can't, but they don't).

Batman's build, height (and robin's) - it would be hard to know such information (you can't just look at a person and accurately guess what height he/she is. And Bats is not going to stand around for you to someone to notice such things. Perhaps an expert can guess a height range).

Besides all that, a normal person would probably be terrified or fascinated if Batman suddenly showed up in front of them.

Unless someone happens to take a picture of Bats (even then, you would have to know other things, like the type of armor he is wearing.....the armor may give a different impression; assuming Bats isn't just wearing a cloth that perfectly fits his body).

Again...you are assuming people would notice these things. They simply won't. One robin or another, they probably wouldn't know (Only people like Jim would be able to guess).

[Triple J]

One thing that really bugs me nowadays is Batman talking to "Penny-One" on his communicator, especially when other people are around. Batman is known to have a connection to Bruce Wayne, whose butler is known to be Alfred Pennysworth. "Penny-One" is a pretty transparent code name, don't you think? Wouldn't people start to wonder why Bruce Wayne's butler is Batman's backup?

Many rich people (in the real world) have butlers and chauffeurs, I don't recall any of them being famous.

[Conway]

-He saw his parents gunned down right in front of him when he was 8 (there's your motive right there).
-He disappears without a trace for like a decade. No one knows where he went or what he did during that time.
-He just suddenly reappears in Gotham, and not longer afterword a mysterious vigilante also appears.
-Said vigilante is using tech that's obviously really expense. Hmm, stuff that perhaps a billionaire could afford.
-He's the same general height/weight/and age range.

So no, it's not that hard to figure out. As for the whole "but he acts like a doofus in real life," well I'd hope that professional detectives/cops could see that for what it is, an act. And the comparison to Cuban or Zuckerberg or Buffett or whoever doesn't work because a. none of them have the inciting childhood incident, and b. none of them have these other obvious factors pointing to them.

You forgot all the dead kids and dead Robins, and the now public identity of Dick Grayson to the list. If someone as "smart" as Riddler was actually dedicating themselves to finding out who it was then they would know.

Many rich people (in the real world) have butlers and chauffeurs, I don't recall any of them being famous.

Farnsworth

[JackDaw]

In present continuity, how many people know the "secret" now?

A dozen? Two dozen? More?

Right there you've got a problem..two people can keep a secret if ones's dead. A dozen can't...Bruce (allegedly smartest guy on the planet)...ought to know that, and maybe arrange a series of unfortunate accidents. Tough on his friends, but all for the greater good.

[T'Challa Bruce Von Doom]

Most people don't think that far (not that they can't, but they don't).

This much is true. The majority of people don't think that much about anything, so there isn't much to worry about from them. But if Gotham is as populous as one poster has said ("largest port city on earth and the second or third largest city on earth"), surely there should exist some people who have capable brains and the ability to use them.

[JBatmanFan05]

The populace, whether limited to Gotham or the US, would go into a feeding frenzy to determine Batman's identity, and they'd have significant help with cameras and law enforcement personnel and resources. For all the dumb or less capable folk, there are plenty of smart and capable folk.

And this hypothetical can't always just have "well, Batman would remove that"....at some point, this being Batman vs in real life is gonna make something have to give in thinking about this hypo. Batman simply would not be able to, in real life, shut everything down and remove everything.

[Adrian Tullberg]

For all the accountants out there; how does Batman launder his money?

[Celgress]

Yeah besides the money his various sidekicks would be a dead give away. Each time Bruce Wayne gets a new ward, official or unofficial, Batman tends to get a new, youthful sidekick of the same gender and weight/height.

In real life, besides the CIA & FBI, I think Child Protective Services would also be all over Batman for using child labor. They'd certainly be trying to ascertain his identity at the very least.