Do you think Being a supergenius is too much for Batman?

[Captain Haddock]

I love this so Barry is just naturally good at being a CSI? I mean I'm not ragging on his skill at his day job but for Batman to be called the world's greatest detective,martial artist, and genius in the dcu... he had to go above and beyond conventional training that law enforcement,armed forces, or typical university provide
The only way Barry would come close would be for him to use his flash powers and then he's no longer "naturally" good at being a csi
I mean its one thing to say Batman is a student of many disciplines but a master of none(not true) but its not negating his status and how he's regarded

No, Batman would STILL be the World's Greatest Detective, because not only is he an expert at CSI but he's also an expert at psychology, and can make smart deductive leaps and connections between clues. There are individual people who may be better at any single one of those things (for example Barry and CSI) but no-one whose better at all 3, simultaneously. Hence Batman is still the W.G.D. Same with his martial arts. Batman spends his time practicing all the martial arts he knows, someone who only knows karate spends that same time practicing and refining karate only. They are going to be better at karate - but Batman's going to kick their arse because he also happens to know a style karate is weak against. He's just AN expert at pretty much everything without being THE expert at any one thing.

[t hedge coke]

It's funny, I don't think it's Barry's speed that would help him, and I don't think tech has ever been the saving grace of a scientist. What Barry has is a kind of patience for science that Batman, in almost all versions, does not. Batman's detective work is usually to run around shouting for answers and threatening to drop guys off rooftops. He lets a computer do his analysis for him - and so do proper scientists - but he stops there.

Barry has a passion for the science, for checking the angles, checking the possibilities. He's not a run around brutalizing people for information guy, he's the guy who stops and thinks because he knows that it's important. Science, deduction, investigation isn't always done on your feet, racing about, it's done sitting in a chair, sketching, doodling, rechecking, combining facts into scenarios until something clicks.

"Batman doesn't sit," indeed. Barry sits and puts in his time.

It's why he's late all the time.

[MidTierHero]

In a comic book universe where people can turn invisible, run faster than the speed of light, shoot heat beams out of their eyes, and create energy-based constructs using a space ring... No, it doesn't bother me that Batman is the ultimate polymath.

Batman is the most versatile character in comics, and that's a good thing. Different writers are free to emphasize or de-emphasize different skills as the story demands. He still struggles, still takes his share of lumps.

Honestly, I can't see why it bothers people so much. It doesn't take away from other characters unless the writer deliberately makes them look stupid and has Batman lording over them.

It's the same thing with martial arts skill. People ask how Batman can be as good as other A-list martial artists because he has less time to train. He just is.

[TsukiSentinel]

In a comic book universe where people can turn invisible, run faster than the speed of light, shoot heat beams out of their eyes, and create energy-based constructs using a space ring... No, it doesn't bother me that Batman is the ultimate polymath.

Batman is the most versatile character in comics, and that's a good thing. Different writers are free to emphasize or de-emphasize different skills as the story demands. He still struggles, still takes his share of lumps.

Honestly, I can't see why it bothers people so much. It doesn't take away from other characters unless the writer deliberately makes them look stupid and has Batman lording over them.

It's the same thing with martial arts skill. People ask how Batman can be as good as other A-list martial artists because he has less time to train. He just is.

His entire Batman career is nothing but training his Bat-skills. So that's not exactly true.

[t hedge coke]

His entire Batman career is nothing but training his Bat-skills. So that's not exactly true.

They've usually focused in one area, while he's mastered everything.

I'm good with that, but it can beg the question of when he had time to master not one or two or five major fields, but all of them. If you take it too seriously, anyway.

[Captain Haddock]

They've usually focused in one area, while he's mastered everything.

I'm good with that, but it can beg the question of when he had time to master not one or two or five major fields, but all of them. If you take it too seriously, anyway.

Exactly. He spends his time practicing and mastering not ONLY his martial arts skills, but his detective skills, his science skills, his psychology skills, working on his technology... meanwhile, someone like (for example) Lady Shiva spends the same amount of time working JUST on fighting. And yet Batman is supposed to be better than her at that (according to some anyway)? Doesn't make sense. I am not saying he couldn't beat her, but that it wouldn't simply be by being a better fighter - it would be planning, strategy, use of gadgets etc.

As you say the real best solution is to not take it seriously in the first place.

[MidTierHero]

Exactly. He spends his time practicing and mastering not ONLY his martial arts skills, but his detective skills, his science skills, his psychology skills, working on his technology... meanwhile, someone like (for example) Lady Shiva spends the same amount of time working JUST on fighting. And yet Batman is supposed to be better than her at that (according to some anyway)? Doesn't make sense. I am not saying he couldn't beat her, but that it wouldn't simply be by being a better fighter - it would be planning, strategy, use of gadgets etc.

As you say the real best solution is to not take it seriously in the first place.

So? How long you train isn't the ultimate arbiter of how good you are, in comics or in real life. I can train sixteen hours a day for the next twenty years and I'll never be as good a boxer as Mike Tyson was in his first year as a pro. Gilad Ani-Padda, the Eternal Warrior, has been training for thousands of years but I'd say Batman is a more skilled martial artist.

Also, Batman is much smarter than other A-list martial artists, so he probably trains smarter as well.

[LifeIsILL]

Yes he should be a genius.

Make him as smart as you want him to be.

But he shouldn't be able to take out the Flash or Superman in seconds....cuz those guys are pretty smart too.

[Captain Haddock]

So? How long you train isn't the ultimate arbiter of how good you are, in comics or in real life. I can train sixteen hours a day for the next twenty years and I'll never be as good a boxer as Mike Tyson was in his first year as a pro. Gilad Ani-Padda, the Eternal Warrior, has been training for thousands of years but I'd say Batman is a more skilled martial artist.

Also, Batman is much smarter than other A-list martial artists, so he probably trains smarter as well.

Then why assume that in this hypothetical situation that Batman is the naturally gifted one not the grafter? Because the whole point is that he works so damn hard to be the best at everything. Making him just oh so naturally talented in every field really would be more Sue-ish than his working and training supremely hard to become good. People like Shiva and Richard Dragon or Bronze Tiger are ALL naturally talented and gifted martial artists who for the most part spend their entire lives fighting using martial arts or training in martial arts. Batman has his whole crime-fighting career going on and other skills to practice and train in. Is he smarter than them? Yes. Would he beat them in a fight? Conceivably so. But is he better at them at martial arts? Probably not.

Him having a genius IQ helps justify how he can study so many different fields of science and technology. Martial arts is something you can only learn by doing and get better at by doing more. Doesn't matter how good a brain you've got, it's your muscles and your body that need trainng.

[MidTierHero]

Batman works hard AND is extraordinarily gifted. It isn't an either/or scenario.

Is it fair that Leonardo da Vinci was a genius in the fields of painting, sculpture, engineering and anatomy, surpassing many of his peers who chose to specialize in one field? No. But he did it anyway. Batman's the same way. He's the ultimate Renaissance Man.

And Batman struggles way too much to be a Mary Sue.

[t hedge coke]

Is it fair that Leonardo da Vinci was a genius in the fields of painting, sculpture, engineering and anatomy, surpassing many of his peers who chose to specialize in one field? No. But he did it anyway

Not a fantastic example, since da Vinci was actually a pretty crappy engineer. Pretty designs, but none of them work when rendered to useful scale.

But, even so, these are superheroes. They're all polymaths and renaissance, in that sense, if they're around long enough. Mr Fantastic is a judo expert and all that.

[MidTierHero]

The point remains, people who complain that Batman being an expert in so many fields is "unfair" or "unrealistic" are missing the point. Comics aren't meant to adhere to real-world rules.

[t hedge coke]

The point remains, people who complain that Batman being an expert in so many fields is "unfair" or "unrealistic" are missing the point. Comics aren't meant to adhere to real-world rules.

Agreed. Superhero comics, anyway.

I didn't mean to step on that, just pointing out da Vinci isn't the best real world defense (who would be?). Superheroes all have mad additional talents, and if you're from the right era, or last long enough, you're a master of everything.