Money as a superpower?

[Charles RB]

Money isn't a superpower, but it sure allows you to buy enough stuff to substitute for one.

[Fenris]

A few of them are achievable, but the sheer broadness of his skills is definitely unrealistic. No one person can master all those things AND have a peak olympian body by his late 20s. That is a super power for Batman.

That's very true. And his money plays into it, because it would be even harder (more impossible? Does that phrase even make sense?) to get all that done if he'd had to work forty hours a week to pay his rent.

Some of the modern Lex Luthor stories play with the idea that his real power is his money. Yes, he's still an inventive genius; but a lot of his seriously-evil moments come from the fact that he has wealth and is totally unscrupulous about using it. If Silver-Age Lex Luthor had run for president, he'd have used a secret Mind Control Satellite; the modern one just paid off a bunch of lobbyists and PR agencies.


õ
"Remember, Riddler- you can't buy friends with money!"

[The Celtic Batman]

It is if you ask this guy:

Beat me to it!!!

[Pól Rua]

Those things you listed aren't superpowers. They're really freaking cool, but are achievable as a humans go. Being born into multi-generational wealth is a rare thing.

ALL of them?
Most people would have to dedicate their entire lifespan to learning one or two of these disciplines to the level displayed by Batman in the comics.
He's essentially a pulp hero, and like the classic pulp heroes (from Nick Carter, through to the Shadow and Doc Savage) his abilities are the result of unusual and dedicated training over an extensive period of time.
Of course, all THOSE guys had sources of wealth, too, so they could actually go off and have these amazing adventures and not have to say, "Aw man, I'd love to stop The Inca In Gray's Diabolical Scheme to turn all of Manhatten into Ash Zombies, but my car's in the shop and I have to do overtime or my boss'll kill me!"

Batman is Superhuman because he even makes someone like Leonardo Da Vinci look like a piker.
And of course, he gains his powers by being fictional, and so, able to do things which are so inconcievable as to be almost impossible.

[The MunchKING]

The Revenent certainly thinks so.

[Cotton]

If you have enough money, you can basically achieve almost anything. Except it can't buy love, money's Kryptonite.

[o1pickleboy]

Money is just a way to get resources, more resources the more ability you have to solve problems, but having resources doesn't give you skill, knowledge or powers to use them correctly. So no it doesn't count as a superpower.

[The MunchKING]

No, otherwise Bill Gates would be a super-hero. Money's just a tool to buy the super-hero stuff.

No, Money is a super-power, but it would still take a certain mindset to actually be willing to go out and fight crime with it.

[ceroxide]

BEHOLD, the greatest super-hero of all



he has the power to swim through metal as if it was water, not to mention put huge amounts of metal objects in his mouth and spit them out without ever contracting any diseases from it. The man... errr duck, is truly on a league of his own

[Jeff Brady]

ALL of them?
Most people would have to dedicate their entire lifespan to learning one or two of these disciplines to the level displayed by Batman in the comics.
He's essentially a pulp hero, and like the classic pulp heroes (from Nick Carter, through to the Shadow and Doc Savage) his abilities are the result of unusual and dedicated training over an extensive period of time.
Of course, all THOSE guys had sources of wealth, too, so they could actually go off and have these amazing adventures and not have to say, "Aw man, I'd love to stop The Inca In Gray's Diabolical Scheme to turn all of Manhatten into Ash Zombies, but my car's in the shop and I have to do overtime or my boss'll kill me!"

Batman is Superhuman because he even makes someone like Leonardo Da Vinci look like a piker.
And of course, he gains his powers by being fictional, and so, able to do things which are so inconcievable as to be almost impossible.

Of course not ALL of them, that's impossible. However, polymaths are real, not super-humans. Exaggerating it for stories is at least believable in a world where people can fly and punch giant menacing robots into the sun. A poor polymath, on the other hand, wouldn't have the ability to suddenly build a mansion in the ghetto, nor carve a cave underneath it to house all these cars & planes and so forth that he can't afford to purchase even the raw materials to build. He might be able to become a billionaire, but by the time he's amassed all that money, he'd be too old to be Batman.

Can we avoid the meta-ness of a character's fictionality being a superpower?

[Dispenser Of Truth]

not to mention put huge amounts of metal objects in his mouth and spit them out without ever contracting any diseases from it

Well, I'm sure he keeps them in a carefully-controlled sterile environment.

[Black Angel]

The best one there is

[lancerman]

Maybe to a degree. A lot of people fantasize about having lots of money and view it as a shield or even security for them. Some people think being rich makes you invincible and allows you to do whatever you want. So it makes sense that a power fantasy that a lot of people have applied to superheroes.

[Abishai100]

I like this question.

I posited on this board that if Peter Parker (Spider-Man) was a billionaire, his rivalry with Kingpin would be much different.

We know from the James Bond film "Goldfinger" (1964) that luxury can be equated to power in adventure-themed fantasy stories.

Consumerism obviously caters to wealth convenience imagery (i.e., lottery leprechauns).

Why not pit Bruce Wayne against Jimmy Hoffa?






leprechaun.jpg

[GOLGO 13]

Sure, I want to read about a 1% a-hole while he spouts his Ayn Randian theories of self importance & lack of gratitude for anything. Can't wait.