Could Batman exist in real world? What would be the consequences of a masked crime fighter battling criminals outside of the law and how long would a career have lasted?
Could Batman exist in real world?
- Thread starter Joe Washington
- Start date
I've often wondered this question myself and my conclusion is no, especially in the type of political climate that we live in today I think a "Batman" wouldn't last a month before he was caught. Bruce spent years learning all kinds of mental and physical disciplines and learning what needed to be learned to fight crime. Not only did he have the funding and resources to accomplish this but he was smart too. I think it'd be impossible for someone to become a Batman or even "Kick-Ass" and make a career out of it. There are just too many variables and realistic dangers out there for someone to do what Bruce Wayne does.
Yeah I just don't think it possible.
At first I thought he'd get himself shot, but the criminals would be too busy laughing at that costume. This is why we will never have costumed superheroes IRL. Heroes only had costumes because they'd look good in the comics. Any such character who 'really' existed wouldn't look like that.
If you haven't already check out the movie, Kick -Ass. It deals with this topic.
The movie did a good job of showing how superheroes might be treated like in real life. Unfortunately, it stopped trying to be any way realistic during the final fight scenes. Ending aside, I really liked it.
The movie did a good job of showing how superheroes might be treated like in real life. Unfortunately, it stopped trying to be any way realistic during the final fight scenes. Ending aside, I really liked it.
Instead of stopping crimes in progress, a real-world Batman might dedicate himself to intense detective work in order to track down robbers, terrorists, serial killers, etc., after the fact. If he did, he'd almost certainly interfere with regular criminal investigations. Could a Batman be smart enough and well-equipped enough to solve crimes better than the police or FBI? Maybe, if that was all he did. But in that case, he's not Batman, he's Sherlock Holmes. If you want a real-world Batman, you have to consider everything else he'd do.
He'd almost certainly use guns if he went into action. There are just too many disadvantages to charging into action barehanded -- no matter how fast you are, no matter how well-armored you are, and no matter how good a martial artist you are. Which means that sooner or later he'd kill someone, and then the police would be hunting him down as just another vigilante kook. (This is assuming someone didn't just shoot him.)
He would not be able to escape pursuit very well. Outracing idiot Gotham police in the Batmobile only works until the first time he gets tracked by a helicopter, or boxed in by organized forces working together, or gets his tires shot out. In person, it would be worse. Hiding in the shadows doesn't work very well if he's being tracked by dogs or night-vision. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop isn't as easy as it looks -- look how much trouble Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man had during his first few outings, and he had powers!
Forget about swinging on a rope from one tall building to the next. To make a single swing without an hour of preparation, he'd have to fire his grappler hundreds of feet, blindly, and basically hope to hell that whatever it latched onto could support both his weight and that of the rope. Without safety gear, he'd have to trust that his gloved hands could support his entire weight as he swung, and hope that he could make a precise enough landing not to get knocked off the rope on impact (and then plunge to the ground). And how many of those ropes could he carry, anyway? There's no way he could easily get the first one back without another fifteen minutes to disengage the grappler and coil it back up.
And let's not even talk about the old "jump off a rooftop without a rope and hope I can find something to break my fall on the way down" business. Surviving that just one time would be a miracle, and he'd get pretty banged up regardless.
Finally, there's the most essential element of Batman: The costume. An outfit like that is neither as scary, nor as identity-concealing, as the comics make it out to be. Yes, he could wear a costume that concealed his height, skin color, eyes, voice, etc., but it wouldn't be all that convenient to wear or move around in-- much less fight in. And it still wouldn't be that scary. Contrary to popular belief, criminals are not a superstitious and cowardly lot-- at least no more than the rest of us. The only way a real-life Batman would be able to make people afraid of him would be to commit heinous acts-- same as the criminals.
So, I'd have to say "no."
He'd almost certainly use guns if he went into action. There are just too many disadvantages to charging into action barehanded -- no matter how fast you are, no matter how well-armored you are, and no matter how good a martial artist you are. Which means that sooner or later he'd kill someone, and then the police would be hunting him down as just another vigilante kook. (This is assuming someone didn't just shoot him.)
He would not be able to escape pursuit very well. Outracing idiot Gotham police in the Batmobile only works until the first time he gets tracked by a helicopter, or boxed in by organized forces working together, or gets his tires shot out. In person, it would be worse. Hiding in the shadows doesn't work very well if he's being tracked by dogs or night-vision. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop isn't as easy as it looks -- look how much trouble Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man had during his first few outings, and he had powers!
Forget about swinging on a rope from one tall building to the next. To make a single swing without an hour of preparation, he'd have to fire his grappler hundreds of feet, blindly, and basically hope to hell that whatever it latched onto could support both his weight and that of the rope. Without safety gear, he'd have to trust that his gloved hands could support his entire weight as he swung, and hope that he could make a precise enough landing not to get knocked off the rope on impact (and then plunge to the ground). And how many of those ropes could he carry, anyway? There's no way he could easily get the first one back without another fifteen minutes to disengage the grappler and coil it back up.
And let's not even talk about the old "jump off a rooftop without a rope and hope I can find something to break my fall on the way down" business. Surviving that just one time would be a miracle, and he'd get pretty banged up regardless.
Finally, there's the most essential element of Batman: The costume. An outfit like that is neither as scary, nor as identity-concealing, as the comics make it out to be. Yes, he could wear a costume that concealed his height, skin color, eyes, voice, etc., but it wouldn't be all that convenient to wear or move around in-- much less fight in. And it still wouldn't be that scary. Contrary to popular belief, criminals are not a superstitious and cowardly lot-- at least no more than the rest of us. The only way a real-life Batman would be able to make people afraid of him would be to commit heinous acts-- same as the criminals.
So, I'd have to say "no."
J
Jetfire
Guest
I think if the person was well trained/skilled and focused on one area(neighborhood) at a time...learning it like the back of his hand...he might be able to surprise would be criminals and elude police...this "Batman" would use none lethal force...which cops use too...the person would wear something that would be functional and not distracting...so no bat suit. I think what people miss is comic book heroes go after criminals that are too dangerous for police...so a real life "Batman"...I would say no.
I don't think anyone would put themselves out there in dangerous situations for the sake of justice freely.
I don't think anyone would put themselves out there in dangerous situations for the sake of justice freely.
I don't think so. It isn't a matter of the money or the training or even ability to keep a secret identity. It's the messiness of real life. It's complexity and unpredictability. Superheroes somehow (real: unrealistically) can defend against too many unknown variables. The flick of a wrist during a fight could be the end of you. You might as well try to be God or a Wormhole Alien playing with chaos theory.
So, are you saying that The Punisher could exist in the real world?
Of course, all of this is moot....
I am Batman.
There is a growing "Real Life Superheroes" movement, costumed individuals actually patrolling the streets and trying to protect people such as the homeless from harassment and muggings and such, but it's low-level stuff.
http://reallifesuperheroes.org/
Sometimes they do some genuine good; I read about one woman whose heroic MO was to hang around bars and distract men who might otherwise attempt to exploit and victimize excessively drunk women, and to make sure those women got home safely. Which may not be the stuff of comic-book or cinematic legend, but is certainly worthy of great respect.
Now, if a real-life Bruce Wayne really wanted to make a difference against crime, he'd probably invest his billions in organizing private security firms, making endowments to the city to fund the police and urban improvement, investing in social programs to keep kids off the streets and rehabilitate felons and addicts, and so on. Heck, just investing in infrastructure renewal to put up streetlights in those gloomy Gotham corners and alleys would do more for crime deterrence than one guy in a cape could ever do.
http://reallifesuperheroes.org/
Sometimes they do some genuine good; I read about one woman whose heroic MO was to hang around bars and distract men who might otherwise attempt to exploit and victimize excessively drunk women, and to make sure those women got home safely. Which may not be the stuff of comic-book or cinematic legend, but is certainly worthy of great respect.
Now, if a real-life Bruce Wayne really wanted to make a difference against crime, he'd probably invest his billions in organizing private security firms, making endowments to the city to fund the police and urban improvement, investing in social programs to keep kids off the streets and rehabilitate felons and addicts, and so on. Heck, just investing in infrastructure renewal to put up streetlights in those gloomy Gotham corners and alleys would do more for crime deterrence than one guy in a cape could ever do.
I think the Punisher could actually exist for slightly longer than Batman in reality - however, even that career would be pretty short unless he stuck to long-range sniper kills and was very careful.
I think if there ever was a real Batman, none of us would know about it and he certainly would not be dressed up in a Bat costume or drive around in Bat-themed super vehicles. He'd be a shadowy figure and probably would be indistinguishable in appearance from the thugs he goes after, making him hard to accurately identify from the average joe on the street, IMO.
Of course if they ever got into real fights on the street, you'd have to have people running by holding up signs with things like "BAM!" and "POW!"
Damn shame that the rights to this show are so hopelessly convoluted that there's virtually no chance of a DVD release.
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