I like how every response to this is complaining about how he, a fictional billionaire that can’t actually change the status quo due to how superhero comics work and their inherent nature as propaganda, isn’t doing enough. He runs a rehabilitation program for members of gangs like the Penguin’s that are often working for these supervillains out of desperation and then hires them at his companies after, hiring convicts at twice the rate of other companies? Well, he should be paying them more than [undefined number]! Clearly, he’s only doing this because it makes him richer than his infinite money already does! AND he hasn’t even overthrown the corrupt government and installed his own socialist paradise. Clearly, everything that happens in the comics is all his fault, and he only acts when he deigns to trickle down some money to the poor and huddled masses that he sneers at from his golden throne.
It’s like complaining that Superman doesn’t just lobotomize Lex Luthor and be done with it since he’s just going to keep doing evil things and hurting people. Not only did he do that in that alternate timeline where he became dictator of the world “to permanently stop crime,” but they also wouldn’t have a story anymore if they just did the Marvel movie thing of killing off the villain at the end of every movie.
You’re thinking about it in-universe. But Batman wasn’t revealed to the world through an act of God. His nature, his limitations, his friends and enemies, his entire city were all constructed to enable the fundamental narrative of a billionaire in a suit indulging in violent vigilante power fantasies.
Of course you’re right that within that particular framework “giving away all his money” doesn’t make narrative sense. That’s the frustrating part; not that a character is arguably acting “irrationally” (that happens all the time), but that the stated reasons for their irrationality are convoluted and clearly backtracked from “well without it the story doesn’t work”.
The end result is that Batman is basically John Wick but depicted as a hero which I’ve always personally found very gross. This criticism is applicable to most superheroes but the dissonance is especially strong with Batman.
It’s like complaining that Superman doesn’t just lobotomize Lex Luthor and be done with it since he’s just going to keep doing evil things and hurting people. Not only did he do that in that alternate timeline where he became dictator of the world “to permanently stop crime,” but they also wouldn’t have a story anymore if they just did the Marvel movie thing of killing off the villain at the end of every movie.
I was with you until this paragraph. I don’t know how many people someone needs to be directly responsible for the death of before punching their heart out becomes justified, but I do contend that if instead of condemnation Batman had hugged Superman and apologized for not doing it himself Superman wouldn’t have spiraled into conquering the world…
I don’t disagree, “Deny, Defend, Depose” and all that, but if the villains actually got stopped once and for all, the comic book companies wouldn’t be able to keep the storylines going. They’d have to come up with new material, and Gods know that that’s the kind of thinking that causes executives to wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.
Although, a storyline where they force the Joker to go to therapy and work out his problems might make for an interesting series…
I like how every response to this is complaining about how he, a fictional billionaire that can’t actually change the status quo due to how superhero comics work and their inherent nature as propaganda, isn’t doing enough. He runs a rehabilitation program for members of gangs like the Penguin’s that are often working for these supervillains out of desperation and then hires them at his companies after, hiring convicts at twice the rate of other companies? Well, he should be paying them more than [undefined number]! Clearly, he’s only doing this because it makes him richer than his infinite money already does! AND he hasn’t even overthrown the corrupt government and installed his own socialist paradise. Clearly, everything that happens in the comics is all his fault, and he only acts when he deigns to trickle down some money to the poor and huddled masses that he sneers at from his golden throne.
It’s like complaining that Superman doesn’t just lobotomize Lex Luthor and be done with it since he’s just going to keep doing evil things and hurting people. Not only did he do that in that alternate timeline where he became dictator of the world “to permanently stop crime,” but they also wouldn’t have a story anymore if they just did the Marvel movie thing of killing off the villain at the end of every movie.
You’re thinking about it in-universe. But Batman wasn’t revealed to the world through an act of God. His nature, his limitations, his friends and enemies, his entire city were all constructed to enable the fundamental narrative of a billionaire in a suit indulging in violent vigilante power fantasies.
Of course you’re right that within that particular framework “giving away all his money” doesn’t make narrative sense. That’s the frustrating part; not that a character is arguably acting “irrationally” (that happens all the time), but that the stated reasons for their irrationality are convoluted and clearly backtracked from “well without it the story doesn’t work”.
The end result is that Batman is basically John Wick but depicted as a hero which I’ve always personally found very gross. This criticism is applicable to most superheroes but the dissonance is especially strong with Batman.
I was with you until this paragraph. I don’t know how many people someone needs to be directly responsible for the death of before punching their heart out becomes justified, but I do contend that if instead of condemnation Batman had hugged Superman and apologized for not doing it himself Superman wouldn’t have spiraled into conquering the world…
I don’t disagree, “Deny, Defend, Depose” and all that, but if the villains actually got stopped once and for all, the comic book companies wouldn’t be able to keep the storylines going. They’d have to come up with new material, and Gods know that that’s the kind of thinking that causes executives to wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.
Although, a storyline where they force the Joker to go to therapy and work out his problems might make for an interesting series…
that’s the Harley Quinn origin story…