History Headscratchers / Batman

*** Oh, he can. [[https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-a05158f1fe206ab9501c30090e2ec7da-lq He's just not very good at it]]?[[note]]"Detective Comics #685"[[/note]]

*** You'd think so, [[https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-a05158f1fe206ab9501c30090e2ec7da-lq wouldn't you]]?[[note]]"Detective Comics #685"[[/note]]

*** Add that up, that’s more than 24 hours. So he has to have slack time to do low-priority, non-mindful habits like laundry, feeding himself, taking a shower, etc. And he doesn’t cut himself slack.

** Bullock's probably just speaking a bit imprecisely to indicate that Gordon's had the signal on every second it would be practical to have it on recently. He says he's been "running it hot", which suggests that Gordon's had it on from dusk to dawn, which could be around twelve hours a night; for a long enough time period, that could still blow out the bulb.

** Bullock is clearly speaking a little imprecisely to indicate that Gordon has been running the Bat Signal ''at every point at which it would be practical or helpful for him to do so'' for over a week, in order to emphasise that Gordon has been running the Bat Signal quite a lot recently. And this is, really, something that any reader with a reasonable grasp of the English language and a reasonably basic education and understanding of practicality should be able to grasp. There is a point where even Headscratchers can become less "a discussion of plot holes that damage our ability to enjoy the fiction" and more "brainless nitpicky pedantry".

*** [[JustForPun A BAT-philanthropist!]]

*** The Joker's madness might just be able to shrug off magic, or some other villain could short-circuit it, or Harley could undo it, or one of the random magical bits of rubbish that litter the DC-verse could have negative interactions. Any number of reasons why that might not work or be a permanent option. In addition, as 2004''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' proved, Bruce is wary of mind-changing magics because they tend to be chancy things at best of times. However, that doesn't hit the real reason: Batman has a psychological need to prove that the system ''can'' work. It might not have worked so far, but he believes it can and should be able to either incarcerate or reform. Until Gotham puts magic on the statute books, Bruce is not going to use it because it is not part of the system. Hell, ''even'' if Gotham puts magic on the statute books Bruce probably wouldn't use it but would deliver the Joker to the system for it to use the magic.

*** The Joker's madness might just be able to shrug off magic, or some other villain could short-circuit it, or Harley could undo it, or one of the random magical bits of rubbish that litter the DC-verse could have negative interactions. Any number of reasons why that might not work or be a permanent option. In addition, as ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' proved, Bruce is wary of mind-changing magics because they tend to be chancy things at best of times. However, that doesn't hit the real reason: Batman has a psychological need to prove that the system ''can'' work. It might not have worked so far, but he believes it can and should be able to either incarcerate or reform. Until Gotham puts magic on the statute books, Bruce is not going to use it because it is not part of the system. Hell, ''even'' if Gotham puts magic on the statute books Bruce probably wouldn't use it but would deliver the Joker to the system for it to use the magic.

** He typically uses a harpoon gun to reach otherwise inaccessible locations or to transport himself quickly around the rooftops of Gotham City, it's not like he's shooting all his enemies with harpoons instead of bullets. There's a bit of a difference.

** For what it's worth, ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'' hints and ''ComicBook/ThreeJokers'' outright states that Batman actually figured out the Joker's true identity, but simply chooses to keep it secret (in the latter, so that he can the Joker's existing family from either the Joker and the notice / wrath of the world at large.

** For what it's worth, ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'' hints and ''ComicBook/ThreeJokers'' outright states that Batman actually figured out the Joker's true identity mere days after he first emerged, but chooses to keep it secret in order to protect the Joker's family from either the Joker and the notice / wrath of the world at large.

*** [[MST3KMantra It's just a comic book]], friend. When you start saying things like "There's no excuse!", you're probably taking things more seriously than they should be taken.

** There was a ''Joker's Asylum'' story where Riddler fell in love with a girl, because she didn't return his affections. The twist ending [[spoiler: is that he only loved her because he saw her as a puzzle, and once she finally broke down and admitted she loved him back, he lost interest. Because the answer to the question is not as fulfilling as the SEARCH for the answer]]. It's the same here, having the answer to a riddle makes the riddle defunct and useless.

** This is also a bit of a DependingOnTheWriter (or Series) thing. Batman only really tends to come up against actual outright magical / alien / sci-fi stuff when he's in stories with the Justice League; aside from a brief period in the 1950s-1960s, stories focussed just on him tend to be crime and detective stories. While they're obviously somewhat heightened and fantastical in Batman's case, and a little bit of magic or science fiction might creep in around the edges, the underlying appeal of a detective story is that the detective is ultimately able to solve the problem with his own wits and cunning, not with the help of a fantastical device that solves the problem for him. Giving Batman devices that are ''too'' fantastical, sci-fi and unusual would undermine the premise that Batman is, ultimately, a detective.

** Naw it's nothing like that, one has to remember that Franchise/TheDCU and the {{Franchise/DCAU}} are two completely different continuities. DCAU Barbara Gordon never got paralyzed by being shot by the Joker, Gotham never had an earthquake, Tim Drake is the second Robin (but has Jason Todd's backstory) and Jason and Azreal don't exist. It's a completely different artistic tangent.

*** ''Gotham Adventures'' #10 (in {{Franchise/DCAU}} continuity): Escaped by hijacking Poison Ivy's escape plan (seeds that made giant vines sprout from the ground within seconds of touching water).

** In many continuities, "Crime Alley" only gets that name after the murder of the Waynes, to begin with (its official name is "Park Row"). To the Waynes, before Joe Chill shows up, it's just a shortcut on the way home. So yes, there is an excuse.

*** He doesn't like guns...and yet his utility belt is full of pointy, bladed things and explosives. Oddly, he doesn't seem to have a problem throwing THEM at people.

*** Well, the "he doesn't want to kill anyone" point, but also, it's hard to control the effects of explosives, and the higher the yield, the higher the risk of people other than the target (including himself) getting caught up in the blast or ensuing shrapnel and possibly killed or seriously injured. Using a low-yield explosive ensures that the blast is smaller, there's less shrapnel, and consequently less chance that people will get hurt or killed.

** Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the Riddler is a villan more for fun and less for profit.

*** Or, more succinctly: The Riddler commits the crimes, but Edward Nygma leaves the clues out of guilt. In [[PrimeEvil my]] eyes, the Riddler is more of a "flashy alter-ego" than a true villain, and is just doing this for his 15 minutes of fame.

*** ^Pretty much this. At the end of the day such a prison will always fail as long as their is so much corruption in Gotham. The only way around that is to make it run completely by machines, which can be hacked easily.

** As to why Batman doesn't just donate lots of money to the authorities so they can improve existing prisons -- as outlined above, he already does and its still not working due to human element. As to why Batman doesn't make ''his own'' prison and throw the worst of his villains in there? Because he thinks it would be morally wrong. Batman sees his job as to help the authorities catch the bad guys they can't catch by themselves, not to set himself up as judge, jury, and executioner over the whole process. Remember, there was a Bat-Villain whose ''entire shtick'' was 'the prison system is not doing its job, I will make my own prison and kidnap these guys and put them away forever': Lyle Bolton, aka "Lock-Up". Bruce punched Lock-Up in the face a lot and tore his prison apart and shipped the bad guys kept in it back to regular jail, which kinda nails down what Bruce's opinion is about that type of thing.
** You're all forgetting that it's America. '''We already have private, corporate-owned prisons.''' He wouldn't be doing something new, he'd be doing something that pretty much exists across the entire nation already.

** It should be noted that Batman by and large considers himself a part of the legal system, just one that lacks official recognition. He sees his work as helping the police perform their duties where the criminals are involved and as such his involvement only goes as far as seeing the legal system to it's work rather than twist for his own ends.

** Also, this hits on another issue with a lot of complaints about Batman, which is that we're... kind of demanding that he do ''everything'' here. Yes, Bruce Wayne's a wealthy guy and could probably do (and, to be fair, does) a lot to improve Gotham by sharing the wealth around. But we complain that he doesn't personally fund the education and welfare system to improve the lot of Gothamites, doesn't give every single poor person in Gotham a job to prevent them from resorting to crime, doesn't personally fund the police department and ensure it's free from corruption, doesn't personally psychologically rehabilitate all his foes, and so on. And now we're demanding that he build his own personal prison and act as the warden and jailor as well to keep them from breaking out. Batman doesn't do all this because he hasn't trained himself to do all this, it's not all his job to do all this, and it's not his personal responsibility to do all this. Batman's already taken a lot on his shoulders here; at some point, the actual authorities, cops, prison officials, honest citizens etc. in Gotham have to start pulling their own weight as well.

* So, as technology in the real world gets better and better, what will Batman's new policy be? For example: there are, at the moment, actual prototype exoskeletons that give humans something approaching super-strength. Not widespread now, true, but if the world ever got to the point where every bank-robber around had one, what would Batman's policy be?

** Someone pointed that Batman is a minimalist. He prefers the harsher method; of course he is CrazyPrepared, but his intent is to be always an optimal vigilante, who doesn't depends on anything beyond himself. No more batarangs? He'll improvise a javeline. Much stronger opponent? Aikido. Is he on his Bruce Wayne identity and without time to wear the bat-suit? He'll just start kicking asses and later will tell everyone that has been lucky. Probably he would even let himself to be hit a couple of times to make it plausible. Doesn't want advanced tech; he's the Goddamned ''Batman''.

** Doesn't Batman ''already'' have villains that have superstrong exoskeletons, like Mr. Freeze? That's less the world overtaking Batman era tech and more catching up to it.

** Batman's not really tech-dependent in the same way that, say, Iron Man is. Sure, a lot of versions of Batman have played up the tech angle as a tool to help him solve crimes, but it's still entirely possible to do a low-tech minimalistic version of the concept where he's just a guy in a costume with a few throwing weapons, a customised car and a grappling gun. Should real-life technology evolve to the point where it matches what Batman has access to in the comics, the options are basically either (a) try and speculate even further for cool gadgets to give Batman or (b) go the other way and make him rely on his wits and fists more than his gadgets.
** Batman's villains also aren't, for the most part, massively technology-dependent. Some are, sure, like Mr. Freeze, but you don't really need a massive amount of technology to use the Joker, or Two-Face, or the Penguin, or the Riddler, or Poison Ivy, or the Scarecrow, or Ra's al Ghul, or a huge number of them. So really, an increase in tech probably won't massively affect Batman anyway, and to the degree that it does it actually plays into a core part of the fundamental appeal of Batman -- a more-or-less ordinary man facing overwhelming adversity and finding a way to triumph over it.

* Alfred. He's Batman's only true friend (Nightwing, Batgirl,etc are co-workers)and he's essentially the only surviving parent that Batman has. Why isn't he trying to stop Bruce Wayne from wasting his entire life on a cause that can only end in frustration and disappointment? Even assuming that Batman wouldn't be killed, he would certainly suffer a serious mental and emotional toll when he finally realized that despite his best efforts, Gotham City is just going to get worse as time goes on. How can somebody that cares for someone stand around and let that happen?
** Because when someone is hell bent on something you can't stop them, just mitigate the damage. Alfred is smart enough to know that. One of the few decent lines in Film/BatmanForever was from Alfred to Bruce on this subject regarding Robin's own vengance quest and Bruce trying to stop him.

** There's also the simple fact that Alfred, on some level, supports what Bruce is doing. I mean, we can go backwards and forwards on whether Bruce is actually insane, or merely dysfunctional, or whatever else -- but the fact remains that whatever the cause and whatever the absurdity, Bruce Wayne risks his life on a near-nightly basis to protect the innocent from those who would prey on or harm them and to secure justice for them. That's pretty much what a cop does, with the added benefit that in doing so, he has also created a very powerful guardian angel and symbol of hope for the downtrodden people of Gotham City to gather around in times of need. That's nothing to be sniffed at. Is the complete abolition and eradication of crime a mere pipe-dream? Yes. Does Alfred worry about Bruce near-constantly? Almost certainly. Does the Batman even have unintended side-effects such as escalation and the inspiration of super-villains? Quite possibly. Would Alfred, all things being ideal, rather that Bruce wasn't being Batman? Yes. But all things considered, Bruce Wayne has devoted himself to a pretty good purpose for living his life, and while there might be genuine and valid issues about it on the whole it's probably something that Alfred, with reservations, can more or less get behind.

* Why does Gotham City have a never-ending supply of abandoned themeparks and toy and game factories? Are people starting up these businesses as tax shelters, then foreclosing them so they can resell them to supervillains?
** Presumably this is the Broker's evil plan. The Carpenter also exists, and makes a living from renovating and designing deathtraps and lairs.

** Ultimately, the real answer is simply because it's a comic book. For all that it's based on a twentieth/twenty-first century American metropolis, Gotham City is ultimately just as much a fantasy world as, say, Middle Earth, meaning that like any fantasy world it runs heavily on RuleOfSymbolism. Hence, just as Mordor is a blasted land of ruin devoid of life because it fits the nature of Sauron, there will always be a toy factory or abandoned amusement park for the Joker to set up shop in if needed -- because it fits his theme.

* Why the heck do the writers insist on putting clearly SANE Batman villains in Arkham along with the loons? Fetishes and superpowers aside, people like Catwoman, Penguin, or the Hagen Clayface are in complete control of their faculties, so should go into regular prison (or a prison designed to contain superpowered crooks), not in among people like Harley Quinn (whose series demonstrated a rather severe disconnect from reality with Harley Vision), Wesker (who thinks his ventriloquist's dummy talks to him), or Two-Face (has displayed at various times, a distinct (and ironic) monomania concerning the number 2, a crippling obsession with chance, and MPD). People like Poison Ivy or Mr Freeze, who have clear and distinct obsessions, but don't seem pathological, at first blush, are a borderline, but the first handful are really undeniable.

** It's mostly because Arkham has much better security than Blackgate, so anyone with superpowers or special needs (like Mr. Freeze who needs to be kept in a subzero tempreture to survive) can't be held out Blackgate with the rest of the non-powered inmates.
** Penguin and Catwoman's respective sanity varies DependingOnTheWriter. Penguin has a strange obsession with birds and an extreme Napoleon complex. Catwoman is a kleptomaniac who dresses up like a cat. (Batman's sanity has often been called into question for similar obvious reasons.)

* Yet again a JBM with the Joker. While we fans know [[MoneyDearBoy why]] he'll [[JokerImmunity never die]], and that Batman [[ThouShaltNotKill won't kill him]] why do the characters in-universe never try anything to rid themselves of Mister Giggles? There are super-vigilantes in the DCverse, after all. Heck, given how corrupt and brutal the Gotham PD is, why do you never see half a dozen PO'ed cops go down to holding and unload their guns into the Joker because he was "attempting escape" or whatever excuse they could come up with?

*** To expand on this: why do people persist in abusive relationships? Why do larger, stronger people sometimes submit themselves to verbal abuse to smaller people or spouses? Why did Green Bay continually pine for Brett Favre? Why won't some normal person kill the Joker? I'd say the entirety of Gotham is like the Joker's abused spouse.
** Alternatively, they're scared shitless of ''Batman''. Think about it. Any super-vigilante with half a brain knows that if they go onto Batman's home turf looking to gun someone down he will ''find them'' and '''''break them'''''. And if they run across the Joker outside of Gotham City they know Batman isn't going to be far behind, which puts them in the same situation. Even if they manage to kill the Joker they've now got '''The Goddamn Batman''' on their tails. That scares me just thinking about it.

** While the Joker is personally formidable enough that nobody who isn't a very skilled opponent has any hope of killing him instead of dying at the Joker's hands in the attempt, that still doesn't explain why ''none'' of the friends or relatives of the Joker's endless parade of victims hasn't been rich enough to simply hand a couple million bucks to Deadshot or Lady Shiva or David Cain and say 'Go kill that guy'. There are mercenary assassins available who will gladly go head-to-head with Batman, and are either crazy enough to not care or just that damn good enough to not be afraid of the Joker. And yes, while my hired assassin will just want to take their paycheck and leave, Batman won't just go after them but also come after me for hiring them. Here's the plan. As soon as the Joker is dead, I'll just go straight to the police station and turn myself in to the GCPD. '''No jury in Gotham City will ever convict me.'''
** In the Elseworld comic '''Batman-Lobo''', Scarface hire Lobo to kill the Joker, but he manages to manipulate everyone to be the only survivor (along Batman) of the story.

** Who's to say he hasn't been shot at plenty of times? It's just never worked because:
*** They aren't good enough for a fatal shot, and may just fail hitting him all together

** Profile pages are restricted to villains that have outgrown their hero- gotten their own miniseries or series, menaced the DCU as a whole on a semi-regular basis and became a fixture in several unrelated storylines, etc. Scarecrow rarely if ever appears outside of Bat-family books.

** A crowbar would probably leave pretty distinctive wound patterns, Batman being batman I wouldn't put it past him to be able to recognise that, from there it's just how he imagined it would have looked?

** Batman's fear is of loss, which is why he doesn't let himself get close to other people easily, and acts like an assmuncher around them when he does. At most times in his life this fear is made real to him via hallucination with the biggest and defining loss of his life, but for a while the tragedy of losing Robin replaced that as a current central image.

* I can accept the Lazarus Pit being a human-body reset clock, as Batman has been tossed into it a few times. But...Batman routinely receives injuries that should if not kill him, leave him unable to stand. But many times he takes a huge blade (Superman/Batman, Batman:Cacophony) continues fighting. And of course, if he's supposed to be such a huge badass, he'd never let those blades or beatings happen in the first place.

** To some degree, this is just because Elseworld stories and {{Alternate Universe}}s are really more just putting a new spin on familiar concepts (What if Batman was around in the Victorian era? What if Batman was a pirate captain? What if Batman IN SPAAAAAAAACE?) rather than being sober explorations of counterfactuals in the strictly academic sense. In a truly metaphysical sense, there are probably infinite possible fictional realities where Batman, the Joker, and both do not exist in any meaningful form; DC Comics just does not tell stories about them because that would defeat the purpose of seeing Batman and the Joker in new contexts. The "there will always be a Batman and a Joker" is just a slightly portentous HandWave to explain why every one of these stories features Batman and the Joker, it is not necessarily intended as an undeniable literal foundational truth of the universe. As to the metaphysical underpinning of the question, I guess that it means that Batman and the Joker technically are not one-of-a-kind unique — but on the other hand, has anyone ever suggested that they were?

*** True, take VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum. Gordon bio explain that he has almost managed to completely clean the GCPD of crooks cops. Yet, who allow Mr Jay takeover? [[spoiler: Boles, a corrupt guard in Arkham.]] Gotham is just that corrupted.

*** I'd say ''especially'' because of the best of Wayne tech...because said best is actually quite low. I mean, in AA, a ''keycard''? The one kind of thing that's easily stolen or pirated? Never heard of retinal scanner, a commonplace tech that only works if the subject is alive (big prob for Mr Jay)?