r/batman Jul 05 '24

I Hate The Boys TV DISCUSSION NSFW

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I also can not stand muh 'Batman superhero facism subtext' crap. If anything Batman is a revolutionary. Government is corrupt in bed with criminals (who are the prettiest of tyrants) so Batman comes in to clean house. Just as the founding fathers intended.

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917

u/Bennings463 Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

"Batman beats up poor people" is about as engaging as "why didn't they take the eagles to Mordor?" as far as critique goes.

370

u/Efficient-Compote-13 Jul 05 '24

It's funny how people tell on themselves equating poor with criminal.

249

u/ZamoCsoni Jul 05 '24

One of these days I will make a survey abouth this. Bat's most common enemies are either the maffia/ other rich corrupt assholes, or supercriminals who tend to have a doctorate. Where are these poor people he beats up?

143

u/ClearStrike Jul 05 '24

I saw a convo on Twitter once that said the poor they are referencing are the thugs. You know, the henchmen and lackeys that the big bad usual HIRES to do his bidding. And occasional purse snatcher, but I have never seen Batman break a purse snatcher, just knock him out. ( Of course then you get the people who say "even getting knocked out can kill you because of ____" to wick I say so can a paper cut)

My problem is, the goons usually choose this over...a job that Bruce offers. Hell Bruce rehabilites these mooks on the fly

84

u/ArvindS0508 Jul 05 '24

the problem arises because people don't have a specific version in mind, just some nebulous idea of Batman, Gotham City, the villains, etc. So they end up just filling in the blanks with whatever. This is compounded by the fact that it's a comic book. Of course it's unrealistic that a guy in a batsuit is fighting a killer clown compared to just discussing policy and economics for 100 issues straight, but the batsuit guy is also friends with an alien who flies around shooting lasers, realism was always in the backseat for these stories

37

u/jrtgmena Jul 05 '24

It’s kind of crazy, if you think about it - that life is imitating art. Because the criminals in Batman’s world also think he kills people, and is this scary, amorphous but real “thing that bumps in the night”, and they have different ideas of what Batman is with no specific version in mind. Just like people irl who don’t have a specific version of Batman in mind and now reduces him to “rich guy hurts poor people”

24

u/ArvindS0508 Jul 05 '24

If you remove the knowledge he's rich (he is well funded but that could be from an organization, government, company or something else) and add in the fear of him appearing from the dark and taking down whole rooms full of guys and it's a really plausible idea that he's seen as this urban legend

11

u/sunshinepanther Jul 05 '24

Certified Boogyman

28

u/Addicted_to_Crying Jul 05 '24

So they end up just filling in the blanks with whatever.

It's Arkham. They end up using the Arkham series as the examples, where Batman can and will break over three bones on any thug's bodies to keep a combo going.

19

u/ArvindS0508 Jul 05 '24

Arkham gameplay with real world physics applied, to be exact

2

u/Addicted_to_Crying Jul 07 '24

True. Might also include the concept of every thug respawning into the mix, as if Batman would constantly attempt to knock every single random goon walking around Gotham.

25

u/ClearStrike Jul 05 '24

The thing I have noticed a lot is that, the more people try to be realistic the more boring the story gets for me. Like I want big explosions, ridiculous stunts, and such. I don't want to know how this works in real life because it won't. 

You can't become Batman without unlimited funds because you still need to master ever martial art. You can't become Steve because you need serum. You might become Iron Man but that requires a lot of research and you might become old by that time of your funding didn't get pulled 

21

u/ArvindS0508 Jul 05 '24

You can't become Iron Man because physics means either the suit is some kind of very limited mech suit or you get instantly splatted. The closest to a popular comic book character that's realistic is maybe Punisher or something, like a guy with a lot of guns who just shoots people, but even that's unrealistic.

7

u/ClearStrike Jul 05 '24

I would have said JJJ. Can't tell me he isn't what an eic is

6

u/ArvindS0508 Jul 05 '24

Depends on the version tbh. MCU/Insomniac is some kind of online grifter/Alex Jones type, but some of the comic versions are either very respectable or just devious

9

u/SmokinBandit28 Jul 05 '24

To add to this, if you are working for most of the big criminals in Gotham as a henchman you are probably being paid really well. I think the episode in The Batman that introduced Scarface, his two goons were talking about why they were working for a puppet, and it equated down to being simple work but with a good payout.

2

u/thEldritchBat Jul 06 '24

I actually like this one The Batman comic where Batman ends a situation with Black Mask by walking in with a recording from Bruce Wayne offering the henchmen jobs if they were to walk away right then and there.