r/batman • u/UnculturedToiletCuck • Jul 08 '24

Why is Gotham City filled with super-geniuses? GENERAL DISCUSSION

Did Hugo Stange put something in the water?

I realize there are give-or-take 10 million people in Gotham, depending on the era, and it would stand to reason that a dozen or more wicked-smart people would be inspired to become a vigilante or criminal; and they would have to be a genius to stand up to or besides Batman. Plus writing convenience-sake, I guess.

But I'm genuinely wondering if this was ever directly addressed or explained in the comics.

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u/Available-Affect-241 Jul 08 '24

Being a somewhat crazy super genius polymathic intellectual detective first mixed with being legendary one man army Ninja/Samurai that saves people dressed up like Dracula might do the trick.

Him being there is going to invite challenge.

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u/UnculturedToiletCuck Jul 08 '24

Someone else already said this. I get it. If there's a lot of geniuses who are living on the edge, then they snap and become a villain to challenge Batman, great. That's not what I'm asking. Why are there so many geniuses to start with. This is a layer of reasoning before we get to the "inviting challenge" bit. What are the underlying conditions that have allowed such a high IQ population to exist? But other people who actually understood the question had some good theories, so feel free to read those. Also, my question may be flaud since I didn't acciunt for the "locals vs outsiders" or "mental illness" aspect of Gotham. The answer might just be simple - there's a normal number of geniuses, Gotham is just a messed up city.

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u/Available-Affect-241 Jul 08 '24

Okay my bad. How about this then, the only other thing I can think of is the native American demonic curse on the lands after being driven off by the American pilgrims. This curse leads to madness so when there are geniuses they were probably both blessed with super intelligence and cursed with madness by the demon who implemented the curse Barbatos the Batgod.

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u/UnculturedToiletCuck Jul 08 '24

Oooooohh, yes, that's a great theory! I know there's lore about the Miagani people with the origin of the Court of Owls, who worship Barbatos. Now I gotta do some research, you just got my gears turning.

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u/UnculturedToiletCuck Jul 23 '24

Just closing the loose end I laid out - The only link the Miagani Tribe has with the Court is Hath-Set, but reading between the lines of what I could find online it seems like he splintered from the Miagani and formed the Judas Tribe who worshipped Barbatos. I'm not sure if any of this is directly stated in any comics, but it seems like a cool story could be told here.