Scott Snyder, Nick Dragotta, Frank Martin, and Clayton Cowles’ Absolute Batman aims to be a drastic reimagining of the Caped Crusader for DC’s All In initiative. In this version, Bruce Wayne isn’t blessed with the silver spoon in his mouth or mountains of cash stashed in the Batcave under the Wayne Mansion. Batman is as poor as Clark Kent writing for the Daily Planet (because journalism, lol). If this sounds similar, there’s a reason for it: It is. In the main Batman comic book, Bruce lost his fortune not too long ago, so there’s a bit of the same-same going on here.
Now, from a story arc perspective, it’s a fun what-if scenario to see how Bruce would cope using only his brains and brawn when he doesn’t have the money to fall back on for his high-tech gadgets and cool vehicles. That’s fine. However, this “angle” keeps rearing its head quite a bit lately. It’s at the point that it feels like DC is trying to erase the fact that Bruce is a billionaire from canon…
Why do people want Batman to be poor?
A while ago, some Twitter folk were posting about why Bruce doesn’t use his money to uplift his community and rehabilitate the rogues instead of using it to buy gear and beat the tar out of criminals. Well, let’s break this answer down into two parts here, shall we? One, canonically, Bruce donates a lot of money to various causes throughout Gotham City and has a history of trying to rehabilitate criminals. And two, Bruce is a fictional character, you muppet.
Unfortunately, it appears as if DC is concerned by the views of these individuals who don’t only need to touch grass but also mow it. They have too much time on their hands if they are outraged by fictional characters and feel the need to let the world know about every brain-fart they have. (Plus, here’s a little secret: They only read the comic panels on Pinterest and form opinions from that online. Most of them have never touched a comic book before.)
But aren’t all billionaires evil?
An argument made to counter this, though, is how all billionaires are evil; therefore, Bruce Wayne can’t be a good guy. Now, I’m not about to argue in favor of billionaires here. Most of them have pretty much destroyed everything we love for their own enrichment and they deserve a special place in hell for conducting mass layoffs in an effort to secure extra yachts for themselves. Again, though – and this needs to be stressed – Batman is a fictional character. He’s supposed to be the outlier – the hero who inspires people to do better, like pretty much every other superhero. What if he’s the billionaire who does right by his city and people? That’s essentially the crux of his character arc.
When Thomas and Martha Wayne died, Bruce was left well off. He never needed to work or do anything ever again. He could live off his trust fund and the family fortune. Instead, he’s so deeply impacted by the death of his parents that he swears on their graves that he’ll do everything in his power to protect and improve his city to stop tragedy from hitting others. His fortune helps him do this.
Um, Bruce Wayne needs money for believability purposes
Now, we can argue until we’re pink in the face about if he needs money to do this or not, but has anyone tried to buy a Batmobile or Batarangs on an office clerk salary lately? For heaven’s sake, they don’t even offer dental or medical insurance in most companies. In fact, even Nando’s feels like a luxury. In today’s economy, Bruce would need a second job – presumably in the evening – so he wouldn’t be able to go out and crack skulls anymore, nullifying the existence of Batman. So, there’s some real logic for you to ponder there.
Sometimes, people get caught up in the weirdest internet arguments – and Batman’s fortune appears to have fallen victim to this. Sure, change things around here and there to freshen up stories once in a while, but radically altering characters and their backstories only leads to one inevitability in the end: A reboot.
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Tell us, do you think Batman should be poor in the comics?
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