okay, controversial batman opinion time! it ruins the character for him to be a billionaire, and heās only a billionaire because too many people thinkĀ ābillionaireā just meansĀ āmillionaire but coolerā. bruce wayne should just be a millionaire.Ā
a millionaire has enough money to buy a batcave, a fancy batmobile, a supercomputer, a bunch of esoteric custom-made tools and toys, a couple companies that make enough money to fund a playboy lifestyle and a bunch of high-tech vigilante superheroes. millionaires today, even with inflation, can commission the creation of pretty much any physical item short of their own spaceship, and some of them can even do that.Ā
a billionaire has enough money to own entire cities and write their own laws and do whatever the fuck they want basically all the time, anywhere. look at disney, tesla, amazon, nestle, walmart. these guys are playing on an almost inconceivable global scale and they are not your friend. these are lex luthor motherfuckers.Ā
the question keeps being asked, āif bruce wayne is so rich, itās ridiculous that heās using all that money to run around in a bat costume punching mentally ill peopleā, and thatās correct if heās got money on a billionaireās scale. itās absurdly irresponsible to have the kind of power that could change how a nation operates, much less local government, and just play night time punch guy with it. batman is the bad guy there.Ā
but say batmanāsĀ ājustā a millionaire. heās the heir of a couple old money families, heās got a mansion and some land and a private jet, heās in with the elite of gotham, he can put some pressure on the mayor and the city council and the policeā but heās still on a level with half a dozen other families who have their own millions to throw around, their own ambitions. he canāt actually fix gotham just by throwing money at it, because he will run out of money before all the other rich guys do.Ā
in this situation, batman does make sense for bruce wayne to invent: a secret guy no one can pin on wayne industries, who can run around taking on organized crime and supervillains at the same time, who isnāt beholden to the social or legal conventions that the superwealthy also flout to play their fucked up games with each other. batmanĀ can actually do what a single millionaire canāt.Ā
batman gets written by batman fanboys to be a power fantasy, but with great power comes great responsibility, etc. at a certain level of wealth his power far outstrips his purpose, and being batman is actually irresponsible for bruce wayne. a heroās limitations make for better stories. stop writing batman as a billionaire, already.Ā
