Could Batman exist in real world?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ The problems with the TV series on DVD are legendary. Partly because different organizations control the rights to the characters, vs. the actual TV show itself, and so on. There's also the problem of the cameo appearances - remember the bits where Batman & Robin would be scaling a wall, and out of a window would pop characters like Colonel Klink, the Green Hornet, Lurch, etc.? All of those characters have their own rights and the actors (or their estates) would need compensation. And so on and so on.

 

[Samurai8472]

Of course if they ever got into real fights on the street, you'd have to have people running by holding up signs with things like "BAM!" and "POW!"

Batman in South Central

Batman- Beware evildoers! me and my chum here will stop your dastardly crimes

*two shots from a semi automatic*

Batman-should.......have....brought the shark repellant

 

[Forbin]

Remember the TV show The Equalizer?

Retired espionage agent who spends his time, skill and acquired wealth helping NY City's crime-victims one at a time. Occasionally with the help of friends in the NYPD and three-letter agencies, but often alone against the scum and villiany. Doing whatever it takes to protect the innocent.

That's probably what a real-life Batman would be like. maybe not as old as Edward Woodward was. :0

 

[FreezeC77]

Maybe a more slightly realistic take on how a skilled martial artist would be if they decided to become a superhero in real life is the movie Mirageman. It's a Chilean movie from a couple years ago and gets pretty intense near the end. There are some comedic elements, but it mainly deals with a guy who's really strong and skilled martial artist (think Jean Claude Van Dam Bloodsport era) deciding to become a superhero after he foils a home invasion.

 

[Forbin]

Or maybe bits of Highlander, the series. I'm watching season 2 right now and McLeod spends a lot of time running around using his martial arts skills to save innocent folk. Just leave out the bits where his mutant healing power is needed to save him from the bad guys.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

No, he couldn't.

 

[The Wormhole]

It would take a highly-trained ninja with the bank account of Bill Gates to be a real-world Batman.

However, the real question of course isn't could Batman exist in the real world, but rather if he did, would he need time to prepare?

 

[Owain Taggart]

The world doesn't treat vigilantes too well, and Superheros are in essence exactly that. You can get the sense of the kind of trouble that would cause in Batman Begins.

 

[JoeZhang]

It would take a highly-trained ninja with the bank account of Bill Gates to be a real-world Batman.

However, the real question of course isn't could Batman exist in the real world, but rather if he did, would he need time to prepare?

The guy in black is a highly trained 'Ninja':


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mA-Aceo6NU

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Probably, but I bet he'd be the sulky roommate who never wants to participate in the house activities.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Now, if a real-life Bruce Wayne really wanted to make a difference against crime, he'd probably invest his billions in organizing private security firms, making endowments to the city to fund the police and urban improvement, investing in social programs to keep kids off the streets and rehabilitate felons and addicts, and so on. Heck, just investing in infrastructure renewal to put up streetlights in those gloomy Gotham corners and alleys would do more for crime deterrence than one guy in a cape could ever do.

With private security firms, private social programs, and infrastructure renewal, I agree that a real-life Bruce Wayne would be successful in those area. But endowing the city to fund police and urban improvement would be a waste of time and money. Real life governments are just as corrupt as Gotham City's.

Remember the TV show The Equalizer?

I remember that show! Excellent series!

 

[Trek4Ever]

One thing that a real life Batman or any would be super hero would have to contend with would be the public outcries against him or her by the ACLU and other groups either liberal or conservative who would rally against him for either playing cop, infringing on criminals' legal rights and so on. A good example of this would be a J. Jonah Jameson type of personna who would turn public opinion against the hero and thus force the authorities to hunt the hero down.

 

[Christopher]

Well, realistically it wouldn't be that hard to hunt the hero down. Video cameras, DNA analysis of blood left at a fight scene, computer records of equipment purchases... there are plenty of ways to figure it out.

 

[RedShirt]

Now, if a real-life Bruce Wayne really wanted to make a difference against crime, he'd probably invest his billions in organizing private security firms, making endowments to the city to fund the police and urban improvement, investing in social programs to keep kids off the streets and rehabilitate felons and addicts, and so on. Heck, just investing in infrastructure renewal to put up streetlights in those gloomy Gotham corners and alleys would do more for crime deterrence than one guy in a cape could ever do.

Real world solutions to real world problems? HUMBUG!
That would take greater suspension of disbelief

(though I would also suggest that he bankroll new political talent in the city government to help fight corruption from the top down while the other programs you mention aim from the bottom up)

 

[Nowhere Man]

I think it could work if you stuck with small potatoes stuff. If you had some nice light wieght armour and equipment. You inately have to be a billionaire and the martial arts skills of Bruce Lee and the driving skills of Dale Earnheart. You could deal with drug dealers and muggers, not gangsters or any big time criminals. You would only be able to patrol small nieghborhoods. If you had ziplines, you could probably get across roof tops better. You would be helping the police a little bit, but much more than if you were just a cop. I think it's plausible, but not very practicle. Now if there were a network of Vigilantees or Bounty Hunters like Old West style, that might work. It would be interesting to see though. I think he could evade the law as long he had enough money.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

He'd probably be nothing like this...

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[Christopher]

I think it could work if you stuck with small potatoes stuff. If you had some nice light wieght armour and equipment. You inately have to be a billionaire and the martial arts skills of Bruce Lee and the driving skills of Dale Earnheart.

If you fight crime on the city streets, driving wouldn't be a major part of it. Those streets are generally crowded, and getting into high-speed chases would be criminally irresponsible. (In the Nolan Bat-movies, it's impossible to believe that Batman doesn't kill anyone while smashing through police cars in that Tumbler monstrosity.) It would also be difficult to the point of impossibility if there were any substantial amount of traffic.

Also, if this putative vigilante got around in a car, he'd be easy to track. He'd need to have a license plate or he'd get pulled over. I think there are also laws in some places against having windows too heavily tinted to see inside. Traffic cameras or police helicopters could easily track the vigilante's vehicle back to his lair. Even if it were the nondescript vehicle it would need to be, rather than a fancy sportscar decked out with bat imagery.

If you had ziplines, you could probably get across roof tops better.

If we're talking realistically, I don't see how you can fight street-level crime by performing difficult aerial acrobatics on rooftops. Wouldn't it make more sense to be down where the crimes are actually being committed? Besides, how much breaking and entering would you have to commit to get into those buildings and onto their roofs, all so that you could go up from ground level to one building's roof, risk your life swinging across to another building's roof, then come back down to ground level to pursue a mugger or pimp who's had plenty of time to escape because he had the good sense to stay on the freaking ground the whole time??

Now if there were a network of Vigilantees or Bounty Hunters like Old West style, that might work.

That's one of the things I think the Real Life Superheroes movement I mentioned above tries to do -- organize the efforts of the various costumed activists out there.

 

[Forbin]

A couple decades ago I was in NYC for a Trek convention, and as my friends and I were walking from the parking lot to the hotel, we heard a deep voice shout "YOU! are in vi-o-LAY-tion! Of the LAW!!!"

We turned to se a 20-something black guy wearing a karate gi pointing a bamboo baton at some people who'd just jaywalked. He was walking purposefully toward them like he was going to smite them (and, btw, jaywalking himself). We, uh, just kept walkin'.

 

[skep155]

It would take a highly-trained ninja with the bank account of Bill Gates to be a real-world Batman.

However, the real question of course isn't could Batman exist in the real world, but rather if he did, would he need time to prepare?

The guy in black is a highly trained 'Ninja':


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mA-Aceo6NU

Ditto. Nobody is highly trained enough to be invincible. I bet even a bad ass Delta Force soldier could get knocked out by a 14 year old kid if he stumbled or something, sure it's a one in a hundred chance but if you make a living out of engaging people in hand to hand combat (in uncontrolled conditions with no rules) sooner or later your going to get badly hurt.

 

[Saul]

If he had time to prepare....