
How to become Batman - rpsubhub
http://www.quora.com/Given-our-current-technology-and-with-the-proper-training-would-it-be-possible-for-someone-to-become-Batman/answer/Mark-Hughes-1
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ErrantX
Pfft, no vision!

However, this thesis seems mostly sensible. I think the crucial answer is that
the "Skillz" of Batman are attainable, and there is a reasonable proportion of
people in the world with potential to attain them, BUT the problem of being
Batman is not in the technology.

The problem, as highlighted, is that there is no role for Batman in our
current society. Vigilantism is frowned on, and, practically speaking, having
a secret alter ego that _lasts_ only happens in the movies.

But the real problem is that Batman exists to solve a problem; Gotham has a
massive crime problem, way beyond what we see in any major city in the world.
And it is a city where number of crime bosses, criminal geniuses and
psychopaths exist, and where they can act fairly freely.

Given a real life city with that setup, yes, Batman would stand a better
chance.

~~~
l0nwlf
> But the real problem is that Batman exists to solve a problem; Gotham has a
> massive crime problem, way beyond what we see in any major city in the
> world. And it is a city where number of crime bosses, criminal geniuses and
> psychopaths exist, and where they can act fairly freely.

Gotham was created for batman IMHO and not vice-versa. If someday batman dies,
spiderman won't come from New York for load balancing. Why is that almost all
the super-heroes have their arch-enemy in their nearby locality. They also
share the same trait. For example spiderman villains are mostly mutants and
nagraj villains are mostly snake which takes humanoid form.

~~~
defen
> If someday batman dies, spiderman won't come from New York for load
> balancing

Dude, you can't cross the streams! (Marvel & DC)

~~~
alanfalcon
Meh, happens all the time.

<http://www.google.com/images?q=marvel+vs+dc>

------
sambeau
The original question has a link to a Scientific American that explores the
same idea:

[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=dark-
knight...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=dark-knight-shift-
why-bat)

I like this quote:

    
    
      How many of us do you think could become a Batman?
    
      If you found the percentage of billionaires and multiply
      that by the percentage of people who become Olympic
      decathletes, you could probably get a close estimate.

~~~
NickPollard
<http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1870>

Apparently there should have been approximately 2 dinosaur Batmans (Batmen?)

~~~
lmkg
The plural form of Batman is "Batmen." "Batmans" is the present tense of the
verb "to Batman."

(<http://twitter.com/fakeapstylebook>)

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stcredzero
Wasn't there a woman on This American Life who tried to become as close to a
real life superhero as possible?

EDIT: Found it. She calls herself Zora. (Which is the name of a character in
Powers.) [http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-
archives/episode/178/s...](http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-
archives/episode/178/superpowers)

~~~
hebejebelus
There are a fairly large number of "real life superheroes," actually
(<http://reallifesuperheroes.org>).

None of them have magical superpowers that let them control the tides or have
Adamantium skeletons, but hell, it's something. My particular favourite is
Life: <http://reallifesuperheroes.org/wiki/index.php?title=Life>

~~~
westicle
That guy has nothing on Laserskater.

[http://reallifesuperheroes.org/wiki/index.php?title=Laserska...](http://reallifesuperheroes.org/wiki/index.php?title=Laserskater)

------
noblethrasher
Relevant:

"Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the
right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world. If I
moved to a martial-arts monastery in China and studied real hard for ten
years. If my family was wiped out by Colombian drug dealers and I swore myself
to revenge. If I got a fatal disease, had one year to live, and devoted it to
wiping out street crime. If I just dropped out and devoted my life to being
bad."

— Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash)

~~~
mark_h
Good lord that quote resonated with me when I first read it! (and, it seems,
with young men everywhere)

Ironically, I think I'd already come to the realisation that I couldn't (which
is where that quote is heading in the book) much earlier than 25 as a _result_
of martial arts training!

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Tichy
I suppose it would be possible to learn faster than by just going the official
route. Does Batman need a detective license? I think not.

I wonder if there are cases of people leading batman style lives. Or even
maybe Dexter style lives (going about dishing out illegal justice in their
spare time).

One thing that comes to mind is from a movie I saw (maybe smoke signals?),
where the native american tribe (living in modern times) had a traditional
role of some people disguising and teaching other people a lesson.

As for the signalling problem, maybe something could be built with modern
technologie (SMS, mobile internet, social networks).

In fact today I had this thought, fueled by paranoia: what if your child was
abducted, but could send one last distress call. I suppose police wouldn't be
able to block the roads in time to catch the abductor, but what if by a
snowballing flash mob effect, all people would take to the street and blocked
all roads until police would arrive? It would be a kind of distributed batman
effect...

------
JanezStupar
Umm there is something else - most of the crooks in Batman seem to be burning
some midnight oil studying and practicing - right down to the ordinary mobster
level.

So a real Batman in real world, where criminals are not all competent in many
fields (except crime OFC - at least when Batman is around) could get by with
lots lower skills.

Also a lot of skills overlap... Take this guy for instance
(<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnClWxkcS4g>) I guess that he has quite some
of necessary skills to be a batman. Come to think of it - MOSSAD operatives
probably are quite a representation of actual "batmen" - with tech and all :).

------
jeffthebear
I wonder if the money that Batman spends to fight crime could be used more
effectively in other ways. Batman is essentially a guy who uses his millions
of dollars to fund his private war against criminals of Gotham city. If he
used the same money and time to educate kids, invest in rehab programs or
create community programs he might be able to get more done than what one man
can do in the night. But it probably doesn't have the same kick you get out of
beating up criminals.

~~~
true_religion
In the comics, Batman does all the crime fighting and Bruce Wayne does all the
charity work. So he tackles things from both sides of the coin.

Asking him to give up Batman would be like asking a city to give up their
Police Force and just rely on schools to teach kids good morals.

------
DanI-S
The real question is why you would want to be Batman when Iron Man has _so_
much more fun...

------
siddhant
This man just shattered all our dreams.

~~~
epochwolf
Never be afraid to share your dreams with the world, because there's nothing
the world loves more than the taste of really sweet dreams.

<http://www.despair.com/bitterness.html>

------
cturner
My biggest niggle about Batman is how he'd get to and from the scene,
particularly roads near his house. Locals would see the batmobile on the same
road repeatedly. Lovers in the bushes would see/be squashed by the car pulling
into the tunnel. Word would soon get around.

~~~
mtw
maybe there's a road network after the tunnel. That network is still on his
land and lead to multiple exits, villages, highways. Another idea is to have
surveillance sensors around the exit (IR, microphones, proximity sensors ) so
that he'd know there's someone

But I think the biggest problem is when he's on the road. The batmobile gets
noticed and it's easy to get blocked in traffic, or have a crowd around the
batmobile when he finds a parking spot.

The green hornet solution is a much more practical. Get a vanilla-looking car,
then add high-tech sensors, weapons, and defensive solutions in the car.

------
JCB_K
Very entertaining and funny, but could people please stop saying "Quora is
different because of the crowd and it's serious and bla bla bla"?

~~~
michael_dorfman
I have to say, my first reaction on reading this was "Quora? You see that
thing you're jumping over? I hate to break it to you, but that's the shark."

~~~
stcredzero
When did HN jump the shark?

~~~
stonemetal
Well, they let me sign up so it must have happened already.

~~~
neworbit
keyboard kill for you

------
YoungNeem
Quite simply, it's Alfred's station that makes Batman's efforts appear
seamless. Alfred offers Batman wisdom, advice, an ear for consultation, and
most importantly, he picks up Batman in the Bentley, when he's hurt, so he
doesn't end up in ICU.

Moreover, in this scenario, our real-life Batman fails to become buddy-buddy
with the police chief. That's a critical step.

------
varjag
One could still become a Kick Ass though.

------
Eliezer
Boy, I'd hate to ask them how to become Harry Potter.

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sb
Damn it, if I had known when I was 18!

OTOH, I guess since the common opinion is that most bad guys are boring drug
dealers, it's fair to say that if there are people inquiring about how to be
Batman, there probably are ones interested in becoming one of his arch-enemies
(which is probably less difficult, too :)

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iampims
Batman for Wallstreet criminals?

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ck2
Um, you really think you could be anonymous in today's day and age? In the
United States? That's a big false premise in Batman, how no-one can seem to
figure out who it is.

Law enforcement would hate being made into fools, they'd seize your assets and
put you in Gitmo as an example (I wonder how many more presidencies that will
be kept open).

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blazer
Why not Bruce Wayne?

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joelrunyon
Woah...talk about a buzzkill

