Is Batman realistic? Or just a comic book character?

[phantom stranger]

Basically you could establish that Bruce has (via agents of agents of agents) influenced Gotham City into building elevated trains and eschewing all subways.

So that's who built the tunnel in Batman Forever. 

But, in all seriousness, that sounds like a cross between "The Shadow" and the "No Man's Land" storyline in which (if I remember correctly) Batman builds safehouses all around Gotham City. The secret lair in DK kind of reminded me of that.

[johnnygobbs]

There's very little about Batman that's at all realistic.

A guy like Bruce would likely grow up to be a male version of Paris Hilton.  But even if he became Batman, I'll never be convinced a reality-based Batman could dodge that many bullets per night.  The law of numbers says he'd eventually get made into swiss cheese.

Also, he'd never be able to have any sort of "arrangement" with the police.  He's a criminal himself and he would not long evade police detection, billionaire or not.

Batman is a fantasy character (as his villains demonstrate) and while "realistic" stories might be entertaining as captivating Elseworlds stories, they're simply not good for the character over the long haul.

Interesting points Colors, although I wouldn't necessarily imagine Wayne as an idle rich Paris Hilton type, even in the real world since it's obvious that the traumatic murder of his parents meant that he had to grow up a lot earlier than his peers.  It's more probable that he ended up a recluse, or even ended up becoming sectioned at a mental institute or rehab centre for the very rich after drowning his sorrows over his parents' death.

[thecolorsblend]

But, in all seriousness, that sounds like a cross between "The Shadow" and the "No Man's Land" storyline in which (if I remember correctly) Batman builds safehouses all around Gotham City. The secret lair in DK kind of reminded me of that.

I thought of the Shadow a little bit as I wrote it.  To be honest, Batman has borrowed so much from the Shadow over the years.  What's one more idea?

[Grissom]

You know I used to think about this. Whenever I watch Batman I am transported to Gotham City and experience these characters and events taking place. I believe that alot of the stuff that happens in the film is indeed possible, a deranged sociopath, a vigilante, car chases, toxic gas (biological warfare) etc.

Wouldn't it be cool if someone could come up with a theme park based on Gotham City (the '89 version). 

[johnnygobbs]

Wouldn't it be cool if someone could come up with a theme park based on Gotham City (the '89 version). 

Definitely, but I'd prefer a theme park based on the Returns Gotham, or at least a blend between the two films.

[burtongenius]

It definetely would be a "dangerous" theme park!  I actually am going to change my opinion.  I think everything that happened in batman 89 is realistic.  From batman to the batmobile to the bat plane.  Nothing seems unkosher to me.  The comics I think are a little off on the other hand.

[Azrael]

Batman is about verisimilitude, not realism. It's a no-brainer really, I agree with the points above, what happens in Gotham can happen only with the help of movie magic. The comic book Batman I always enjoyed the most was the one with long ears and a huge vampiric-like frame that seemed to float in certain panels (something the French filmmakers that did the "Ashes to Ashes" fanfilm pulled off quite nicely). Unrealistic, yeah, but so is Iron-Man, James Bond, Snake Plissken or other "mortal" heroes that do what they do with the help of push-ups and/or gadgets.

[The Dark Knight]

I think everything that happened in batman 89 is realistic.

Joker's body in one piece at the foot of the cathedral isn't realistic. They couldn't get away with rivers of blood, but you get the idea. Everything that happened in the film was not realistic. Some of it obviously is. But this is a comic book film we are talking about.

Offhand, what about:

Quickly frying a person to soot via a hand buzzer? Acid shooting flowers that melt steel in seconds?

People laughing to death with via Smylex poisoning - with their corpse leaving a perfect large frozen smile?

A man being chemically bleached perfectly in one tone all over his body and wearing a peeled back frozen smile and green hair?

This stuff is ripped straight from the comics. As it should be. This is how these characters and their world are. You cannot escape that. If you want to do them properly, it's just how it is. Batman does not equal realism. In fact, the more real you try to go with it, the more absurd it becomes.

[thecolorsblend]

Joker's body in one piece at the foot of the cathedral isn't realistic. They couldn't get away with rivers of blood, but you get the idea. Everything that happened in the film was not realistic. Some of it obviously is. But this is a comic book film we are talking about.

This and your subsequent examples are all exactly right.  Burton crafted a world that was believable, yes, but certainly unlike reality as I know it.

This stuff is ripped straight from the comics. As it should be. This is how these characters and their world are. You cannot escape that. If you want to do them properly, it's just how it is. Batman does not equal realism. In fact, the more real you try to go with it, the more absurd it becomes.

I don't mind bringing bits of the real world into Batman.  But bringing Batman into the real world serves only to underscore how other worldly the character and his world really are.  Clayface, the Joker, Bane, the villains virtually ooze unreality (don't know if it would be accurate to use either "fantasy" or "sci-fi" as labels here).

The key is making the conflicts believable.  Audiences obviously had no trouble accepting the Joker as he was (an acid-scarred freak) but they believed in the conflict between him and Batman.  They don't need to be realistic, they just need to be believable.

[The Dark Knight]

They don't need to be realistic, they just need to be believable.

Yes, that is exactly it. It?s how you connect to their struggle and their emotions. They just have to be solid characters worth getting behind, or worth hating ? in a good way of course. The way we connect to them makes them real. Their appearance and origin behind it means absolutey zero.

Clay shapeshifters and men in ice suits are obviously unreal, but we buy into that world where that stuff is possible. There is not an elephant in the room, because they blend into it.

By the way, here?s a good read I found. It's a four page article about Batman and reality.

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