Batman is a DC Comics hero who tries to be prepared for every scenario, including the possibility that his friends in the Justice League, might have to be dealt with. Batman recognizes that if any of the Justice League members were to use their god-like abilities for evil, they would be practically unstoppable. Embracing his deep inner paranoia, the Dark Knight has meticulously plotted ways to exploit each of his teammates’ physical and psychological weaknesses. These contingency plans range from crippling League members to straight-up murdering them to make sure that they can never use their powers to harm anyone ever again. Batman is so crazy paranoid that he has even developed contingencies for himself in case he were ever to go rogue.
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Batman lives by a code not to torture or kill criminals. Sadly, his friends don’t get the same luxury, as many of Batman’s contingency plans involve murdering his allies. Unfortunately, many of these plans were stolen and exploited by the villain Ra’s al Ghul in the “Tower of Babel” storyline. This resulted in many Justice League nearly dying. Batman’s contingency plans may be logical given the nature of superpowered beings, but often they lead to terrible consequences. These plans show how Batman’s preparedness and paranoia borders on insanity.
10) Infecting Cyborg with a Virus
Batman’s paranoia is on full display when he develops and deploys a contingency plan to defeat Cyborg in the Injustice alternate universe. In this universe, Superman turns evil and motivates many heroes, including Cyborg, to help him take over the world. When Batman and his rebels confront Superman and his followers, the Dark Knight activates a virus he implanted in Cyborg. The virus disables many of Cyborg’s systems, leaving him severely weakened. What’s most insane about his plan is when Batman put it in place. He uploaded the virus into Cyborg the first week that he met him. This perfectly illustrates how the Caped Crusader trusts no one and is constantly scheming potential ways to hurt his fellow heroes from their first meeting.
9) Making Green Lantern Blind
Green Lantern can create anything that he can imagine with his ring, so Batman came up with a way to impair the hero’s connection to the ring. While Green Lantern was sleeping, Batman implanted a hypnotic suggestion into Green Lantern’s mind that would trigger him into believing that he’s blind. Since the ring responds to Green Lantern’s thoughts, it would make this delusion a reality, rendering the hero unable to see. Without his sight, Green Lantern has a much harder time visualizing his constructs, rendering him practically powerless. It’s easily one of the most bizarre methods to depower a hero. Still, it proved to be effective when Ra’s al Ghul used the contingency on the Green Lantern Kyle Rayner.
8) Sabotaging Atom’s Shrinking Belt
The Atom’s shrinking ability is extremely dangerous and challenging to counter. This power allows the hero to infiltrate a person’s body and destroy it from the inside. If Atom were to go rogue, Batman’s plan involves sabotaging the hero’s belt, which gives him his shrinking ability. Unfortunately, the plan is incredibly deadly, as it has two potential outcomes. The first possibility is that Atom starts to shrink forever. The second possibility is that the belt develops a miniature black hole that consumes Atom. Both outcomes are lethal, so Batman is working to find a less-permanent solution to incapacitate the shrinking hero.
7) Freezing Plastic Man
With his malleable and indestructible body, Plastic Man is considered by Batman to be one of the most potentially dangerous and unpredictable beings in the world. To stop the shapeshifter, Batman’s plan involves freezing Plastic Man solid with liquid nitrogen and hoping he never thaws out. Ra’s Al Ghul uses this contingency on Plastic Man and shatters the hero into tiny pieces. Even after Plastic Man was freed from his frozen prison and reformed, the feeling of helplessness deeply traumatized him. It even made him lose for a while his sense of humor. The fact that Plastic Man was conscious throughout the entire ordeal but unable to move highlights the horrifying nature of Batman’s contingency plan for him.
6) Turning Wonder Woman’s Fighting Spirit Against Her
Unlike other heroes, such as Superman or Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman has no clear-cut weakness because of her Amazonian physiology and extensive experience as a warrior. However, Batman exploits Wonder Woman’s indominable spirit when developing a contingency plan for her. By injecting her with nanites, Batman places Wonder Woman in a mental virtual reality where she faces off against an unstoppable opponent. No matter how hard Wonder Woman fights, she would be unable to beat the imaginary enemy. The result would be that she would eventually die from exhaustion as she fought beyond her body’s limits. It’s a convoluted yet unnerving plan that exploits Wonder Woman’s psychological strength against herself, rather than attacking her physically.
5) Giving Aquaman Aquaphobia
Aquaman is well-known for his reliance on constant access to water to keep himself alive and replenish his strength. For this contingency plan, Batman uses a chemical weapon designed by one of his deadliest enemies: Scarecrow. Batman creates a modified version of Scarecrow’s fear toxin that would give Aquaman an overwhelming fear of water. When exposed to the gas, even a glass of water throws Aquaman into a panic. It’s a ruthless yet effective method to cripple Aquaman. If Aquaman had not been treated for the Scarecrow toxin, he would have eventually died from dehydration.
4) Forcing Superman to Experience Sensory Overload
Although Batman’s reliance on Green Kryptonite to battle the Man of Steel is well-known, the Dark Knight has another, more brutal method for incapacitating Superman. Batman created a special form of Red Kryptonite that causes Superman’s skin to become transparent. With his skin transparent, Superman cannot regulate the amount of solar energy he absorbs, and his powers increase exponentially. While giving Superman more power may sound like the opposite of what Batman would want for a contingency plan, Superman’s super-senses also drastically heighten, leaving the Man of Steel in a state of perpetual and excruciating sensory overload. Although it won’t kill him, the torturous existence of having every sensation cause unbearable pain completely incapacitates Superman. Batman’s willingness to subjugate his best friend to such torture also demonstrates how implacable he is.
3) Covering Martian Manhunter in Ever-Burning Nanites
Martian Manhunter has a wide range of abilities, but his primary weakness is fire. Batman’s method of exploiting this weakness is nothing short of horrific. The contingency plan involves injecting the Martian Manhunter with nanites, which would convert the outer layer of the hero’s skin into magnesium, causing it to combust when exposed to air. As a result, Martian Manhunter would be continuously in a state of horrific agony as he’s engulfed in flames. It doesn’t get much crazier than to have a plan to endlessly roast your friend alive.
2) Causing Flash to Have a Seizure
For this contingency plan, Batman created a weapon that made the Flash pray for death. To combat the Flash’s speed, Batman developed the “vibra-bullet.” When fired into the Flash’s spine, the bullet triggers agonizing seizures at the speed of light. The bullet is also designed so that the Flash can’t phase through it. When Ra’s al Ghul used the bullet on Wally West, the full effect of the vibra-bullet was revealed. When Wally had the bullet removed, he stated that he spent days praying for death. However, his teammates revealed that he only had the bullet in him for 22 minutes. This meant that, if not removed, the vibra-bullet would have tortured Wally for several lifetimes from his perspective before he eventually died.
1) Building a Robot to Kill Himself
Batman is prepared for every hero’s potential descent into villainy, including himself! Deep in the Caped Crusader’s subconscious, exists the split personality known as the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. This personality built the robot known as Failsafe with the specific purpose of neutralizing Batman if he ever went rogue. When the Penguin framed Batman for murdering him, Failsafe activated and began a crusade to eliminate the Dark Knight. Failsafe knows all of Batman’s physical and psychological weaknesses and nearly killed him and the rest of the Justice League. Failsafe then went on to help Amanda Waller declare war on superhumans during Absolute Power. For a person to design a robot to kill themself is insane, but it is very Batman.
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