Batman’s Biggest Foe Isn’t Who You Think (It’s Much Worse)

Batman was created one fateful night in Crime Alley. Gotham City had been in the grips of crime and corruption for years, and the Waynes had done their best to stand against that. However, one mugging later, all that was left was Bruce Wayne. This event sent Bruce down the road to become Batman, a hero who fought for the people of Gotham City. Since then, Batman has faced every threat imaginable, from street gangs to the mafia to corrupt governmental officials to the worst supervillains this side of Arkham Asylum. There are plenty of villains out there who people think are Batman’s greatest foe; most people would name the Joker or Bane. However, Batman has a greater foe, one who makes the rest of it possible — Bruce Wayne.

Gotham City is a monolithic organism, one that survives on money and people’s lives. It’s under the control of a group of its wealthiest individuals, and those people keep the corrupt machine running. Bruce Wayne is a part of that, holding up a system that chews up any hope in Gotham City. In fact, in being Batman, Bruce Wayne even takes away the one thing that he could do to actually make Gotham a better place — money and resources. Bruce Wayne is Batman’s biggest foe, one whose very existence makes Gotham a worst place.

Bruce Wayne Has the Power to Fix Gotham but He Props Up a System That Ruins the City

So, there have been a lot of talk about Bruce Wayne as a negative force in Gotham City and there is already an argument against it — that Bruce Wayne does amazing things for the people of Gotham. This is actual text in the comics. The Wayne Foundation is an entire arm of Wayne Industries (or whatever they call it nowadays; it changes continually) that exists to build and pay for free clinics, give affordable housing, and basically do everything it can to help the poor. Also, Wayne’s various corporations pay well and have great benefits, all in order to lift as many people as possible out of poverty and crime. Most people say that there’s no way Bruce Wayne can be bad for Gotham when he does all of that.

Here’s the thing, though — every billionaire has a massive philanthropic arm because it’s a massive tax write-off. Bruce Wayne isn’t really doing much that someone like Bill Gates isn’t. However, that doesn’t mean that Bruce Wayne is a net positive for Gotham. The Waynes are part of a group of families that have long steered Gotham in whatever direction they want. Gotham is the way it is because of the Waynes and those like them. While the Waynes have tried to fix the problem in the Thomas and Bruce years of the family, inevery generation before that, as seen in Gotham: Year One, the Waynes were just as corrupt as anyone else. Bruce Wayne is still a part of that network of families and instead of tearing it apart, he “used” it to make his life as Batman possible. However, Bruce Wayne is by far the most wealthy and powerful of them. He could easily break up this system, using his vast resources and insane strategic abilities to destroy them one at a time and devour their holdings. Bruce would easily rewrite the rules of what Gotham is.

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Instead, Bruce Wayne decides to pour everything into Batman. Batman has the greatest arsenal in comics. Batman can face off against any foe imaginable; he has stuff that will work against gods themselves. It’s been established just how much of Bruce Wayne’s resources are being used on Batman and it’s frankly insane. The Wayne family of corporations is one of the most powerful on the planet, and their highest tech is used by Bruce Wayne to create stuff that can fight monsters from beyond the stars just as well as it can fight street toughs. Bruce Wayne pours the lion’s share of resources into being Batman. This is a huge waste of time and money, especially since there are better ways to do it.

Bruce Wayne has way more power as Bruce Wayne than he does as Batman. Batman is a leader of the superhero community and the head of a team of highly trained individuals, but neither of those bodies have the kind of influence over the political and economic fortunes of people all over the globe like Bruce Wayne does. Bruce Wayne could do more for the poor than anyone else if he concentrated on doing it, but instead, Bruce prefers to dress up like a bat and go out every night to fight crime and work out his neuroses.

Bruce Wayne Is the Tyrannical Force that Maintains Gotham’s Terrible Status Quo

Bruce Wayne does a lot for the people of Gotham. This can’t be denied, and it’s even before anyone takes his role as Batman into account. Batman is a force for good in Gotham that takes the law into his hands, and does things that no one else could. However, Batman is also a complete waste of the powers and resources of Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne is a strategist riding an infinite money machine through the world. Do you really think the best he could do is being a superhero? Bruce Wayne can change the world at any time he wants, but he prefers being Batman. Bruce Wayne is the grinding status quo and he is the problem that Batman exists to fight.

Absolute Batman succeeds so well because it takes Batman out of the stratosphere of Gotham and puts him among the people. This Bruce has to be Batman in order to fight for any justice in Gotham City. He doesn’t have power, so he fights the power. Bruce Wayne in the mainline universe is exactly the kind of person that Batman should be fighting against. Gotham will never change, because Bruce Wayne will always exist to hold up the rotten power structure instead of burning it all down.

Batman comics can be read at DC.