Due to recent news involving X, formerly Twitter and its owner, the staff of SuperHeroHype have decided it would be best to no longer allow links on the board. Starting January 31st, users will no longer be able to post direct links to X on this site, however screenshots will still be allowed as long as they follow Hype rules and guidelines. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Happy Valentine's Day, Guest!
Kritish said:Of course Bruce has mental illness, people lose their parents all the time to violence. Most of them don't end up fighting crime because of it.
Kritish said:Bill Frank doesn't beat people up whilst dressed as a bat.
Adam West said:I like the idea that in TDK he starts out as both Bruce and Bats, but as Joker's crimes escalate Bruce begins to disappear until only Batman, completely obsessed with bringing Joker to Justice, exists.
Then in 3, after Dent becomes Two-face and Batman sees his ally get lost in a monster of his own, will he realize that he needs to step back and strike a balance between his alter-ego.
Keyser Sushi said:No, he does not.
I think it's really quite simple. The real Bruce Wayne is the man you see in the batcave in a black t-shirt spraying a coat of latex onto his ninja gauntlets while Alfred cracks wise. He's a Bruce Wayne who has no interest in being rich or a socialite; a Bruce Wayne who is very serious and haunted and seems largely humorless - betrayed at times by the wry smile when Alfred busts out with a great one-liner, as Alfred is known to do. That's the real Bruce Wayne.
Bruce then has to divide his public time into two halves. One half is Batman. Batman is absolutely a mask. He's basically an amped-up version of the real Bruce. But he's Bruce playing for scary. Bruce dressed as a bat, acting like some sort of beast, trying to scare the crap out of the bad guys. Theatrical.
The other half is playboy Bruce -- the ineffectual, largely inept socialite who is good for nothing but wooing young, beautiful ladies and spending large sums of money. He's a bit of a twit but basically a good guy, as evidenced by his philanthropism. This is also a mask, a disguise to draw attention away from the darker side of Bruce Wayne.
He uses Public Bruce to help those less fortunate in those humanitarian ways that only the very rich can, if they are of good heart. Meanwhile he uses his more violent urges - the stuff in the basement, as Rocky would put it - to fight crime and make the city safer, so that in that guise he also helps people and performs humanitarian work, in a completely different way.
This is the correct way to portray Batman - and regardless of what one thinks of Batman Begins, the three faces of Batman were perfectly realized in that film.
So, no to MPD. Yes to disguises.
With that said, it absolutely would be great story fodder to show Bruce growing weary of juggling his masks and getting sucked into the Batman guise -- which is probably his favorite mask, as it frees him from much of the baggage of being Bruce Wayne and allows him to just be... well, the Batman.
Adam West said:I like the idea that in TDK he starts out as both Bruce and Bats, but as Joker's crimes escalate Bruce begins to disappear until only Batman, completely obsessed with bringing Joker to Justice, exists.
Then in 3, after Dent becomes Two-face and Batman sees his ally get lost in a monster of his own, will he realize that he needs to step back and strike a balance between his alter-ego.
Leon the Professional said:I agree with a lot of what you say, except that I don't think that the Batman persona is just a mask like the playboy persona.
The Batman persona is like the dark depths of the real Bruce Wayne. He's not just putting on a mask and acting. As Batman, he is letting out that dark side of him that developed since the death of his parents. Batman is a true part of himself.
His Batman VOICE is somewhat of an act, since it's not his natural voice, but let's not confuse Batman the character with a simple voice or a costume. Batman is more than those things, and when Bruce is out being Batman, he is out being himself.
Just because he acts very different around Alfred versus around a criminal doesn't mean he must be putting on an act when he's facing a criminal. It is normal to act different toward friend and enemy.
Basically, I don't think there are 3 personas, i.e. a fake Bruce, a real Bruce, and a fake Batman. I think that there are just 2 personas, i.e. a simple, shallow fake Brue Wayne persona, and a complex, deep real Bruce/Batman persona, which just seems like 2 seperate personas because of its complexity.