Batman is a young boy who loses his parents and vows to never let a child ever lose their parents the same way. He uses fear and intimidation because he is only human and tries appear more than human. He is the man who sits with a girl as she dies, so she wouldn't be alone and afraid. He's the man who helps criminals that can be helped by giving them jobs as Bruce Wayne and tries to help the city as much as he can as Bruce Wayne. Anyone who says Batman is not compassionate has never seen a well told Batman story. Or uses modern day Frank Miller as a basis, so they probably think Wonder Woman is man hating , who is also Superman's squeeze.
Can we stop with the "Batman is more relatable than Superman" thing?
- Thread starter Samtemdo8_v1legacy
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Personally I think that Spider-Man is way more relatable than either one, but if it's between Bats and Supes? I gotta go with the Dark Knight over the Boy Scout. Why? Because, except at its most extreme, the idea of Batman is actually achievable by a regular human being, through intense training and dedication (and yes, wads and wads of money). No human being can ever hope to fly through space without equipment (or even oxygen) or have a bullet bounce off of his eye.
And for all that Batman is cynical, brooding and obsessed, Superman is far enough on the opposite end of the spectrum to maybe warrant some psychiatric intervention himself- altruistic to a fault, self-sacrificing to the point where he can start feeling resentment at any sign that those he saves are anything less than worshipful. He can be kind of a condescending jerk, too, telling people without any superpowers that they could've had a chance against that Cthulhu-spawn he just punched into the sun.
(And I also hold to the theory that Superman, at the height of his popularity, was a throwback to America's self-image from the 50's to the 80's- mighty enough to be a god, but just so darn noble and wise that the world should just let him take care of everything.)
And for all that Batman is cynical, brooding and obsessed, Superman is far enough on the opposite end of the spectrum to maybe warrant some psychiatric intervention himself- altruistic to a fault, self-sacrificing to the point where he can start feeling resentment at any sign that those he saves are anything less than worshipful. He can be kind of a condescending jerk, too, telling people without any superpowers that they could've had a chance against that Cthulhu-spawn he just punched into the sun.
(And I also hold to the theory that Superman, at the height of his popularity, was a throwback to America's self-image from the 50's to the 80's- mighty enough to be a god, but just so darn noble and wise that the world should just let him take care of everything.)
I'm sorry, you really think it's so odd that people find a human being more repeatable than a literal alien? Putting aside all of the good points made by other people over two pages here, and the many more to come I'm sure, that alone should be enough.Samtemdo8 said:
I relate more to batman because we share a species.
As someone with a glorious (and devilishly handsome) ego and complete lack of crime stopping prowess on record, I guess on your post alone I would say Superman.Loop Stricken said:
OT: Does it really matter who is more relatable? Because assumedly for most of us, neither of them come close to comparable to the average human. ONe's a guy who loaded up his "infinite money" gameshark code and the other can fly and shoot lasers. I can't relate to either of them. Nor do I want to. I watch Batman because I want to see a insane criminal punch the criminally insane, and I watch Superman because oh wait I don't actually watch Superman.
Now that I think about it though, a free reign sandbox game as Superman would be super fun. Flying around, whipping up tornadoes, juggling skyscrapers... why hasn't anyone done this yet?
While Superman can be portrayed that way, he often isn't. I've seen Superman lose his temper and advocate mass murder, among other things. I prefer the Superman stories that admit that he's not perfect, and Superman himself has said he constantly fights the temptation to go full-on crazy/dictator/Justice Lord/whatever. I think the problem comes from having so many different writers over the years who have conflicting views on how he should be portrayed.Fox12 said:
And this is the crux of my issue with American comic books. So many people have written the same characters that at this point there's almost no real consensus of what makes Superman Superman, or Batman Batman outside of each individual flanderizing [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Flanderization] the character into a digestible form. Which usually ends up with 'Superman is the boringly OP mary sue who is always perfect and correct' and 'Batman is a vigilante who wants to help people because of the trauma he suffered'.IOwnTheSpire said:
When you take the flanderized forms of each of those characters, it's not hard to see why Batman is considered more relatable, even if in reality, depending on which writer was at the wheel, Batman is comedically OP mary sue garbage, or Superman is actually a very deep, interesting, flawed character.
I never said he was a bad character, just that Batman has gotten the more and/or better "human experience" writing over the years. He grapples with whether or not he should use his power, sure, but he doesn't often have other crap going on in his head at the same time that he's worried about.tf2godz said:
More than anything else, it's largely because Batman's gotten the better writers(or at least had more writers interested in doing things differently) than Superman over the last sixty years(most definitely the last twenty or so). Superman's nearly always got the right thing in mind, Bats has conflicting ideas and emotions for what is the "right thing" very often. And I think you can guess which is largely considered the more "human" in that.
And I'm well aware he's not the last one, thing is, he essentially is because there's so few surviving Kryptonians that will actually not try to kill him and people on Earth on sight. And Lex is a great foil, problem is that he's alot more interesting and you can sympathize with the majority of his ventures, because in the end, he really is trying to make many things better, and also stay at the top of it all. It's never Clark Kent uncovering anything that LexCorp is involved in, it's always Superman bringing down the next creation that LexCorp created.
I like this response.Adam Jensen said:
Way to kick the hornet's nest there, buddy. I hadn't even seen that mentioned for months now, until you brought it up. It's like saying "can we please stop with the sexism discussion". If you want things to go away, instead of asking them to go away, ignore them. Give it no attention, and don't bring it up.
Also, stop with... what exactly? Thinking that he's more relatable? Using it as an argument in these stupid discussions? Something else? I'm at a bit of a loss, I'm afraid. And as Rage Against the Machine said it: Fuck you! I won't do what you tell me! BATMAN IS MORE RELATABLE THAN SUPERMAN DUR HUR!!!!
Also, stop with... what exactly? Thinking that he's more relatable? Using it as an argument in these stupid discussions? Something else? I'm at a bit of a loss, I'm afraid. And as Rage Against the Machine said it: Fuck you! I won't do what you tell me! BATMAN IS MORE RELATABLE THAN SUPERMAN DUR HUR!!!!
I dunno about you folks but extraordinary riches, the good sense not to burn them on frivolous shit and an immortal butler all seem like superpowers to me. Superman's really just an average joe from his planet who happens to be magnificently powerful while in our solar system. Batman's the one with superhuman (i.e, greater than human- Supes isn't human at all!) powers.Samtemdo8 said:
Let's talk about character because I find that more interesting then discussing who's better.Redryhno said:
The interesting thing about Lex Luther and why he's more memorable then a bunch of other rich assholes in media is because he's a lot more humanized. When a rich douchebag archetype is used in a story there usually talk about how much they like kicking the poor or burning down orphanages. Lex is different from all of them in the sense that he thinks his righteous and thinks that all the suffering he commits is for a noble cause. He thinks he can't be wrong and he's getting justice on Superman for making him lose his hair(or something he has like 50 different origins) and without Superman he could make the world utopia. He become so insane with his pride to take down Superman and be seen as a hero he actually sabotages a plan to stop a a meteorite from crashing down onto earth because it wasn't his plan. But after all of his madness you can see his point about meta humans and the destruction. He just goes too far with it and goes into complete madness because of his pride and arrogance.
Also on that kryptonian's thing. Most of the people who escaped the structure of the planet were criminals that were banished.
Thanks for over-expanding on what I said in my post I guess?tf2godz said:
I don't think Superman's a bad character, but how relateable he is largely up to the writer, and most writers make him out to be super while not focusing on the things that make him as human as anyone else. Batman and Bruce Wayne are both given ample screentime in most stories that you can see it from the POV of vigilante, hero, and human. Clark Kent is largely a non-factor except when the plot demands it and that so easily cuts deep into what you can relate with.
To be honest, while I slightly prefer Batman over Superman, I don't really find either one relatable. In fact, I actually find the Green arrow to be more relatable than either Batman or Superman, but that could be mainly because the Green arrow is my favourite superhero.
At least yours gets screentime, Martian Manhunter and Plasticman are tied for my #2 slot and I don't think they're ever going to be more than comic and cartoon characters.Artina89 said:
Also to be fair, Green Arrow is honestly just DC's knockoff Batman for when they didn't want oversaturation.
Well, you never know, I once thought the same thing about The Flash until they made a TV series. I do concede your point on Green arrow being a Batman knockoff, I think I mainly like him because he was the first superhero I had exposure to, along with Doc Savage thanks to my dad. Now Doc Savage, that is a film/TV show I would be most interested in.Redryhno said:
Nah, Flash was inevitable if they ever tried to make a DCCU thing. He's just too integral to so many stories. Also he's one of most liked superheroes even if nobody know anything about him. Though that might be because there's been something like four of 'em.Artina89 said:
Joss Whendon does not know what he is talking about.Scarim Coral said:
Personally I think the reason these people cannot make any of these DC movies work is because they lack Imagniation.
You can't make a Justice League story without the big 5.Redryhno said:
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Flash
Green Arrow, Black Cannary, Zatanna, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, and now Cyborg can come and go but without anyone of the big 5 there is no Justice League.
A relatable thing is something you understand and agree with. Fundamental feelings like fear, loss, love, anger, etc., are all things that can make something completely alien into something you understand and relate with.Whatislove said:
Point is, you don't need to be super rich to understand and relate to a super rich man's grief and lust for vengeance after having his family murdered in front of him.