Let's step back and look at Batman.

[General Grind]

In my mind there are no inherently bad approaches to insane and/or ludicrous settings. It can work if you take it very very seriously (Nolan's Batman) or you can go the completely different path of having fun with how stupid your original premise is (Not sure about any good examples, perhaps Deadpool or movies like Scott Pilgrim) or you can have anything in between like Marvel movies. The approach is not the problem.

A movie or story is bad because it is written badly, not because they did not make it the appropriate amount of realistic or unrealistic. My favorite story is filled with giant lizard people with swords for hands that build giant floating fortresses in the sky that shoots lasers, a girl that defeats a magical creatures through the power of rap and a 400 000 year old dark-elfish dude with a sword that traps you in an alternate dimension where you must pull on a cart forever-more to escape Chaos. It also has pages upon pages of philosophy, dealing with death, the weight of history and the importance of compassion. Nothing can be taken too seriously and everything can be made fun of.

 

[EyeReaper]

My favorite story is filled with giant lizard people with swords for hands that build giant floating fortresses in the sky that shoots lasers, a girl that defeats a magical creatures through the power of rap and a 400 000 year old dark-elfish dude with a sword that traps you in an alternate dimension where you must pull on a cart forever-more to escape Chaos. It also has pages upon pages of philosophy, dealing with death, the weight of history and the importance of compassion. Nothing can be taken too seriously and everything can be made fun of.

Is.... Is this a real thing? Please tell me this wasn't just made up, and where I can find this

Anyways, Ot: Yes, the thought of a guy dressing up as an animal and punching clowns is funny (see the Wicker Man remake for a good example of that) but I can also still take batman seriously, because, well, of all the animal motifs you could choose, I think bat is up there with the more serious ones. Besides, If we don't take Batman seriously enough, we get movies like the oh-so critically acclaimed Batman and Robin. And that's terrible

 

[Phrozenflame500]

My favorite story is filled with giant lizard people with swords for hands that build giant floating fortresses in the sky that shoots lasers, a girl that defeats a magical creatures through the power of rap and a 400 000 year old dark-elfish dude with a sword that traps you in an alternate dimension where you must pull on a cart forever-more to escape Chaos. It also has pages upon pages of philosophy, dealing with death, the weight of history and the importance of compassion. Nothing can be taken too seriously and everything can be made fun of.

I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say this is some sort of anime. I will be genuinely shocked if it isn't anime.

OT:
I'd imagine there are two main reasons:

The fact that he's dressed as a bat is sidelined in the Nolanverse, especially in the second and third movies. You could, practically, replace him with a generic masked crime fighter and the plot wouldn't be affected at all (although his character would be less visually interesting). Willing suspension of disbelief kicks in and the audience just ignores the absurdity of a man dressed as a bat.

Batman is the super hero with all the dry cynicism. The city's hell, the mob rules everything, heroes become villains or martyrs, the cops are useless, etc. Cynicism has long been mistaken for maturity, and most of the modern-day Batman portrayals thrive on cynicism hence they are considered more "mature" then other superhero films.

 

[Something Amyss]

I don't get the disconnect mentioned in the first post. I didn't feel it in the theaters, I don't feel it now. It works as a Batman story and as an action movie.

 

[Something Amyss]

Can you imagine Tagg Romney, or Rory Gates doing the same thing and still regard them as sane?

This is America. The more surprising thing to me is that one of these guys hasn't tried it. We have "superheroes" who challenge people to fistfights which make it to YouTube.

 

[deathbydeath]

This reminds me of a problem handled expertly by the web serial Worm [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/] (it's highly recommended and one of the best pieces of fiction I've read). The series managed to simultaneously feel realistic and be about superheroes, and given the setting included kaiju and people who could shoot lasers around corners this is no small feat. What I think worked about the universe is how our world was bent, twisted, and reconstructed to fit these impossibilities. As long as the world reacts appropriately to what otherwise can't be taken seriously then everything seems to make sense. In Worm, an entire subculture and industry has been built around these heroes, people major in cape/parahuman studies and there are a number of new laws and policies regarding supervillains.

In Batman's case, the only way the world reacts to him is by taping his logo over a floodlight and flipping it on whenever they can't figure something out. One of the reasons you don't question the realism (much) in The Dark Knight is because the film establishes in the beginning that Gotham has changed radically since Wayne's new venture and thus communicates to us that neither the hero nor the city exist in a vacuum, which makes sense.

 

[Baron_BJ]

I tire of hearing this idiotic crap of "He's dressed like a bat". When was the last time you saw a bat with a picture of another bat on its chest and wearing a belt? The only part of his costume that one could say is in any way reminiscent of a bat is those tiny, dopey little ears atop his headpiece, and, if you were desperately trying to reach you might claim that his cape could be seen as a vague stand in for wings but that comparison is weak to the point of being hilarious.

It's a bat THEMED costume, he's not dressed as a bat.
That's like saying Spider-Man is dressed up as a spider.
That's like saying Green Arrow is dressed up as an arrow.
That's like saying Green Lantern is dressed up as a lantern.
That's like saying Super man is dressed up as a Super.

 

[WarpedLord]

I tire of hearing this idiotic crap of "He's dressed like a bat". When was the last time you saw a bat with a picture of another bat on its chest and wearing a belt? The only part of his costume that one could say is in any way reminiscent of a bat is those tiny, dopey little ears atop his headpiece, and, if you were desperately trying to reach you might claim that his cape could be seen as a vague stand in for wings but that comparison is weak to the point of being hilarious.

It's a bat THEMED costume, he's not dressed as a bat.
That's like saying Spider-Man is dressed up as a kind of spider.
That's like saying Green Arrow is dressed up as a an arrow.
That's like saying Green Lantern is dressed up as a lantern.
That's like saying Super man is dressed up as a Super.

Um... because Bruce said himself he dresses as a bat to strike fear into criminals who are a "superstitious and cowardly lot"? None of the other heroes you mention intentionally dress up to look like anything specific.

(BTW... the cape IS meant to look like bat wings, and always has been. Saying the "comparison is weak to the point of being hilarious" is ridiculous to the point of being hilarious. Hell, look at the cover of Detective #27 and tell me those aren't "wings".)

 

[ninjaRiv]

I see this a lot. I sometimes ask myself "Why do I like this guy so much? Why do I take him seriously? Why are a lot of Batman stories so gritty, interesting and sometimes psychological?" And then I realise I don't give a fuck because it's Batman and he's awesome. I don't care about the over exposure, I don't care about any of that.

Then again, I think the movies, especially the new ones, aren't that good simply because too much realism has been inserted. Batman comics work because they still use comic book themes and such. Batman has crazy gadgets, his enemies are weird and the stories are outlandish; there's a whole lot less realism in the comics. But even in the movies it doesn't matter. It's Batman and that's fine.

 

[Baron_BJ]

I tire of hearing this idiotic crap of "He's dressed like a bat". When was the last time you saw a bat with a picture of another bat on its chest and wearing a belt? The only part of his costume that one could say is in any way reminiscent of a bat is those tiny, dopey little ears atop his headpiece, and, if you were desperately trying to reach you might claim that his cape could be seen as a vague stand in for wings but that comparison is weak to the point of being hilarious.

It's a bat THEMED costume, he's not dressed as a bat.
That's like saying Spider-Man is dressed up as a kind of spider.
That's like saying Green Arrow is dressed up as a an arrow.
That's like saying Green Lantern is dressed up as a lantern.
That's like saying Super man is dressed up as a Super.

Um... because Bruce said himself he dresses as a bat to strike fear into criminals who are a "superstitious and cowardly lot"? None of the other heroes you mention intentionally dress up to look like anything specific.

(BTW... the cape IS meant to look like bat wings, and always has been. Saying the "comparison is weak to the point of being hilarious" is ridiculous to the point of being hilarious. Hell, look at the cover of Detective #27 and tell me those aren't "wings".)

That specific costume design from Detective Comics #27 barely stayed at all before being rapidly changed, so something that barely stayed around for a couple of years back in the late 30's, early 40's isn't exactly all that noteworthy and there's a major difference between a cape that could conceivably resemble wings and actually having wings be a part of the costume. Similar things happen with other characters all the time due to artist interpretations that people latch onto and prefer, artists ended up showing the batman cape as a more standard cape due to misunderstanding and/or disliking the old design, the readers reacted well and it was changed, the same kind of thing happened with Spider-Man back in the sixties, His costume was intended to be black where all the blue is, however due to printing limitations of the time to show any level of detail the artist/colorist chose to highlight it with blue, however many people thought that the costume was meant to be blue with black highlights so eventually Marvel just kind of went along with it.

Also, other characters on the list have been referred to by other characters as dressing up as their nomenclature, Spider-Man being one of them. Arguing over this is arguing over semantics, the fact is that NOTHING about any of Batman's interpretations for many decades have been reminiscent of being a bat in any way except for the ears and ears of such a shape are hardly exclusive to bats. If you were to remove his logo and render him mute, if a person were to look at Batman as he has stood for decades they would have no reason to think he was in any way related to Bats.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Admittedly, it's jarring as fuck that after all the serious stuff he decides to make a bat-themed suit. But if we didn't indulge in a bit of ridiculousness all the superheroes would end up in high-level unthemed military gear and that wouldn't be any fun. I can't think of too many cases where the suit's theme actually has anything to do with its function.

 

[FPLOON]

Once OP mentioned Owlman, all I could think about was both the Owlman from one of the DC alternate dimensions and James Woods... (It makes perfect sense if you know what I'm talking about...)

The way I see it, if you want that balance of being serious at some points, but not on other points, then there should be a live-action version of Batman: The Animated Series... otherwise, just watch The Brave and The Bold if you REALLY can't take modern Batman seriously...

I think every superhero movie should step back, look themselves in the mirror, and asked itself "Why am I snorting realism through a thin straw again?" ...And then, they sit down to re-watch the movie Super and forget that they'll still snorting realism... (DAMMIT!!! We were SO CLOSE...)

Honestly, just see all this as another interpretation to a superhero who not only doesn't even have superpowers, but has an origin story that's now more like a "fable" that can be "tweaked" a little to fit with the new interpretation...

 

[Asita]

Dirty Hipsters pretty much already said what I wanted to say. Yeah, if Batman was dressed up in his cape and cowl while grocery shopping then it might be laughable, but let's be honest here, that's not what Batman does and it's his actions more than the costume that make the character intimidating. Batman Begins even made a bit of a nod to this during Batman's second confrontation with Crane, wherein the latter's goons started asking about Batman's seemingly supernatural abilities, which he then proceeded to demonstrate firsthand as he made short work of them.


The bat costume is really just icing on the cake, giving Batsy a recognizable silhouette for intimidation purposes. It's less the costume itself and more the knowledge that the man wearing it is responsible for hanging your coworkers by their feet from the rafters (before anyone even knew he was there) and putting your Best Friend At Work in a full body cast for six months.

Baron alsomakes a fair point...Batman has a bat motif, but he really doesn't dress like a bat.

Spoiler: Now these guys, on the other hand...

Those guys dress like bats. Very very sparky bats...

 

[Matthew Jabour]

Once OP mentioned Owlman, all I could think about was both the Owlman from one of the DC alternate dimensions and James Woods... (It makes perfect sense if you know what I'm talking about...)

Oh my god, that's actually a thing? I was trying as hard as I could to think up something completely ridiculous just for comparison. (Ant man? No, that's taken...)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owlman_(comics)

So yeah, apparently Owl Man isn't too ridiculous for the DC universe. I guess I'll have to think of something even more ridiculous. Maybe Leech Man?

 

[FPLOON]

Once OP mentioned Owlman, all I could think about was both the Owlman from one of the DC alternate dimensions and James Woods... (It makes perfect sense if you know what I'm talking about...)

Oh my god, that's actually a thing? I was trying as hard as I could to think up something completely ridiculous just for comparison. (Ant man? No, that's taken...)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owlman_(comics)

So yeah, apparently Owl Man isn't too ridiculous for the DC universe. I guess I'll have to think of something even more ridiculous. Maybe Leech Man?

What's funny, to me at least, is that I find Owlman to be more interesting than Batman, given his so-called "backstory"...
Plus, James Woods does a good performance of Owlman in Crisis on Two Earths:
There's a better scene (that I like a bit more than that one) later on where Owlman and Batman have their own little confrontation, but it's kinda (more) "spoilery" if you want to see this movie for yourself...

 

[Yopaz]

The thing about Batman is that he shows us you don't need superpowers to be a hero, you just need to have been born a billionaire and go through excessive training and use experimental army technology that's not approved for use yet.

 

[Thaluikhain]

The thing about Batman is that he shows us you don't need superpowers to be a hero, you just need to have been born a billionaire and go through excessive training and use experimental army technology that's not approved for use yet.

And have the plot on your side. Otherwise he'd catch a bullet sharpish.

Hell, you have properly extensively trained people with fancy tech (22 SAS comes to mind) who work in large groups and still take casualties every so often.

 

[Yopaz]

The thing about Batman is that he shows us you don't need superpowers to be a hero, you just need to have been born a billionaire and go through excessive training and use experimental army technology that's not approved for use yet.

And have the plot on your side. Otherwise he'd catch a bullet sharpish.

Hell, you have properly extensively trained people with fancy tech (22 SAS comes to mind) who work in large groups and still take casualties every so often.

Yeah, clearly they should be more aware of the script before they go into action. Also they should get capes and dress up as bats. If they do that we would get rid of all terrorism in the world before Christmas.

 

[O maestre]

Can you imagine Tagg Romney, or Rory Gates doing the same thing and still regard them as sane?

This is America. The more surprising thing to me is that one of these guys hasn't tried it. We have "superheroes" who challenge people to fistfights which make it to YouTube.

Yes I know that is why I also mentioned Phoenix Jones in my post, and does anybody regard him as sane?

 

[Sarge034]

Batman has no right to be taken as seriously as he is.

Don't take that the wrong way. That in no way means that the Batman movies, comics, TV series, or any other form of media, can't be good. On the contrary, the Dark Knight is one of my favorite movies of all time. But...well, just think about Batman for a moment. He's a man dressed up as a bat.

No, don't roll your eyes at the screen like that. Think about it just as two separate components.

Man

Bat

Man dressed up as a bat.

Do you see what I'm getting at here?

Are you talking about in his universe or in ours? In his universe that line should read, "Man dressed up as a bat that consistently kicks ass and is nigh unstoppable by criminals." In our universe that line should read, "Man dressed up as a bat in a comic book story."

Think about it like this. I would take someone in a big, fuzzy, pink, bunny rabbit suit seriously if he was beating the shit out of me. If someone in a comic book wore a big, fuzzy, pink, bunny rabbit suit I would attribute it to being a comic book, and therefor unbelievable/totally believable in its own right.

Just sayin...