• Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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    3 days ago

    To be fair, as common of a criticism as this is

    In the lore the Wayne Foundation uses Batman’s fortune to fight poverty, and a lot of Batman media goes out of its way to show Batman is always willing to give his villains a chance to turn their lives around.

    It only fails because retiring a villain permanently is bad for comic sales (But quite a few like Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn at least find themselves in the Heel-Face Revolver Door)

    Now Frank Miller wrote a few books detailing why “Rehabilitation is naive and something suggested by the Radical Left because they don’t understand how the real world works.”

    But Frank Miller is a crazy person who also wrote a book where a Pedophile-Coded Batman goes on a killing rampage and Vicki Vale’s ass talks to the reader.

  • HappySkullsplitter@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    The Wayne Foundation is a charity organization run by Thomas Wayne and Wayne Enterprises. For a time, Bruce Wayne lived in its office building’s penthouse to be closer to the city.

    The Wayne Foundation funds medical scientific research and helps people with research by providing facilities and training.

    Bruce’s first action as head of the Wayne Foundation, was the creation of a new program called “Victims, Inc. Program” (VIP), which would help the victims of crimes who need financial support.

    The Martha Wayne Foundation is a patron and supporter of arts, families, education, and tolerance. The foundation supports and helps to run a number of orphanages and free schools, and provides teachers for those who have learning difficulties. Artists can apply for grants from the foundation to help support them in furthering the arts. The foundation sponsors companies like Family Finders. Family Finders is an organization directed at finding lost people and uniting families. The Martha Wayne Foundation also sponsors and runs dozens of soup kitchens within the city.

  • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    It’s almost as if he’s a crazy person who is responding to childhood trauma in an arrested development kind of way, punching the bad guys who hurt him as a child, forever, rather than dealing with his trauma in a healthy coherent way, almost as if that’s a core aspect of the character without which he wouldn’t even be the character he is anymore.

  • Rob T Firefly@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    A friend of mine asked me recently, was I gonna go see the new Batman movie with him. I don’t respect the concept of Batman because of what I understand about politics now.

    I’mma lay it out for you. Rich dude owns a corporation, has state of the art equipment, and he uses this to beat up on street-level crime. He doesn’t mess with the industrialists, or the super capitalists, the Murdochs, or the Trumps. He really just fucks with the person that’s just on the corner.

    Batman is a conservative’s wet dream. Fuck Batman.

    Reginald D. Hunter, Have I Got News For You (May 9, 2008)

  • Stern@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Always mildly annoyed by this type of meme.

    First and foremost: Gotham is fucked. Like… really fucked. Evil secret societies run the place, the water supply is very likely poisoned in various ways, both conventionally and naturally, there’s ancient evils buried under the city that have been corrupting it for centuries, a portal to hell in the asylum. We can say “Oh surely a food bank would help” and Wayne absolutely does do that via foundations in both of his parents names… but all the shit to erase systemic poverty in the world can exist and The Joker, Zsasz, Mr. Pyg, The Court of Owls, Solomon Grundy, and the like are still going to be doing their shit (Not to mention big alien threats like Darkseid.). Likely most of his villains would still be on their grind except maybe Mr. Freeze who actually could have his problems solved by money.

    Secondly: You gotta suspend disbelief. Make Superman a transitional power source and no one is gonna read it anymore, even if it would be ‘realistic’. Any number of heroes could readily solve a number of the worlds issues. Why doesn’t Iron Man put Arc reactors everywhere to power the world on clean energy? How come Storm doesn’t get rid of every hurricane before it starts? Why doesn’t Ice Man freeze up the poles and cool the planet down? The Flash could instantly deliver supplies to places in need. It’s realistic, but it’s boring, and boring doesn’t sell comics. Okay, maybe Ruins but that couldn’t be like… a whole series.

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      I think they did a comic where Iron Man did exactly that, but it ended with him going mad with power.

      The problem with Super Heroes is that if Reed Richards isn’t useless, you don’t have a comic anymore.

      For those who don’t know what I mean…

      Super Geniuses are really good at coming up with cures for “Anicent Polymorphic Diseases created by an Alien Civilization that threatens to turn us all into robot slaves!” that “Work like no bacteria ever before seen under a microscope.”, usually having a 100% cure rate by the end of the storyline, it might take a while… like 5 issues spanning over three weeks in-universe

      Cancer has them completely stumped and the best they can do for you is to show up in costume when you use your make-a-wish foundation favor to meet Spider-Man.

    • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Isn’t the genie in the original story a trickster?

      The genie will probably make everyone poor when Aladdin wishes for more equality.

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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        3 days ago

        Well that and stories depend on conflict, if you create a perfect society, you lose out on conflict. Sometimes you just have to stop dreaming if you want the story to be any good.

        The only story I know of where people solve EVERY problem is Scribblenauts, and that’s because it’s hard to get more overpowered than Maxwell’s Notebook.

        Heck they even did a DC Crossover where you can pretty much make Maxwell invincible by adding the adjective “Kryptonian” to you and Kryptonite isn’t even a problem when you can just add an adjective claiming it’s fake or just a toy.

      • in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        3 days ago

        Changing the skin colour is enough “woke” to get banned. If kids shows have revolutionary heroes they’d drop bombs from helicopters on their studio like they did to people in Philadelphia all the way back in the distant memories of 1985.

        • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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          2 days ago

          This, so much this, one of the major problems the MCU has is it has Military Money behind it… So the plots mostly go

          “The Status Quo is perfect, the people complaining about it are unforgivable!”

          It’s why you have villains like Kilmonger who are incredibly based, but then they’ll eat a baby in the third act to try to justify him being the bad guy… even though Kilmonger was absolutely correct in that Wakanda betrayed the rest of Africa by not reigning in the white man with their superior technology.

          • in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            2 days ago

            Yeah I heard a theory somewhere that MCU movies are inherently fascist. They’re about how agents of change are always dangerous, they can be incredibly based but for no reason they have to do mass murder to meet their ideals? And the only ones who can save us from these dangerous agents of change are a some sort of superhuman, an ‘ubermencht’ if you will, to get rid of agents of change through might, high-five some cops, and never ever again mention or ponder on anything ever.

            • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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              2 days ago

              Indeed, and Disney’s throwing a fit because an executive watched one of the only good Post-Endgame MCU movies (Deadpool 3), fired Ryan Reynolds, and admitted that since they’ve been marketing it for so long the Left Hand doesn’t know what the Right is doing.

              Between Blatant Fascism and an outright disdain for quality, I don’t watch MCU anymore and don’t know why anyone else does. It’s like living in 2006 and still thinking qouting Wayne’s World makes you the King of Comedy.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 @pawb.social
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    4 days ago

    So I’m playing Arkham Asylum and, like, the very beginning of the game you open some doors and shut down electrically powered things by just blowing up the connected panel with a batarang, but then later on you need another tool that blows them up via some kind of frequency overload. If I am still just blowing up the box, why can’t I hit it with something or even use my actual explosives? Taking the “bat logic” to game mechanics too. lol

  • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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    4 days ago

    In the recent movies, he, or the Wayne foundation, does give a lot of money to charities in the city, and built the monorail system as well.

      • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        The comic writers aren’t researching the technical details. The important part is is that they built public transit.

      • ArchRecord@lemm.ee
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        3 days ago

        I mean, it’s essentially just the metro… but above ground. Except that above ground location is out of the way of existing ground-layer infrastructure like sidewalks and roads.

        In essence, it’s just the benefits of a metro line with the added benefit of taking up less space from existing areas that can be used for transport. If you already have roads, sidewalks, and metro lines in an area, a monorail can just be another way to get around on top of all that without sacrificing space.

        I’m not saying it’s perfect, but it’s a cool mode of transit, and can be genuinely useful in some cases.

    • OccultIconoclast@reddthat.com
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      4 days ago

      He doesn’t in The Batman (2022). But that’s because it’s a Bruce Wayne origin story. Batman hasn’t created his secret identity yet.

    • Dadd Volante@sh.itjust.works
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      4 days ago

      Maybe it’s changed over the last decade but not so much. Massive homeless problem, incredible mob presence, and a constantly filled forensic sanitarium.

      If he made Gotham a better place he wouldn’t be able to punch mentally ill people at night to get his dead parents to love him

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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        4 days ago

        In his defense Gotham is quite literally cursed, and not like one cure but multiple on top of each other. That’s not even getting into the Court of Owls and the other secret society assholes, or the dark Eldritch gods for that matter.

        Frankly speaking the best way to fix Gotham is probably just to dump all the napalm on it and then sink the city. Problem is I imagine that the city has relatively high home ownership with dirt cheap taxes due to the afformentioned issues meaning I doubt anyone will move out.

        • Yeather@lemmy.ca
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          3 days ago

          They tried that and the curse made ask the disasters hit Bludhaven instead. You can’t destroy Gotham.

  • Kompressor @lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    It’s extremely spot on that instead of doing obvious things that would better the city they just invest in a bunch of industry and tech instead. Very on the nose. Especially the Dark Knight Rises Batman where he had a clean energy program that was the answer to the energy crisis or whatever they were in but he just didn’t do it because he thought ‘the world wasn’t ready’.

    • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      I’m more pissed that Tony Stark having a clean energy solution was a central part of Ironman 1 and forgotten about in ever sequel. It could have been a theme of Ironman 2 if they aligned if Justin Hammer was invested in dirty energy and offered a juxtaposition to Thanos’s nihilistic environmentalism.

      Problem is, by the time you’re successful in Hollywood, you’re invested in the status quo and it shows.

    • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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      4 days ago

      ‘The Batman’ is even worse as the Wayne charity, which he should be running, is the center of corruption for Gotham.

      The Riddler was justified in trying to get revenge on Bruce Wayne.

      • OccultIconoclast@reddthat.com
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        4 days ago

        It’s a Bruce Wayne origin story. Batman hasn’t figured out how to be Bruce Wayne yet. The movie is about him realising he needs to do good as Bruce, too.

        The Gotham Renewal Fund is managed by city employees. Batman was never told by anyone that he’s responsible for it, except the Riddler. And the Riddler was right, and after Batman stops the terrorism, it’s implied he starts fixing it.

  • Lauchs@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Except Batman’s saved Gotham and the world a few times. Presumably not being a billionaire would make that much harder. Personally, I think the continued existence of everyone we know and love is worth more than all of Bruce Wayne’s wealth.

      • Lauchs@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        When someone plants a bomb that will destroy Gotham and Batman defuses and removed the bomb, what has Batman done to the city if you don’t think he saved it?

        Like, if I save a child from getting hit by a car today is the kid now immortal?

        • Dadd Volante@sh.itjust.works
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          3 days ago

          The people usually doing stuff like that are guys he’s already caught a thousand times

          Then after the bomb threat is gone, Gotham is still a shithole

          • Lauchs@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            The people

            Whom the police are invariably unable to stop

            usually doing stuff like that are guys he’s already caught a thousand times

            Are you saying we should execute those who are mentally unwell and pose a danger to others?

            Then after the bomb threat is gone, Gotham is still a shithole

            Gotham’s a shit hole and thus doesn’t deserve saving?

            • Dadd Volante@sh.itjust.works
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              3 days ago

              Yeah. Execute them.

              Not like we have any other choice like using nth metal to make more secure facilities.

              Oh wait

              I forgot

              You’re taking this entirely too seriously and I’m not arguing over a fictional city with someone who seems to have a lot more invested in this than I do

              I have two long boxes of Batman comics. I’ll have my fun. You can have your Internet fights.

              • Lauchs@lemmy.world
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                3 days ago

                Sure but you’re the one who started a silly internet fight.

                If he “saved” Gotham, he wouldn’t need to exist anymore

                I get you don’t want a billionaire to be doing the right thing but it takes a pretty ridiculous reading of the comics to argue that there’s a better use for Batman’s money.

  • AFaithfulNihilist@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    A rich guy dressing up in body armor and going around beating up poor people to fight systemic corruption is the most believable part of the whole Batman franchise. In his original incarnation he had a gun too.

  • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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    4 days ago

    In Batman begins, the issue is corruption.

    Everyone knows Falcone is guilty but no one has the legal ability to arrest him.

    So Bruce Wayne becomes a vigilante in a more Luigi kind of way in which he is willing to risk things cause he has the tools to do it right.

    The whole point of Batman is doing all he can with his resources, even if that means breaking the law.

    But yeah, we know today that the most effective thing he can do is not even charity, but pay for lobbying

    • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      It’s a feature in all superhero media. They don’t touch the status quo, or the systems we live in. It’s always the fault of a few rotten apples and they’re taken care of. Normal people don’t need to apply, it’s up to a few people with special power to fix it. And in reality, people with money see themselves as more special and empowered than normal people.

      • Flumpkin@slrpnk.net
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        3 days ago

        Those who pursue power or money and nothing else are statistically more likely to achieve the most money or power. It’s a filter or selection process. So a 100 billionaires are much much less likely to care, or to know, how a society should function except for what they learned and practiced: capitalism as the wealthy exploiting the masses and buying political power to gain more money.

        They are narrow minded nerds in their own specific fields. Techbro’s reprogramming reality. In that way the villains stupidly applying their narrow minded views or delusions to social problems is a quite fitting metaphor.

        So even if Bruce Wayne would pay lobbyists and donate to political campaigns and do it wisely, he would be the rare exception and outspend 100:1.