# A few Batman/Superman questions (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-batman-superman-questions-open-spoilers/751583 "2016-04-08T19:02:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-batman-superman-questions-open-spoilers/751583/21 "2016-04-09T12:43:21Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > 1. Does Batman’s public career also precede Superman’s in the New 52? I ask because traditionally – that is, in the Silver Age and post-Crisis DCU – Superman was either the first superhero period (SA) or the first hero after a long period of no active ones (PC). In either case Supes was largely the inspiration for other costomed heroes of his generation (and perhaps overall). Is that now the case for Bats? In-story, is the contemporary Superman seen by himself or others are following Batman’s lead in costuming and career It wasn’t supposed to. They were supposed to start about the same time, but Supes acting overtly and Bats acting covertly. However, in the rush to get the post-Flashpoint shit out, nobody considered that the “They started 5(7?) years ago” edict that they’d set didn’t have time to allow for four or five Robins, Bats to have an 8 year old kid, and still have a few years of solo adventures before Dick Grayson. They kept trying to kludge the thing (Tim was never an actual Robin, Damien is actually like 8 months old (hyperbole) but Apokolypse tech fast-aged him) but the only way the new timeline works is if Bats started about 14 years before now. And even then, if you consider the Teen Titans stuff and other stuff, it still doesn’t work. Let’s say Bats had 3 years of solo adventures before Dick. Dick is Robin for at minimum, 7 years and started older than he should have (about 12 instead of about 9). Another year goes by without a Robin (which isn’t enough) and Bruce gets Jason. Jason’s Robin for a year and is maybe-killed by writer apathy. We’re at an 11 year career for Bats. Bruce grieves for a year or so and gets Damien and has maybe 2 years with Damien. (Somehow Batgirl, Tim (and maybe Cassie?) fit in somewhere. Maybe during the year with Jason? There’s no way to make it fit). DC is rebooting _again_ this summer so who knows what the future will hold, but currently their books suck and their timeline is gibberish. I quit reading DC about a year and a half ago (I started reading around the mid '70s, so it took a lot to derail that momentum.) I’m singularly uninterested in the reboot. Also Superman’s costume looks, as we say in Spanish, “El Retardo Supremo” without the shorts. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-batman-superman-questions-open-spoilers/751583/22 "2016-04-09T14:44:15Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Isn’t marking people with your symbol a Phantom thing, as well? Also many porn stars. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-batman-superman-questions-open-spoilers/751583/23 "2016-04-09T15:17:44Z")
What could be confusing about the New 52 was that some titles were set at the dawn of the Hero age where Super Heroes are brand new and some were set 5 years later at the start of mainstream continuity. It was mostly so they could fudge the reboot and pick and choose what past stories they could count as “really” happening in those five years. And it all is kind of moot now because they are rebooting everything yet again. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-batman-superman-questions-open-spoilers/751583/24 "2016-04-09T17:03:30Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > And those who are branded wind up dead in prison. Not 100% clear why it isn’t a badge of honor. Some say it’s because he only does it to sexual abusers and such, maybe? > > The film can be hard to follow. Indeed - when the movie said the brand was a prison death sentence, I was thinking “why?” If anything, having met the Bat and lived would probably make one a popular storyteller in prison. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-batman-superman-questions-open-spoilers/751583/25 "2016-04-09T17:46:10Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Indeed - when the movie said the brand was a prison death sentence, I was thinking “why?” If anything, having met the Bat and lived would probably make one a popular storyteller in prison. One of the branded guys was some sort of pedophile sex trafficker, so that makes sense. The other guy they specifically mention being killed for his brand was something less heinous, I think. A gun runner or something? That one didn’t make a lot of sense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-batman-superman-questions-open-spoilers/751583.md?page=1)