I haven’t kept up on the various reboots so maybe this has already happened; but in any iteration of Batman, have they explained his whole bat-theme by going meta and saying that people expect a super-hero to wear a bizarre costume, and won’t take him seriously if he doesn’t?
Isn’t that the whole thing about “Criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot”?
BATMAN: YEAR ONE has people fail to take him seriously when he hit the streets as a vigilante in street clothes, which prompts the I-Shall-Become-A-Bat decision.
From Batman Begins:
Bruce Wayne: People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy and I can’t do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man, I’m flesh and blood, I can be ignored, I can be destroyed; but as a symbol… as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting.
If by “people” you meant “people in the viewing audience,” nope, he dresses up like Batman because that’s how Batman dresses. People were annoyed when Daredevil dressed up like the Dread Pirate Murdock.
Were they? Most responses I saw loved the “blindfold” look, and were underwhelmed when he showed up in the “real” costume in the last episode.
My Facebook feed has some kinda rabid fans on it.
*Watchmen *addressed the whole costume thing by pinning it on the crooks: bank robbers started wearing costumes as disguises and to instill fear, so the early vigilantes like Nite Owl put on costumes in response, and it all spiraled up from there. I am not sure how closely that hews to any more orthodox comics canon, original or reconned.