# A question about Batman's costume **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-batmans-costume/724490 "2015-07-07T17:04:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-batmans-costume/724490/1 "2015-07-07T17:04:10Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-batmans-costume/724490/2 "2015-07-07T17:22:24Z")
Isn’t that the whole thing about “Criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot”? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-batmans-costume/724490/3 "2015-07-07T17:24:58Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > 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? 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. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-batmans-costume/724490/4 "2015-07-07T17:30:36Z")
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. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-batmans-costume/724490/5 "2015-07-07T17:36:38Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-batmans-costume/724490/6 "2015-07-07T18:29:41Z")
My Facebook feed has some kinda rabid fans on it. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-batmans-costume/724490/7 "2015-07-07T19:27:56Z")
\*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.