Inspired by a recent Justice League episode, where Batman hurriedly ordered a cup of coffee in a diner (“Give me a triple…now!”), paying for it with a handful of bills and a few coins.
Come to think of it, he also paid for Jim Gordon’s coffee in the Batman: The Animated Series new years eve episode.
So…my question is: Does Batman always carry money with him? If so, how much?
I mean, one could see how it might be handy to do so, it’s just not something one usually thinks of being in a superhero’s utility belt.
In utility belt pouch #7, he carries petty cash, I.D. and a condom, just in case.
In any case, there have been numerous stories in which Bats drops a handful of dough into a charity box or some snitch fearfully says “Hey, I gave you the info!” and Bats menacingly says “And you’ll get what you deserve,” followed by a frame in which the snitch has a few extra bucks instead of a savage beating.
Well, according to that dimwitted piece of distended rectum Joel Schumacher and his indescribably awful waste of celluloid Batman & Robin, Bats actually carries his own credit card (pic half-way down the page).
It seems to me that money or a credit card is about the only kind of thing that could realistically fit into Bats’s Utility Belt. All his other gadgets are way too big to fit. So in that case, it’s almost a guarantee he has cash at hand.
Because Bruce Wayne rarely has to pay for anything himself (“put it on my tab” or “bill me later” are de rigeur for the wealthy), it is almost certain that Alfred would have suggested carrying a “petty cash” slush fund on his Bat-person. I doubt coins would be included (jingling voids stealthy lurking), but probably a few fives, a twenty, a fifty, and a few hundreds.
It might even be possible for him to carry a blank check from a Swiss Bank Account that’s a shadow of a shadow of a puppet of a cut-out for a super-obscure subsidiary of a holding company of Wayne Enterprises.
With a compact stash of carefully-picked bills, he could buy anything from a cup of coffee to a new car, without overpaying by more than a few percent (paying for a cup of coffee with a $20 would be plausible if he were in a hurry; but with a $100?).
"Hi! I’m the Caped Crusader, The Dark Knight, the Hero of Gotham City! Still, nobody knows my face! That’s whay I carry the JLA Express Card! With JLA EXpress I can pay for coffee, costumes, random damage, yet retain my Secret Identity.
JLA Express. Don’t leave your BatCave without it!"
"Beating up Mutant Gang members … $50 in repairs
Hauling away big member to top of Gotham Skyscraper … $50,000 Insurance
The Look on his face when you take away your hand … Priceless
Carry the Dark Knight card. All other cards are spineless."
In addition to actually paying for stuff, another use for money (not credit cards). Throwing a big wad of Ben Franklins off to the side has to be great for producing a distraction or a riot on demand.
On the TV show, Batman always put money in the parking meter, noting to the Boy Wonder (“but no one will give the Batmobile a ticket, Batman!”) that the money helped keep our city running. And they always pay when stopping for a Batburger.
