# Does Batman or Jesus seem more real to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 18, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338 "2015-03-18T23:32:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/21 "2015-03-19T04:38:20Z")
[Jesus Christ has a Sunday morning radio show on KFI AM 640, Los Angeles.](http://www.thejesuschristshow.com/) Batman was only a role played by various actors, but the radio show host really is Jesus Christ. He says so himself, and you know that Jesus would never lie! (“If it were not true, I would have told you.”) ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/22 "2015-03-19T05:32:28Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > [Jesus Christ has a Sunday morning radio show on KFI AM 640, Los Angeles.](http://www.thejesuschristshow.com/) > > Batman was only a role played by various actors, but the radio show host really is Jesus Christ. He says so himself, and you know that Jesus would never lie! > > (“If it were not true, I would have told you.”) Batman had his own radio show, tv show, animated show and plenty of movies ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/23 "2015-03-19T05:36:20Z")
There is a serious debate on whether the fellow we call Jesus actually existed. Among people who accept that he existed, there is a debate on whether he was God incarnate. We know for a fact that Batman is a fictional TV character once played by the Mayor of Quahog. I come down on the side that there is more evidence for Jesus existing (namely the Gospels as being conflicting non-historical accounts of a real person) than for any other peasant character of the same era. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/24 "2015-03-19T05:37:34Z")
But, as I said, those are actors playing a role. There’s only one Jesus Christ (radio show.) (Actually, I have no idea if anyone else is playing the same schtick. He’s certainly playing it straight. He never tips the wink.) It certainly would be fun if someone did an “I’m Batman” radio show. Callers could tell of their problems with crime, and he’d say, “You must fight them at every opportunity.” ETA: and I’m going to take opinions on Batman from Captain America? Seems like there’s some Direct Competition involved! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/25 "2015-03-19T05:40:26Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > We know for a fact that Batman is a fictional TV character once played by the Mayor of Quahog. Yeah, but Jesus H. Christ himself hung out in Quahog as well. (I have determined that the “H.” stands for “Heraldo”.) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/26 "2015-03-19T05:52:08Z")
I answered Jesus not because he’s more realistically plausible, [del]Dr Hume,[/del] but because he seems more like he existed in reality. That’s a different measure. (For example, many, many fictional characters are more plausible than, say, certain war heroes.) And I grew up with heavy literary/religious influence from Jesus–and Spider-Man. They may have a place in my mind that hits me deeper than Bats does. Bats really feels like a fictional character. I’m constantly aware that he’s a cartoon reinterpreted by many artists, and there’s no true core. As far as the David Hume sort of test, Batman is still too ridiculous for me, sorry. If they’d stuck to the acrobatics and kept the horror elements to a lower level, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/27 "2015-03-19T06:32:09Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > ETA: and I’m going to take opinions on Batman from Captain America? Seems like there’s some Direct Competition involved! I saw what you did there. Pretty Marvelous. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/28 "2015-03-19T13:13:21Z")
Jesus. This is like, a trick question, right? There are entirely chunks of the Interwebs dedicated to debating WHAT Jesus was, but a far as whether or not he existed on the planet? Please. He was a man who lived in Judea about 2,000 years ago. There’s so much written cite from so many sources confirming his existence that to offer up the idea that the existence of a man named Jesus who was born in or near Bethlehem somewhere around what is now called 1 A.D. is just ludicrous. The Batman, on the other hand, was a fictional creation by one Mr. Bob Kane. Nothing more, nothing less. Just because something happened a long time ago doesn’t mean it did not happen at all and can be dished off into the realm of fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![Paxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/50afbb/32.png) [@Paxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paxx)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/29 "2015-03-19T13:27:01Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I equate Jesus with King Arthur or Robin Hood, in that there is some suggestion they may have been based on real people, but there’s a fairly convincing argument that they’re entirely mythical. What is the fairly convincing argument that Jesus was entirely mythical? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/30 "2015-03-19T16:07:43Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Jesus. This is like, a trick question, right? No tricks. I simply want to know which one seems more real to you. If I had wanted know which was more realistic, or which one had some actual historical background, I would have asked those things. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/31 "2015-03-19T16:14:17Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Jesus. This is like, a trick question, right? > > There are entirely chunks of the Interwebs dedicated to debating WHAT Jesus was, but a far as whether or not he existed on the planet? Please. He was a man who lived in Judea about 2,000 years ago. > > There’s so much written cite from so many sources confirming his existence that to offer up the idea that the existence of a man named Jesus who was born in or near Bethlehem somewhere around what is now called 1 A.D. is just ludicrous. > > The Batman, on the other hand, was a fictional creation by one Mr. Bob Kane. Nothing more, nothing less. > > Just because something happened a long time ago doesn’t mean it did not happen at all and can be dished off into the realm of fantasy. The question in the OP is which one “seems more real.” Batman, by a mile. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/32 "2015-03-19T16:14:28Z")
If the Jesus we’re talking about is someone who healed the sick, turned water into wine, and rose from the dead after three days - I would have to go with Batman, in the sense that while it seems very odd to me to think of either of them as “real”, Batman has fewer personal attributes which rely on seeming impossibilities. I don’t know if that really answers your question, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/33 "2015-03-19T16:16:53Z")
If you told me convincingly that Jesus (per the Gospels) was real, then everything about him immediately works because his existence presupposes a divine being. How does Jesus raise the dead? Because God. How does he turn water into wine? God. Batman seems less real to be because he doesn’t have the same deus ex machina except for “Well, because he’s Batman”. He exists in some uncanny valley of realism where he’s filled with things that make no damn sense but isn’t “magical” enough to explain them away. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/34 "2015-03-19T16:21:21Z")
**Scumpup** , What do you mean when you say “more real”? … Because while that seems to have clear meaning to you it does not to anyone else here, each of whom are choosing to either answer it as meaning “more realistic” or having “some actual historical background” (i.e. had some real existence) … and you are stating you do not mean either of those. So you do not mean either of the meanings that the rest of us would consider might be meant; what do you mean? Or are you not real and just a bot? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/35 "2015-03-19T16:26:10Z")
When you think about them, which one do you think of more like you think of an actual person that you know? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/36 "2015-03-19T16:27:08Z")
I’m going to say that a person who really lived–and has since had many stories made up about him–is more real than a person who has only had the stories. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/37 "2015-03-19T19:18:00Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > When you think about them, which one do you think of more like you think of an actual person that you know? I know one of each…an obsessed avenger and a blessed peacemaker. Hm… It’d be fun to lock 'em in a room together… ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/38 "2015-03-19T20:20:36Z")
I don’t believe there were ever gods, I do believe a guy can dress up in a costume. Batman by a wide margin. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/39 "2015-03-19T21:47:49Z")
_Tips Fedora_ This thread is more enlightening and euphoric than eating Mountain Dew-flavoured Doritos and drinking Dorito-flavoured Mountain Dew in one sitting. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338/40 "2015-03-19T22:03:08Z")
I talk to Jesus two or three times a week, he works down in accounting. He may be good with numbers but can’t remember passwords for $#!+. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-batman-or-jesus-seem-more-real-to-you/715338.md?page=3)