# Science errors in Batman the Brave and the Bold. Why can’t they get these things right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 8, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811 "2013-05-08T16:17:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/21 "2013-05-08T22:25:29Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Flash isn’t fast because of his muscles being capable of it, he’s fast because he’s connected to the Speed Force. Not that I get why his skeleton should be left behind either way, but basically, a wizard did it. (Or whatever the hell Mopee was) I’m sorry, but this violates the well known law of cartoon physics wherein a sufficiently powerful acceleration will always leave the intact skeleton behind. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/22 "2013-05-08T22:44:59Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I’m sorry, but this violates the well known law of cartoon physics wherein a sufficiently powerful acceleration will always leave the intact skeleton behind. The Flash does not operate in the same world as Itchy and Scratchy. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/23 "2013-05-08T22:51:48Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > In the Batman movie, the Penguin disguised as Commodore Schmidlapp gets into the Batcave and lets loose some disintegrated goons by reintegrating them with water. He mistakenly uses the heavy water used for the Batcave’s atomic piles instead of the soft drinking water, which produces disastrous results for the goons. My question is why would Batman have the heavy water come out of the same dispenser as the drinking water and is just changed by a flip of the switch? Why, just in case some supervillain infiltrated his Batcave with dehydrated goons, of course! ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/24 "2013-05-08T22:55:30Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > My question is why would Batman have the heavy water come out of the same dispenser as the drinking water and is just changed by a flip of the switch? I mean, come on! In Wallace & Gromit _A Matter of Loaf and Death_, the diesel pump can be switched over to tea. In real life, a waste disposal system runs smack through the center of our pleasure organs. Go figure. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/25 "2013-05-09T00:02:57Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I’m sorry, but this violates the well known law of cartoon physics wherein a sufficiently powerful acceleration will always leave the intact skeleton behind. Was this well-known law of cartoon physics first violated by the Road Runner or Speedy Gonzales? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/26 "2013-05-09T00:37:05Z")
> [@Small\_Clanger](#): > > The bad guy (Major Force) has stolen a quantum vacuum energy backpack, to power it up he flies to a nuclear power plant. He hovers over a cooling tower and uses the quantum vacuum energy backpack to collect the gas coming from the tower. This charges up the backpack so he can suck the all the atomic power out of Captain Atom, overpower Batman and Aquaman, attack the Whitehouse and set fire to tanks etc. > > The gas that comes out of cooling towers is _water!_ Do the writers know nothing? Losers! > > Anyone else spotted any other dodgy science in this show? You’ve never read a “[Jimmy Olsen Superman’s Pal](http://images.wikia.com/superman/images/4/49/Supermans_Pal_Jimmy_Olsen_125.jpg)” Silver age comic book in your life have you? Well… you stay safe and keep that virginity young man. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/27 "2013-05-09T01:32:52Z")
Even as kids, the cartoon where the Superfriends were told about a problem in "the Bermuda _Rectangle"_ made both me and my brother wince in unison. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/28 "2013-05-09T01:39:00Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Even as kids, the cartoon where the Superfriends were told about a problem in "the Bermuda _Rectangle"_ made both me and my brother wince in unison. Surely that was intentional. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/29 "2013-05-09T05:54:02Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Surely that was intentional. Sometimes that doesn’t make it better. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/30 "2013-05-09T06:07:48Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Surely that was intentional. It was _Superfriends_. So no, I don’t know that it wasn’t general stupidity. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/31 "2013-05-09T07:19:10Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > … I can no longer tell the straight-faced posts from the whooshing. Seriously. Especially in regards to B:TBATB, which isn’t just a comic book show, it’s one of the campiest comic book shows out there. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/32 "2013-05-09T07:33:37Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > When the Flash suddenly goes from rest to Mach 1, I can accept that his muscle tissue is capable of the necessary acceleration. What I don’t get is how his skeleton (subject, like all matter, to inertia) isn’t left behind. The skeleton part I can accept; his whole physiology, not just his muscles, is adapted to moving at great speed. I want to know how the hell he gets such good traction with his shoes, and why whatever he’s standing on during these fast starts doesn’t do a Newton’s Third and go sailing off in the opposite direction. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/33 "2013-05-09T07:39:13Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > The skeleton part I can accept; his whole physiology, not just his muscles, is adapted to moving at great speed. > > I want to know how the hell he gets such good traction with his shoes, and why whatever he’s standing on during these fast starts doesn’t do a Newton’s Third and go sailing off in the opposite direction. The same reason inertia doesn’t bother him in general. The [Speed Force](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_Force). He borrows all his momentum from another dimension. He doesn’t have to deal with Newtonian physics unless he wants to. Like **Chimera** said, science works differently in their universe. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/34 "2013-05-09T08:37:57Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Can someone explain to me how Superman can pick up a battleship? I think his hands would just punch through the hull as he tried to lift it. That’s not hard to explain. He’s capable of holding things gently, without crushing them. You can pick up a grape without crushing it, right? Same thing. A bigger question is why the ship stays in one piece, when logically it would break in half under its own weight, like The Titanic. And the answer to that is: he has an invisible aura of invulnerability. This extends around any object he picks up, holding it together. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/35 "2013-05-09T08:42:55Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The same reason inertia doesn’t bother him in general. The [Speed Force](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_Force). I may have to spark up a doob in solidarity, 'cause someone was high when they came up with that shit. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/36 "2013-05-09T12:25:17Z")
Didn’t one of the Superman movies have a similar error to the one in the OP? It was the one with the nuclear-powered clone of Superman. IIRC, Supes disposes of him by dropping him down a cooling tower, straight into the reactor core of a power plant. ---
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/37 "2013-05-09T14:12:08Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The same reason inertia doesn’t bother him in general. The [Speed Force](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_Force). The first words behind that Wikipedia link are: “This article has multiple issues”. I’ll say. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/38 "2013-05-09T14:19:02Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > That’s not hard to explain. He’s capable of holding things gently, without crushing them. You can pick up a grape without crushing it, right? Same thing. > > A bigger question is why the ship stays in one piece, when logically it would break in half under its own weight, like The Titanic. And the answer to that is: he has an invisible aura of invulnerability. This extends around any object he picks up, holding it together. The finger covers quite a bit of the surface area of the grape. Try to gently pick up the grape with a sharp needle point. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/39 "2013-05-09T14:30:01Z")
And howscome Aquaman needed an AquaScooter? His main power was swimming. It’s like the flash getting a moped. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811/40 "2013-05-09T14:50:43Z")
Aquaman needed an AquaScooter because the powers that be behind SuperFriends would not, nay, could not stop themselves in their efforts to make him the lamest superhero of all time. For awhile in the 80’s in the comics, IIRC, the Flash had a van (so he could transport groups of people at superspeed) to which he could impart his velocity, but some Rogue or other totalled it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-errors-in-batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-why-can-t-they-get-these-things-right/657811.md?page=3)