# What Happens.... \[collateral damage in comics\]

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-collateral-damage-in-comics/583659>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 29, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-collateral-damage-in-comics/583659 "2011-05-29T14:41:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**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 31, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-collateral-damage-in-comics/583659/21 "2011-05-31T20:01:47Z")

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I like _Batman Begins_’ take on the cave: It’s been there for generations, probably partly natural originally but expanded, and was used by his ancestors to hide escaped slaves. It’s a nice touch, to give him a family history of heroism.

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**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-collateral-damage-in-comics/583659/22 "2011-05-31T22:12:55Z")

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> [@ugly ripe tomato](#):
>
> Actually the Batcave’s exactly what I’m talking about.

So I figured. I was just nitpicking the super-hero _group_ reference. Secret headquarters are mostly an individual-hero thing, and even among them it’s a minority choice (in that most heroes don’t have such headquarters, unless you count their apartments or alien civilizations from which they hail, which I would not).

> [@](#):
>
> Assuming it’s not a natural cave, that would have taken a lot of blasting and digging to hollow that monster out. So then whaddya do with the rubble, and how do ya keep water from flooding it, and how do you keep it stabilized (I live in an area where mine subsidence is an ongoing problem). It’d be a bit Awkward for the bedrock under one’s dwelling to give way only to end up in the Batcave while Batman and Robin are whipping up some (link possibly NSFW)[Batman batter](http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=32&Itemid=50&limitstart=119).
> 
> And maybe Batman’s enough of a genius to build his own power plant so he doesn’t black out all of Gotham City every time he fires up his computers, but what does he do with the bat-trash? Or if he pinches a bat-loaf and clogs up the plumbing so bad even Alfred can’t unclog it?

I don’t have an answer for the Batcave either. That bothered me even when I was eight. I could imaginen _Superman_ being able to have a hidden fortress, but he has access to magic tech – and he doesn’t really need the fortress anyway, he just likes to hang out there. Probably where he keeps his porn stash.

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