# Whence the "Batman...if he's prepared" trope? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315 "2006-12-15T18:43:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/1 "2006-12-15T18:43:35Z")
I’m not much of a comic book geek. In a lot of discussions of Batman you see people joke about Batman “being prepared” for this or that challenge. What is this in reference to? Is it a line from one of the comics? I don’t remember it from any of the movies. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/2 "2006-12-15T18:44:55Z")
Oops. The thread title was supposed to say “whence,” not “when.” ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/3 "2006-12-15T18:50:34Z")
My guess would be its because Batman doesn’t have any superpowers and relies on his gizmos and gadgets, which require prepping. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/4 "2006-12-15T18:57:48Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Oops. The thread title was supposed to say “whence,” not “when.” [/QUOTE] You should have prepared. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/5 "2006-12-15T19:00:20Z")
My take is that Batman’s utility belt would weigh a ton if he actually had all the stuff he uses in it, so he must somehow prepare for a mission. IIRC correctly, in the movie with Adam West, he had a bad shark repellent in his belt, a particularly blatant example of this. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/6 "2006-12-15T19:02:05Z")
In the late-1990’s or so DC relaunched the Justice League title (now simply called JLA). It was kind of a big deal, because for the first time in a good long while it had an all all-star cast: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Green Lantern and Aquaman. In an interview, writer Grant Morrison was asked who he thought was the most powerful member. He replied Batman, as he had the brains and resourcefulness to take out all of the other members, if he had time to prepare. This was demonstrated by Morrison and other writers in several ways: 1. Batman was underestimated and overlooked by bad guys, leading to their downfall. 2. Prometheus, a villain who was an anti-Batman (he witnessed his criminal parents being gunned down by the law) _nearly_ took out the Justice League (including Batman) through meticulous planning. 3. Another writer went a step further and said that not only could Batman take out the others, he already had these contingency plans on file. A villain stole them and used them against the rest of the JLA. Batman as tactical genius has stuck around in the fan consciousness since those days. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/7 "2006-12-15T19:02:42Z")
I fet the _meaning_ of the phrase being that he must have the proper equpment on his belt, I was just wondering if the specific word “prepared” had an origin someplace. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/8 "2006-12-15T19:04:08Z")
And I see that **Menocchio** has answered the question. Thank you. That makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/9 "2006-12-15T19:09:39Z")
Comic fans like to speculate about who would win hypothetical conflicts, such as ‘Character X versus Character Y’. Batman doesn’t have super-strength or any super-human powers, and so in one sense it could be argued that he could be defeated by any other character with super powers. However, it is part of the Batman ‘mythology’ that – as well as having trained himself to be the ultimate human fighting machine – he is an exceptionally brilliant strategist and thinker, and can often out-smart his opponents. Hence, Batman fans tend to believe that if Batman knew in advance that he was about to meet a particular foe, and even if that foe were super-strong or had other super-human ability, Batman would figure out a smart way to win. In other words, the ‘so long as he’s prepared’ line is a way of ‘levelling the playing field’ so to speak, such that Batman .v. Super-Powered Foe is _not_ a foregone conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/10 "2006-12-15T19:32:26Z")
Interesting. I thought it derived from the way Batman was able to take down Superman in Miller’s **The Dark Knight Returns** series, but only because he was prepared (special suit, plugged into the city main, plus Robin with the Batmobile and especially GA with a kryptonite arrow, both waiting in the wings. Never heard it before I read that comic. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/11 "2006-12-15T22:27:19Z")
Batman also tends to have an area-effect intelligence drain. For no known reason, many supervillains abruptly become idiots when confronted with Batman. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/12 "2006-12-15T22:56:14Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] Batman also tends to have an area-effect intelligence drain. For no known reason, many supervillains abruptly become idiots when confronted with Batman. 🙂 [/QUOTE] It’s all the urine running down their pants legs. Distracting, I’m told. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/13 "2006-12-15T23:07:21Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] …IIRC correctly, in the movie with Adam West, he had a bad shark repellent in his belt, a particularly blatant example of this. [/QUOTE] Close. The shark repellent was in a cabinet in the helicopter, next to all sorts of other animal repellents. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/14 "2006-12-15T23:13:59Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] My take is that Batman’s utility belt would weigh a ton if he actually had all the stuff he uses in it, so he must somehow prepare for a mission. IIRC correctly, in the movie with Adam West, he had a bad shark repellent in his belt, a particularly blatant example of this. [/QUOTE] It was things like that which led DC to finally sit down and write the definitive “What’s in Batman’s utility belt” for comic writers. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/15 "2006-12-15T23:58:28Z")
[QUOTE=brianjedi] It was things like that which led DC to finally sit down and write the definitive “What’s in Batman’s utility belt” for comic writers. [/QUOTE] Maybe they had documents for internal use ruling out the more outlandish plot devices, but Batman’s entry in [_Who’s Who in the DC Universe_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who's_Who_in_the_DC_Universe) and other published official guides routinely includes a qualifier mentioning how he constantly updates his equipment, forestalling nerdly complaints of how the Bat smoke-bombs were supposed to be third on the left but in issue #523, he clearly reaches to the right. Green Arrow and Marvel’s Hawkeye had similar qualifiers about their quivers. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2006, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/16 "2006-12-16T00:11:14Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] Batman also tends to have an area-effect intelligence drain. For no known reason, many supervillains abruptly become idiots when confronted with Batman. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Well, criminals _are_ a superstitious, cowardly lot. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/17 "2006-12-16T05:49:04Z")
[QUOTE=garygnu] Close. The shark repellent was in a cabinet in the helicopter, next to all sorts of other animal repellents. [/QUOTE] Was it also sitting beside the kryptonite handcuffs, the yellow buckshot and the anti-arrow batarangs? ---
**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:** [December 16, 2006, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/18 "2006-12-16T06:56:30Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Oops. The thread title was supposed to say “whence,” not “when.” [/QUOTE] Fixed it. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/19 "2006-12-16T09:21:24Z")
I think people started saying that when **The Dark Knight Returns** first came out, circa 1986, when Batman hooked up his Bat-armor to a power line and duked it out with Superman. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315/20 "2006-12-16T16:28:46Z")
[QUOTE=Krokodil] I think people started saying that when **The Dark Knight Returns** first came out, circa 1986, when Batman hooked up his Bat-armor to a power line and duked it out with Superman. [/QUOTE] Well he did a lot more than that but you are right that it probably did happen that way. On one of the bigger comic book rumbles/fight boards he is know as the “Bat-god”. That said, most poster put Reed Richards as the ultimate “prep-god” because he is a walking plot device (for example, he has a belt that allows the user to move around a multiples of light speed. Like thousands and thousands of times light speed). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-batman-if-hes-prepared-trope/384315.md?page=2)