# Who built the Batcave? The Batmobile? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 10, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973 "2009-03-10T16:27:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973/21 "2009-03-11T01:00:08Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > “Hey, Clark, it’s me, Bruce. You doing anything this weekend?” > > “Well, Lois and I were thinking of …” > > “Clark-boy, you are so whipped! I’ve got some work I need done this weekend. I was thinking of getting all the guys together, doing it on Saturday and Sunday, and then watching some football. I’ll spring for the beer and pizza.” > > “Bruce, you know beer doesn’t have any effect on me.” > > "So bring some of that Kandorian piss-water you’re always going on about. C’mon man, I’m counting on you! > > “Well, maybe just for Saturday? That would leave me Sunday for Lois.” > > “[whipping noise]. Oh, alright. Tell you what. I’ll talk to Barry and see if we can speed up the schedule a bit. You’re not going to let a mere Earthling do a job faster than you, are you?” > > “[sigh] Bruce, sometimes I wonder why we’re friends.” You really need to post this on [Fanfiction.net](http://Fanfiction.net). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973/22 "2009-03-11T01:20:32Z")
Well, according to [one entry](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys) on tvtropes: > [@](#): > > In one of the Batman novels, it was stated that the Batcave was built by (well-paid) foreign workers, secretly assembled and transported to Gotham, who only worked outside the cave at night, never saw Bruce Wayne, and were flown home again, all without them having any idea where in the world they had been working. …Along with a couple of _other_ explanations/versions of continuity regarding the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973/23 "2009-03-11T01:26:59Z")
I thought the cave was simply a natural formation. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973/24 "2009-03-11T01:44:19Z")
Keep in mind that the contents of the cave are the accretion of over a decade of inhabitance (in current continuity), Bruce, Alfred, and Harold (and Dick, Jason, and Tim) adding to it as time goes on, and they need new toys, upgrades to old toys, or more room to store the new stuff, the old stuff they’ve replaced, and their trophies. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973/25 "2009-03-11T04:49:35Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I thought the cave was simply a natural formation. Well, presumably the _basis_ of the cave is natural, or else he could have just built a bunker. But as **Tom Tildrum** notes, you can’t just run a couple of extension cords down and sweep the fresher guano into a corner if you want to make it a respectable command center. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973/26 "2009-03-11T05:09:13Z")
Batman doesn’t like to talk about it but he ended up having to contract the entire job out to Stark Enterprises. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2009, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973/27 "2009-03-11T06:30:20Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Pre-Crisis, before Batman was required to be omnipotent & omniscient, he definitely contracted out the work of building the Batmobile; he once saved the life of a race car driver/ace mechanical engineer :rolleyes:to do so. In a limited series I cannot recall the name of, Robin contacts said contractor after the Batmobile is destroyed and is promised a new one in a week’s time. :rolleyes::rolleyes: [_The Untold Legend of the Batman_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Untold_Legend_of_the_Batman), 1980 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973/28 "2009-03-11T10:28:31Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > My fanwank is that he either has really good robotic technology he mysteriously does not use for other purposes, or that he press-ganged Clark, Hal, Barry, & J’onn into doing most of it. Compromise. He obviously uses Superman robots. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973/29 "2009-03-11T12:58:52Z")
I prefer Professor Xavier’s method. Hire a regular construction company and just use your telepathic powers to keep them blind to weird happenings and mindwpe them afterwards. Perhaps J’onn does this for him. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973/30 "2009-03-11T13:20:47Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Well, according to [one entry](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys) on tvtropes: > > > [@](#): > > > > In one of the Batman novels, it was stated that the Batcave was built by (well-paid) foreign workers, secretly assembled and transported to Gotham, who only worked outside the cave at night, never saw Bruce Wayne, and were flown home again, all without them having any idea where in the world they had been working. > > …Along with a couple of _other_ explanations/versions of continuity regarding the subject. Funny thing is, that’s how Northern Ireland’s armoured police stations were built during The Troubles. Amongst other things, such as how fast you can drive an APC past an old woman on the motorway, Dad learned that from a mix of ex police and military officers he works with. They would chopper over workers from England, have them live and work in the stations under construction, then chopper them back when they were finished. For buying supplies within the province itself, police officers would create a front for themselves, some sort of small contracting unit, and buy up the supplies they needed. Handy when workers could be summarily executed for doing nothing more than baking a nice loaf of bread. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973/31 "2009-03-11T13:22:36Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Keep in mind that the contents of the cave are the accretion of over a decade of inhabitance (in current continuity) What about the accretion from the regular inhabitants of this bat cave? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973/32 "2009-03-11T14:36:26Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > [Villain Source](http://www.villainsource.com/lairs.html) makes no mention of building for the Good Side. > > 😃 I’d wondered what had happened to that website. It used to go under a different name ([villainsupply.com](http://villainsupply.com) or some such) and I thought it was a shame when it shut down. I opened this thread specifically to mention it. I’m glad to see it back up and running. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973/33 "2009-03-11T16:42:18Z")
> [@Khampelf](#): > > Does that mean I shouldn’t mention that Alfred has superpowers that rival Superman’s, but he’s too much the consummate butler to draw attention to himself, or embarrass his employer? When the Batbots arrive to wipe all our minds, I’m not saving any of your asses. I mean it. I’m just gonna world-hop over to Earth-616 where it’s safe. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973/34 "2009-03-11T16:43:32Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > I prefer Professor Xavier’s method. Hire a regular construction company and just use your telepathic powers to keep them blind to weird happenings and mindwpe them afterwards. Perhaps J’onn does this for him. So…mindrape. Yeah, I can see Batman doing that, given that his moral modus operandi seems to be that there’s one set of rules for him and another set for everybody else. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-built-the-batcave-the-batmobile/488973.md?page=1)