Bruce Wayne is a smart guy and he’s all about crime-fighting and making Gotham better and all, but he spends billions on weapons research so he can survive longer in fisticuffs. Is there an in-universe reason for why he doesn’t instead just invest the money in education, social programs, and such to decrease overall crime and lower the number of henchmen available to his nemeses?
Well… Who says he doesn’t?
There are allusions in many Batman stories about Bruce doing that sort of thing - the stories tend to focus on the fisticuffs, though (“Biff!” “Pow!” work better as drama in many media than “Learn!” “Acquire new hopes for a future career!” do)
That was his parents’ whole schtick, and he’s continued it… when he’s not blinded by his obsession. Like the most recent movie: Whats-his-name the cop’s orphanage used to be funded generously by the Wayne Foundation… until Wayne Industries’ profits went into the crapper.
Crappy schools lead to people with no skills and little hope. Which drives down what henchpeople get paid. Pay for crap, get crap.
Good schools lead to the opposite. So you end up with well paid henchpeople who are professionals that know what they are doing.
Who would you rather fight?
Its Economics 101.
The rich Batdude knows what he is doing.
He does. (Hell, that was a minor plot point in the first issue of Gotham Academy, which came out this month - he, via the Wayne Foundation, helps fund the eponymous school.)
He also has a program in place to provide jobs for ex cons. (A plot point in a couple Batman Black & White stories.)
And a program to build up the poorer parts of Gotham. (This one caused trouble with exactly the people he should be working with, because of the ‘out of touch playboy’ persona that he doesn’t really cultivate any more.)
Because he knows the union goons will steal the money and continue to provide crappy education a la District of Columbia.
Horrible alternate theory: He does. This is what Gotham looks like with the generous investment and social programs. Without them, it’d outright look like Mogadishu. Mogadishu with more insane übers running around. :eek:
So? Bludhaven then? Without the nazis.
Well, Bludhaven’s certainly a more realistic take on what a Gotham City might become…
That is, a bombed out, radioactive wasteland garrisoned by black ops paramilitaries.
Perhaps Batman feels that not all evil can be corrected by better education. Scarecrow is a doctor, Riddler is a genius, Penguin isn’t lacking in brains, etc. Sometimes the only way to stop evil is with force.
Two-Face has a law degree! Hugo Strange is a psychiatrist! Mister Freeze is an expert on cryonics! Poison Ivy is a brilliant biochemist! The Mad Hatter is a neuroscientist!
Quoth the Batman, “There’s nothing wrong with you that I can’t fix with my hands.”
There needs to be a new Internet law. Because every time someone asks “Why doesn’t Batman do X?” a dozen people can come back with recent examples from the comics and the movies proving that he does do X. No matter the question. It’s kind of a amazing.
I like Pennyworth’s Law myself.
It’s as if he’s prepared!
I can recall at least one post-Crisis story in which Wayne sponsors a class of sixth graders, promising to pay their way through college if they can stay out of trouble. He even had the uncommon (for him) good sense to follow up with the kids to keep them on the straight & narrow.
Uber’s been having trouble getting going in Gotham w/ the taxi cab lobby so strong there.
Wasn’t there some Riddler story, 20 years or so back, in which it was revealed that there had been an actual freaking demon resident in Gotham since Revolutionary War times that was responsible for the city’s moral corruption being ongoing and intractable without actually destroying it?
Ordinarily I am against magic (and for that matter, sci-fi) in my Batman stories, but I remember reading that one and thinking, "Yeah, I can totally buy that.)
Explain what that is, please.
It’s just a joke Internet law I just came up with. And I went with Pennyworth because Alfred is (more or less) Bruce’s first teacher in the crime-fighting arts. From the same post:
“Because every time someone asks “Why doesn’t Batman do X?” a dozen people can come back with recent examples from the comics and the movies proving that he does do X. No matter the question. It’s kind of a amazing.”
Considering that Arkham appears to be the most convenient place to ship Gotham’s baddies to (after Bats has apprehended them), one might expect demonic activity in the region.