Contrary to logic, it probably isn’t all that great being a superhero. Imagine having to always conceal one’s true capabilities, being subject to media speculation, to put up with mis-informed perceptions of people close to you or even the general public. That’s tough, even for a superhero. But Guess they do what they do because as some superhero’s uncle said, “With great power, comes great responsibility”.
But all superheros are not equal when it comes to responsibility: it would seem that Batman leads the most tragic & ironic life of them all.
Firstly, life deals him a cruel blow at start- despite being born with a silver spoon, he loses his parents at a very early age and is left to fend for himself as a rich but young heir in a greedy world.
Secondly, he really doesn’t have any “conventional” super powers (if any are conventional!). He can’t fly, can’t see through objects and doesn’t have super human strength. Why he can’t even climb buildings! So what he does, is based on his innate skills & intelligence – creating “accessories” and leveraging his skills to use them.
Thirdly & most interestingly as it is also the most ironic & complicated of reasons: Most other superheros battle clearly evil villains (typically bent on either ruling or destroying the world, depending on how manic or greedy they are!). Most live in nice, sweet towns, where people cheer the superhero and are generally good natured.
But not Batman! Firstly, he lives in crime ridden Gotham City, where good is not necessarily the order of the day. Secondly & tragically, he ends up battling villains who are or were at some point of time also sympathetic, in their own twisted ways, to the cause of good.
Take the case of his mentor group, the Ra’s al Ghul, who were responsible for training him in fighting skills. They are actually a vigilante group, much like Batman himself. And Batman ends up fighting them because they want to destroy Gotham City, which they feel has turned too evil to redeem. The second example is that of the District Attorney, Harvey Dent, who starts out as a stronger & more principled hero than Batman but tragedy turns him into the villain ”Two Face” and Batman has to fight him. Thirdly, the Joker himself – such a complicated character. Dont think so? Evil he maybe but there is always an undercurrent of inconsistency in the Joker’s motivations. Take the classic & chilling experiment the Joker performs – giving the trigger to kill each other to two ships of people, one ship containing regular citizens and the other filled with criminals. By doing so, he forces either of them to make a choice to pull the trigger on the other group before the other does the same to them i.e. to save themselves by destroying others. By putting both in such a dillema, he may have been seeking to prove that even common people are lawless if it comes to survival - its not a matter of principle but of situation. Thankfully the best scenario prevails: neither party of people pulls the trigger and humanity is saved, in more ways than one. But this does prove that the Joker himself, while clearly ‘evil’, was a very complicated villain.
In all, poor batman has a lot stacked against him at different levels, unlike a “normal”(!) superhero. And he comes out strong against all odds. If the reverse is also true, i.e. “With great responsibility, comes great power”, then Batman is surely the most powerful of all superheros.
