r/AskScienceFiction • u/Steven_Hunyady • 3d ago
[DC Comics] Why does Batman/Bruce Wayne never think to give himself superpowers?
Why does Bruce Wayne never think to give himself superpowers using some sort of experiment or gene editing or implants in the body/nervous system? We've seen all three of these happen multiple times throughout the DC Universe, the Flash was created through an accident depending on continuity and Bruce Wayne's WayneTech/Wayne corporation is consistently one of the top 5 richest companies in DC, along with LexCorp. We've seen Luthor do things such as create flawed versions of Superman and other superhumans, obviously Wayne Enterprises could afford something similar. Why does Bruce never think to go through some sort of process to give himself superpowers to become a better protector of Gotham City and a more efficient Justice League member? In fact some of the Dark Nights: Metal versions of Batman did exactly this, so why doesn't the mainline one do it? (Besides the obvious meta reasons that it would take away Batman's gimmick and sell less comics)
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u/ninjasaid13 Is looking for the infinity stones 3d ago
Bruce's greatest fear is losing control. Whenever he temporarily inherits powers, he becomes authoritarian and less human like when he gained superman powers, or when he used the mobius chair or used a kryptonite pill, To prove this point, The dark batmen from the dark multiverse that tried to get superhuman powers consistently went insane, killed his friends, and destroyed everyone and everything.'
To batman, getting powers with his personality is something he feels will make him lose his humanity.
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u/gyozafish 2d ago
Not disagreeing but it is weird that he can’t be sure he can control himself with power, yet his will power is so strong he could swipe a lantern ring casually.
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u/ninjasaid13 Is looking for the infinity stones 2d ago
I remember Hal Jordan once let Bruce try a Green Lantern ring to help process his trauma, but the ring requires letting go of grief. Bruce cannot do that because his entire crusade depends on holding onto the pain of Crime Alley. Letting go of that darkness would mean giving up the crusade, so the ring rejects his mindset.
His willpower is primarily a defensive shield to repress impulses and maintain self denial. When he is given superpowers, that same rigid will turns inward on his mission.
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u/FaceDeer 2d ago
And then, ironically, a yellow lantern ring rejected Batman because it detected that he'd been "tainted" by exposure to a green ring. Not that Batman seemed to particularly want the yellow ring either.
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u/TheShadowKick 2d ago
Isn't Sinestro a former green lantern?
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u/sleepneeded127 2d ago
That and other greens have been yellow for a time too but comics are inconsistent at best and contradicting at worst.
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u/WerewolfF15 2d ago
Him swiping Hal’s green wasn’t about his own willpower it was about Hal not concentrating. In the same comic run Hal ends up giving Bruce a chance to use his ring and it takes a lot of effort and all his willpower to create just one construct.
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u/NinjaBreadManOO 2d ago
Yeah, he gets Hal's ring because Hal gets distracted by him thinking that Bats is a vampire and talking about that.
Also as I recall Bruceman has trouble using a Green Ring because he still has a lot of fear deep down. Oddly he's been better with Yellow Rings because he's used to inspiring fear.
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u/Kind_Of_A_Dick 2d ago
He once gained Superman's powers and refused to use them. The reason he stated was that he didn't think being Superman was permanent so he didn't want to get too used to that kind of power. He was scared of losing his edge.
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u/Robomerc 2d ago
Superman|Batman# 53-56
A magical brooch is used and it causes Superman and Batman to swap attributes.
Superman gaining all of Batman's skills, while Batman gets all Superman's powers.
Batman goes on for the Power Trip, until the Justice League were able to swap them back to normal.
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u/TeddysBigStick 2d ago
Yeah. Bruce is a broken man who recognizes and channels that struggle into the most useful route he knows of. That is why he works so hard to make sure the batfamily do not end up like him.
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u/WretchedJudasSnake 3d ago
This is what the whole Dark Nights: Metal Multiverse storyline was about. Mainline Batman is a Mouse that refuses to ask for a Cookie because he fears that his thirst for Milk will overpower his thirst for justice.
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u/FamousWash1857 3d ago
He does on some extremely rare occasions. But permanently? No way in heck and outside of whatever his opinion is of permanently altering himself as a person, the reasoning is actually quite simple:
It's an escalation.
When Batman started out, Gotham pretty much only had conventional organised crime, but Batman doing his whole Batman thing caused the lingering scraps of the organised crime element to shift track to costumed supervillainy.
If Batman pulled out the stuff he uses for alien invasions and other extreme high-end super-conflict, or got superpowers for good; while he absolutely would clean house with regards to much of the surface-level crime, the vast majority of the biggest problems in Gotham require investigation and won't become easier to solve just because Batman can fight more easily.
The criminal groups that Batman doesn't manage to mop up will adapt to this new level of conflict, either getting even more stringent about avoiding being found, or trying to ramp up their capacity to stay able to fight Batman.
Batman could recreate the Flash's origin story or create some kind of supersoldier serum the moment he wants to, since he has the resources and connections to do so; but the moment he does, the people he fights will start to do the same. At least at the current level, buildings won't get knocked down if he gets into a big fight.
Bruce knows that entirely purging Gotham of crime is a losing battle at best or would require dystopian measures at worst; this is why Batman mostly just helps keep the peace and only goes on the attack against the big-name crime lords who cause the most harm and the costumed supervillains that Batman is the most effective solution for.
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u/Crafty-Drink8384 3d ago
If memory serve me correct its because he's mentally not stable enough and might go off the deep end
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u/SalvationArbys 3d ago
Bruce Wayne has some significant experience with the worst case downsides of people altering their own biology.
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u/roronoapedro The Prophets Did Wolf 359 2d ago
He's had superpowers more than once. He just doesn't need them.
Parallel to that, having them usually ends poorly. Becoming a metahuman is not for everyone and certain personality types really don't mix well with it. Example: the kind of personality type that trains for a decade to be the greatest ninja-detective-psychologist-riddlemaster possible, only sleeps 30 minutes every night, has nearly completely lost sight of which life is real and which life is fake multiple times, and likes to brood and self-isolate when things don't go his way, coming out way more self-destructive and pipelined into might-makes-right every time.
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u/LunarPitStop 2d ago
Between Flash's accident and LexCorp's flawed verions and the twisted nightmare versions of Batman losing their collective humanity, it's probably the kind of thing you don't wanna try to just experiment on yourself with. But also, as mentioned, relying on powers means giving up on the security that comes with relying on his own skills and training, at least to him.
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u/soulreaverdan 2d ago
He has, in more than one occasion thought about it, or been presented with the opportunity for powers. The thing is that the one person in the world that Batman trusts the least with metahuman powers is himself. Any time he's gotten them it's caused him to either go out of control, or start going too far with his crusade. Being human is a limitation he needs to place on himself to avoid slipping too far.
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u/CalmPanic402 3d ago
He'd see them as a crutch. They would make him more predictable and he'd be more prone to just falling back on his powers instead of using his brain and thinking it through.
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u/POKECHU020 3d ago
He does think to do so. He just decides that it's best for him to not have them.
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u/Vladmirfox 3d ago
Because he keeps a Yellow Lantern ring for situations that need Powers.
FEAR The Bat you do!
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u/SteakSubstantial473 2d ago
Going from human to superpowered is a relearning process too. He’d have to train all over again so to not kill.
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u/PJ-The-Awesome 2d ago
Usually one of two reasons:
He wants to prove that he can stand on his own without them.
He fears that the power will go to his head and turn him into a monster(With his evil counterpart the Dawnbreaker being a living embodiment of this fear)
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u/cocoagiant 2d ago
Its a good question.
Considering his reliance on tools and science, it would seem surprising that he hasn't turned his hand towards learning magic as at least on the face of it that is just another way of applying his mind to develop skills.
I think ultimately, it is a matter of getting too specialized as developing powers makes a person approach problems through the same tactics (you get a hammer, everything looks like a nail) whereas Batman is very much a generalist.
Also, Batman is a guy on the knife's edge of sanity. Adding any more variables could easily push him over that edge.
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u/NinjatheClick 1d ago
In another thread its been talked about why he let's Zatanna be his go-to for all things magic. Constantine is bad enough. Batman knows he wouldn't use it responsibly, himself.
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u/cocoagiant 1d ago
Yeah seems a pretty decent case of staying away from power he knows he would be tempted to use irresponsibly.
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u/Art-Zuron 2d ago
He barely holds it together as is. His whole thing is holding back because he knows he'd otherwise go too far.
If there's a version of Batman that gives himself powers, that's the exact Batman that will also exploit and abuse those powers.
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u/NatashOverWorld 2d ago
Simple answer is that Batman does not trust metahumans. You can see this in the way he has more contingencies against his best friends, than he does his enemies.
But it goes deeper than that. Batman does not trust anybody, except perhaps Alfred, a problem that's hindered his relationship with the Batfamily despite how much he cares for them, his romantic relationships and left him unable to move on from his original traumatised origin.
For all his strength of mind and will, this is weakness of his that shapes him more than his strengths.
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