Poll of the Day > The most unbelievable thing about Batman

(+) Yeah! (+)

Honestly the least believable thing about Batman is Alfred's origin story.

When he was introduced, he was a 350 lb man who just showed up on Bruce's doorstep one day, and Bruce and Dick just accepted him as their butler because he could cook. Then when he discovers Bruce is Batman, he decides to become a detective. Then he goes on vacation and loses 200lbs in a weekend.

No wonder they retconned his origin to "He is the family butler" and just left it at that.

Dikitain posted...

Honestly the least believable thing about Batman is Alfred's origin story.

When he was introduced, he was a 350 lb man who just showed up on Bruce's doorstep one day, and Bruce and Dick just accepted him as their butler because he could cook. Then when he discovers Bruce is Batman, he decides to become a detective. Then he goes on vacation and loses 200lbs in a weekend.

No wonder they retconned his origin to "He is the family butler" and just left it at that.

Wait, really? I can't find this anywhere, but I would like to read about it.

Dikitain posted...

Honestly the least believable thing about Batman is Alfred's origin story.

When he was introduced, he was a 350 lb man who just showed up on Bruce's doorstep one day, and Bruce and Dick just accepted him as their butler because he could cook. Then when he discovers Bruce is Batman, he decides to become a detective. Then he goes on vacation and loses 200lbs in a weekend.

No wonder they retconned his origin to "He is the family butler" and just left it at that.

Also, don't forget he was dead for a few years because the Comic Code assumed that three men living alone in a house had to be super-gay and therefore evil, so they had to kill Alfred off and introduce a female housekeeper.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

...that's assuming that particular origin is actually real. In-universe, it mostly comes from the Joker himself, and it's straight up mentioned he could be completely lying.

That has been his origin since 1951. The multple choice origins was introduced recently along with a story line that involved multiple Jokers created by the first one exposing other people to the same chemicals he was exposed to, following the "one bad day" premise. They were so insane that they had forgotten which one they were, which Joker had made which other Joker, and which origin was theirs or anothers.

SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

That has been his origin since 1951.

It hasn't.

The Red Hood thing as a shared disguise wasn't from the original origin story. Nor was the part about the Joker being an ordinary guy (or specifically, a failed comedian) hired to be the Red Hood. That all comes from waaaay later.

In essence, you're describing the post-Crisis New Earth/Earth-1 origin of the Joker. The 1951 origin was the pre-Crisis Earth-2 origin of the Joker, and it was way simpler:

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/3/38/Joker_%28Earth-Two%29_005.jpg

The original origin was basically just a throwaway backstory, because the Joker was originally little more than a throwaway character. He was actually supposed to die in his first appearance until the editor forced them to keep him alive for future stories because he thought he could be interesting.

The real problem is that neither of those two versions of the Joker technically exist anymore. The current Joker in the comics is the post-Flashpoint/New 52 Prime Earth version. And Prime Earth sucks.

giving him iron man suits was horrible.

should have stayed near street level

ParanoidObsessive posted...

The real problem is that neither of those two versions of the Joker technically exist anymore.

Now I'm curious. What are the origins that don't involve him being the Red Hood? I'm only vaguely aware of the developments since New 52.

pionear posted...

And was he (Thomas) really a Billionaire at the time? I know in different iterations, the Wanye's inherited some wealth from Martha's family too

WhY dId YoU sAy ThAt NaMe

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/4/4/AAQwHjAADK_U.jpg

SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

Now I'm curious. What are the origins that don't involve him being the Red Hood? I'm only vaguely aware of the developments since New 52.

I know of one where he is a literal God. The God of laughter and supposedly has plagued Gotham since its orgins. Idk all the details I guess he managed to keep his name and face hidden until batman showed up.

Yellow posted...

The most unbelievable thing about Batman is every time they add some magic bullshit to it, just leave him as a realistic psycho, it's better that way.

Ivy, Superman, Clayface, Mr Freeze, worst Batman villains. Left out of the good movies for a reason. It's like adding real magic to sherlock holmes.

I like it when he deals with mob bosses and serial killers better.

Wat.

Revelation34 posted...

Wat.

Yes, Superman, the worst Batman villain.

Souperman, the condiment king, Catwoman. All the worst supervillains are food themed.

mooreandrew58 posted...

You'd still think Gordon would piece it together. He's got more face time with bats than most people.

If I recall, in the dark knight returns he seems to beyond Have suspected it the whole time but mostly the comics are silent on it.

Zareth posted...

Is that a billionaire would take his wife and son out to the theater without any armed bodyguards

When the story originally happened something like that wasn't an issue and it hasn't really changed since then.

Blightzkrieg posted...

Souperman, the condiment king, Catwoman. All the worst supervillains are food themed.

I see what you did there.

Conner4REAL posted...

If I recall, in the dark knight returns he seems to beyond Have suspected it the whole time but mostly the comics are silent on it.

A lot of modern versions of the story imply pretty hard that Gordon's known almost from the very beginning (and has generally known that Barbara is Batgirl as well), but he pretends like he doesn't because it gives him plausible deniability if he's ever ordered to arrest Batman. This is especially true in the stories where they have Gordon be the young beat cop who tries to comfort Bruce a bit when they respond to his parents being shot.

It mostly depends on the writer in comics, because every new writer tends to interpret things differently. But a lot of them go with the above idea these days.