Current Events > Batman is the real personality, Bruce is just the mask

(+) Yeah! (+)

Thats deep.

All it takes is one bad day.

Batman is an unhelpful crazy person.

SaikyoStyle posted...

Batman is an unhelpful crazy person.

Youre thinking of Punisher.

At least Batman saves people.

Joker is actually Batman's best friend, and vice versa.

This is only true of Superman, but people say the same thing about Batman and it drives me nuts.

How is Gotham still so Crime filled?!?

There's no laws against the pokemon Batman!
I can do whatever I want with it!

Bout as deep as Clark is the maskwait, its even deeper OMG!

radical_rhino posted...

This is only true of Superman, but people say the same thing about Batman and it drives me nuts.

it's true of both, but it's established in canon for batman due to that wonder woman lasso of truth panel from that comic.

radical_rhino posted...

This is only true of Superman, but people say the same thing about Batman and it drives me nuts.

Its the opposite with Supes.

Batman = Person
Bruce = Mask

Clark = Person
Superman = Mask

Ivynn posted...

Batman = Person
Bruce = Mask

Clark = Person
Superman = Mask

This.

radical_rhino posted...

This is only true of Superman, but people say the same thing about Batman and it drives me nuts.

It's literally not. Maybe back in the 40s. But for the last few decades, every incarnation of Supes shows that Clark is who he really is at his core.

radical_rhino posted...

This is only true of Superman, but people say the same thing about Batman and it drives me nuts.

That's the opposite. Batman is who he really is, but whenever it's put to the test Superman is a farmboy from Kansas named Clark. Superman is always the fake identity:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/6/2/AARebuAAEBb-.jpg

EDIT: Compare that to this:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/2/0/AABJX0AAEl4I.jpg

Ivynn posted...

Batman = Person
Bruce = Mask

Clark = Person
Superman = Mask

"Clark Kent" is the mask, but Clark Kent is the person who is Superman. The Christopher Reeve movies did an excellent job of portraying this, even to the point where "Clark" stands completely differently. There's a great scene in the first film where he wants to tell Lois who he is and you can see him change from "Clark" to Clark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNUu6Lf9mVU.

It is definitively true of DCAU Batman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t7yiN_Z5eg

Superman's kind of complicated and I think you can fairly define a few personas he wears.

- The "Clark Kent" that he is in Smallville around Ma and Pa Kent is probably his most genuine and the one he grew up as before adopting the Superman side
- The bumbling clumsy Clark Kent he plays in Metropolis to avert suspicion of being Superman is a character
- The Superman who acts as a paragon of justice inspiring hope to citizens of Metropolis by calmly and as-peacefully-as-possible stopping bank robbers and helping kittens in trees is kind of a character
- The Superman who goes all-out no-holds-barred killing alien dictators is less of a character and more genuine

But I know the Kill Bill canon is that Superman is his real identity so we can also just go with that

Kuuko posted...

But I know the Kill Bill canon is that Superman is his real identity so we can also just go with that

That was just Bill's opinion. It's not canon in either Kill Bill or DC Comics.

Tyranthraxus posted...

That was just Bill's opinion. It's not canon in either Kill Bill or DC Comics.

It was a joke.

Superheroes who see their hero personas as their true selves and their civilians lives are the disguise.

Rorschach
Darkwing Duck

MARlO posted...

Youre thinking of Punisher.

At least Batman saves people.

He is also an unhelpful crazy person.

SaikyoStyle posted...

He is also an unhelpful crazy person.

Who Punisher? Yeah I know.

Is it a Tarantino movie that tries to say this about Superman? people love 2deep4u assertions about comic books

Doe posted...

Is it a Tarantino movie that tries to say this about Superman? people love 2deep4u assertions about comic books

Yes it's in kill bill.

Opposite of Superman. Superman thinks of himself as Clark first

IceCreamOnStero posted...

Its the opposite with Supes.

Depends on the era. True of more recent versions though.

There was a panel where WW, Superman , and Batman where holding her lasso and telling there name.

Superman was like Clark Kent, Kal-El and Batman was like Batman.

However there are other panels where he is calling himself Bruce Wayne.

1NfamousACE_2 posted...

How is Gotham still so Crime filled?!?

Comic book nonsense. If he cleaned up Gotham, the story would end

But also.....in recent years, the comics added some lore to explain why Gotham is so bad. There is some kind of eldritch being slumbering under Gotham City. And it corrupts everyone who lives there.

radical_rhino posted...

This is only true of Superman, but people say the same thing about Batman and it drives me nuts.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/7/4/AARebuAAEl_O.jpg

Zikten posted...

Comic book nonsense. If he cleaned up Gotham, the story would end

But also.....in recent years, the comics added some lore to explain why Gotham is so bad. There is some kind of eldritch being slumbering under Gotham City. And it corrupts everyone who lives there.

Thats been done before to justify how bad stuff keeps happening in places in other fiction too. The ones that spring to mind are It and Buffy, though Im sure there are others.

Glob posted...

Thats been done before to justify how bad stuff keeps happening in places in other fiction too. The ones that spring to mind are It and Buffy, though Im sure there are others.

Like in many super robot wars games, Earth is a "promised land", so that's why it will always have Aliens, interdimensional, timetraveler, multiverse invaders.

Zikten posted...

Comic book nonsense. If he cleaned up Gotham, the story would end

No. Supergirl actually does it in one comic and it ended up making things worse because old fashioned organized crime took over Gotham as the big villains got put away. Batman's method as dumb as it is, happens to be the most effective for Gotham. Joker, Bane, Riddler, etc are all so obsessed with Batman that he ends up drawing most of the crime away to target him specifically. Joker only murders people if he thinks it'll make Batman upset and he needs to make a spectacle out of it. Shooting people in an alleyway just don't cut it.

Stanley Ipkiss is the personality.

The Mask is just the mask.

My preferred take.

Batman is a mask.

Bruce Wayne is a mask.

Him sitting in the cave, cowl down, suit on, surrounded by his kids? That's the real dude.

pegusus123456 posted...

Him sitting in the cave, cowl down, suit on, surrounded by his kids? That's the real dude

There's a webcomic about this, and then DC took the idea into official comic.
I forgot the title tho.

Ricemills posted...

There's a webcomic about this, and then DC took the idea into official comic.
I forgot the title tho.

Probably Wayne Family Adventures

pegusus123456 posted...

Probably Wayne Family Adventures

Oh yeah, that's the one.

Zikten posted...

Comic book nonsense. If he cleaned up Gotham, the story would end

But also.....in recent years, the comics added some lore to explain why Gotham is so bad. There is some kind of eldritch being slumbering under Gotham City. And it corrupts everyone who lives there.

That is the worst explanation they could have ever come up with.

Why doesn't Dr fate take care of it?

pegusus123456 posted...

Probably Wayne Family Adventures

I remember googling this and being kinda interested, what's it like any good?

This might have already been mentioned, but I remember in some animated movie or cartoon Clark saying something like "Clark Kent is who he is and Superman is what he can do" can't remember what it was from though.

Kuuko posted...

But I know the Kill Bill canon is that Superman is his real identity so we can also just go with that

One of my pet peeves is that people always assume that declaration by a Quentin Tarantino character about pop culture or societal norms is Tarantino bestowing a deep, undeniable Tarantino Truth on us when that's not even his intention. Usially he's just using them to show that character's point of view. Tarantino himself may not even agree with them.

And I agree with your analysis. Clark Kent, the unpretentious and even dorky guy from Smallville is the truest version of Kal-El. Sometimes he even shows it while wearing the costume.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/9/6/AAAJePAAEmPM.jpg

action52 posted...

One of my pet peeves is that people always assume that declaration by a Quentin Tarantino character about pop culture or societal norms is Tarantino bestowing a deep, undeniable Tarantino Truth on us when that's not even his intention. Usially he's just using them to show that character's point of view. Tarantino himself may not even agree with them.

And I agree with your analysis. Clark Kent, the unpretentious and even dorky guy from Smallville is the truest version of Kal-El. Sometimes he even shows it while wearing the costume.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/9/6/AAAJePAAEmPM.jpg

What comic is that from?

It doesn't really matter what Batman thinks of himself though. He thinks of himself as Batman because he's deeply troubled and arguably insane. It doesn't change the fact that it's a persona he entirely fabricated for himself. Batman is the mask Bruce hides behind to avoid dealing with his issues.

Superman is slightly different because while Superman is who he is (he's an alien from Krypton, no matter how you shake it) he assumed he WAS Clark Kent, normal human, for a long time. The act he puts on to fool people is obviously fake though.

Noumas posted...

I remember googling this and being kinda interested, what's it like any good?

It's really good, but it doesn't usually do Batman stuff. It's more slice of life stuff like the Batfamily having a snowball fight or Jason having a panic attack when he sees some Joker shit.

Kuuko posted...

The bumbling clumsy Clark Kent he plays in Metropolis to avert suspicion of being Superman is a character

He hasn't really faked being bumbling since Byrne's Man of Steel in the 80's. 90's Clark was a respected figure at the Daily Planet and a Pulitzer Prize winning writer.

Of course, that could have resurfaced again in the multiple reboots, I'm not up with Clark currently.

To me, this honestly kinda nullifies the costume. It just means that the costume is a piece of cloth with no personality or identity of its own.

The Bruce Wayne that we see in the Batcave is the real individual and putting on the costume is like cranking the volume up to 11. That's how it should be. The mask should have its own identity that completes the Bruce Wayne/Batman puzzle.

Kuuko posted...

It is definitively true of DCAU Batman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t7yiN_Z5eg

Part of why DCAU Batman is so great is because this isn't true at first. Earlier on in BTAS, it felt like Bruce Wayne was who he really wanted to be, but he knew Bruce was limited in what he could do. But as he gets older and more jaded, Bruce Wayne truly starts becoming the mask.

GeneralKenobi85 posted...

Part of why DCAU Batman is so great is because this isn't true at first. Earlier on in BTAS, it felt like Bruce Wayne was who he really wanted to be, but he knew Bruce was limited in what he could do. But as he gets older and more jaded, Bruce Wayne truly starts becoming the mask.

You could probably make an argument either way on this. One of my favorite small details in BTAS is how Kevin Conroy does the gruff Batman voice whenever he's in the cave or talking to Alfred or Robin and switches to the friendly Bruce voice when he's talking to anyone else in public. In a lot of scenes he's even out of costume when he's doing the Batman voice. To me it says something about how much the Bruce persona is an act, and how he's naturally in "Batman mode".
https://youtu.be/fSSQypRvfWY?t=87

In The New Batman Adventures this small touch got dropped though and he's pretty much always doing Batman voice even in public as Bruce Wayne, which is sad.

Batman's personality:

*squints*
*squinting intensifies*