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Batman may be the World’s Greatest Detective and Gotham’s protector, but he can also be a real jerk at times. Perhaps that should be expected considering the fact he solves all of his problems by hitting them, throwing money at them, or pummeling them with Bat-themed gadgets.
Even by the standards of rich crime-fighting vigilantes (and DC has quite a few of those in comparison) Batman is mean. Of course, all the trauma he suffered left its mark. Consequently, it is unrealistic to expect Gotham’s Dark Knight to go through life with a sunny disposition. That said, given some of his behavior, it is no surprise that Batman has been called out for being a complete jerk on more than one occasion.
10 Batman Designed Plans To Destroy The Justice League
One of the most iconic DC stories of all time is JLA’s “Tower of Babel.” Written by Mark Waid and drawn by Howard Porter and Steve Scott, the story concerns a plot to scramble all communication on Earth and bring humanity’s dominion to an end.
The villain behind this scheme was Ras al Ghul, who used plans that Batman had devised to take down the Justice League. Batman made the plans because he feared his companions were too powerful and might need to be stopped one day. He was not entirely wrong, but it was still a cruel thing to do and almost led to the destruction of both the team and human civilization.
9 He Built A Sentient AI Satellite To Spy On People
Brother E.Y.E. is a sentient orbital satellite designed by Batman to conduct unlimited mass surveillance. Batman did not trust his fellow superheroes to act without accountability.
Unfortunately, his decision to build an AI to bypass basic civil liberties and violate people’s privacy went about as well as could be expected. Brother E.Y.E became sentient, went rogue, and turned thousands of people on Earth into killer cyborgs called O.M.A.C.s.
8 Bruce Wayne’s Charitable Giving Worsened Gotham’s Inequality
Like most billionaires, Bruce Wayne can change the world for the better with his checkbook. In fact, his wealth literally counts as a superpower.
While he seems to spend most of his money designing various Bat-themed gadgets and weapons, he also gives to charity. Unfortunately, Gotham remains one of the most impoverished and underfunded cities in America. This is probably because Wayne’s charitable donations tend to go to groups that worsen the city’s problems. He revealed to Barbara Gordon that his major causes are the GCPD (a notoriously corrupt and abusive police department), and Gotham’s museums, for-profit hospitals, and university—all organizations that cater to the city’s wealthier denizens. Barbara calls him out, but he barely bothers to listen.
7 He Punched Nightwing And Knocked Out A Tooth
When Batman investigated the mysterious organization known as the Court of Owls, he and Nightwing had a tense confrontation in the Batcave. Bruce had begun to suspect his one-time apprentice was being used by the Court, and without warning, he sucker-punched Nightwing and knock out a tooth. The tooth turned out to be a false one, implanted by the Court of Owls without Nightwing’s knowledge. However, this is something that should have been resolved with words, not fists.
6 When Jim Gordon Was Shot, Batman Put His Feelings Above Barbara’s
Commissioner Jim Gordon and Batman have been friends and allies for a long time. When Jim was shot, Batman was devastated. The Dark Knight became even more reactionary and broodingly melancholic than usual, barking orders at the various members of the Bat-family to find and stop the killer.
This treatment extended to Barbara Gordon, Jim’s daughter. In other words, Batman was so busy feeling bad that he didn’t stop to consider how Barbara must be feeling. He yelled at her after her dad was shot, which, when you consider how Batman’s entire mission is the result of his own parents being shot, one would think he would be more empathetic.
5 He Broke KGBeast’s Neck And Left Him For Dead
KGBeast has one of the most dated names of any Batman villain. This is a shame, as the Beast pushes the Dark Knight to extremes in ways that few villains ever have.
After KGBeast shot Nightwing, Batman tracked the villain down and broke his neck, leaving him alone in the middle of the Russian wilderness during winter. This is actually the second time the Caped Crusader left the villain to die a slow terrible death.
4 During “No Man’s Land,” He Abandoned Gotham City
In the 1999 crossover story No Man’s Land, Gotham was cut off from the rest of the United States after it was hit by an Earthquake and several other major disasters. No one was allowed in or out. Gangs took over and people starved with their supply lines cut off.
Bruce Wayne left his city abandoned for months, so Huntress stepped in to replace him, wearing the cape and cowl as Batgirl. Then, not long after Batman did finally come back, he stripped the Bat-logo from her and drove her to join up with a criminal gang.
3 Batman Gave The Robins Allowances…But Not Batgirl
During the “Joker War,” the Clown Prince stole Bruce Wayne’s fortune. Afterward, the one-time billionaire was left with a few million dollars and considered himself destitute. As a result, he informed Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, and Barbara Gordon that he was going to cut their allowances.
The problem is: he never gave Barbara an allowance. The other sidekicks were getting free money she’d never heard about it. When she did finally find out, it was too late to collect on her missing entitlement. Consequently, it feels like one of Bruce’s gadgets was an expensive Bat-themed glass ceiling.
2 Batman’s Words To Superman Before Infinite Crisis Were Just Heartless
Infinite Crisis is one of the all-time great epics of DC history. Created by writer Geoff Johns and artist Phil Jimenez, it is a cosmic event that literally rewrote the reality of the DC Multiverse (at a time before rewriting reality became a cliché).
At the start of the series, DC’s Trinity—Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman—all confronted one another about their respective differences and accused each other of failing the world. Amid the squabbling, Batman said “Everyone looks up to you. They listen to you. If you tell them to fight, they’ll fight. But they need to be inspired. And let’s face it, ‘Superman,’ the last time you really inspired anyone was when you were dead.” Those words hurt the Man of Steel more than Kryptonite ever did.
1 He Tortured Dick Grayson To Create A Child Soldier
This last example is from Frank Miller and Jim Lee’s comic All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, which wasn’t considered part of DC canon until recently (as reality was rewritten in 2020 to make everything canon).
Back in the 80s, Frank Miller’s original Batman stories ushered in a new era of grimdark comics, dealing with very heavy subject matter. Unfortunately, while his early comics are genuinely brilliant, the early 2005 comic All-Star Batman frequently delved into gratuitous cruelty for its own sake. After Dick Grayson’s parents died, Bruce locked him in the Batcave, starved the traumatized boy, and brutalized him so he could turn him into an obedient child soldier. So, if it wasn’t obvious by now, Batman is a raging jerk who shouldn’t be allowed to care for children.
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