Friday, February 13, 2009

Two halves of the same coin.

And just so we're all on the same page. It's been shown numerous times that Bruce Wayne is the mask Batman wears. "Bruce Wayne" actually died along with his parents and his innocence. Batman was born from that. He has no life outside of the Batman persona. He can't even maintain a network of friends together because he's never been socialized. He can diffuse a bomb but can't make a cheese sandwich. Bats would die w/o Alfred or Robin to keep him sane.

Batman has the mind of a god in the body of a man. He was raised away from regular people, isolated and allowed to fully indulge his obsession with vengeance.

Supes is a man in the body of a god. Raised by regular folks, socialized and later found out he wasn't normal.

If anything they would probably be jealous of one another and resent the each other because they each possess what the other wants. And ironically enough, they both Superman and Batman maintain certain moral codes that stop them from getting what the other has.

People commonly make the argumentSuperman should have five beautiful girlfriends and lots of money and rule the planet, etc, but by that same logic, why wouldn't Batman invest his vast fortune into more sci fi gadgetry or even super powers to make his job as Batman easier?

Batman's line he won't cross is using his money to augment himself to a place where his pursuits as a hero aren't "fair". Superman has the same line about using his powers to enhance his normal life.

Being Clark is the real challenge for Superman. That IS him. All the super powers are superficial and it makes life easy. As Clark he has to really make an effort because he's in the real world. Moving a mountain is great, but it doesn't speed up the line at the DMV. Sometimes working with an asshole boss can be just as strenuous as battling Metallo. Clark Ken illustrates that.

At the end of the day, Clark wishes he could have the life that Bruce has if Bruce were to retire. Bruce could be normal in a heartbeat and lead a great life as a family man. On the flip side, Bruce resents Clark for not shedding his Clark identity and not serving mankind full time. Bruce's only limit is his physical and Clark doesn't have that.

Clark's limitation is his need for emotional intimacy and Bruce doesn't have as much of a need.