Humans Are Weird: Batman Edition
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I think while we often talk about how insane Batman is, I never really see it explored in fanfic. There’s something so special about the arguably smartest and most dangerous individual in a league of super-powered aliens, gods/goddesses and metas being just a human being. An incredibly resourceful and powerful human being, but a human being nonetheless.
Like, this single human being sits on a council of some of the most powerful beings in the universe, and he leads them. He influences their decisions, he creates plans to contain and eliminate them in the event that something happens, he frightens them. Out of all of the members, from all walks of life, from other planets and worlds and places, the most mysterious and terrifying is the human. Just a human. And yes, Bruce is definitely not a normal human, but he’s not actually that different from others. You would think that Batman, that Bruce would be an anomaly right? But he’s not. His protégés, his rouges, various other human heroes that start showing up and kicking ass and you start to realize that Batman, Bruce Wayne, is who he is, is as terrifying and dangerous and intelligent as he is because he’s human. What make him such a nightmare isn’t any power or invincibility, it’s his humanity.
Humans are persistent predators. Our ability and efficiency as hunters and apex predators lies not in our speed or our strength, but in our intelligence. Our ability to plan and think so far ahead of our prey/opponent, that we are able to predict their movements before they have even begun to process their thoughts. It’s the thing that ensured our survival, that allowed us to evolve and eventually led us to the top of the food chain. And what makes Batman so scary? It’s his mind. His ability to create plans and strategies. It’s the fact that he has created contingencies for every single member of the league, for every single scenario or situation. He is able to execute every strategy he has, and plan for things that everyone else barely registers as threats. As extraordinary as Bruce is, that ability, that skill and process is so painfully human.
I have so many ideas on this, and how the larger galactic world would react to Batman and other human heroes, but I wanted to share this, because there something really remarkable about how human Bruce truly is.
