Is Batman superhuman?

[entremet]

I mean what the fuck else is bruce wayne going to do with all the free time and money

getting jacked helps him ease the loneliness

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Yeah but he's not just jacked lol. He has dozens of doctorates in various fields, speaks many languages, is a skilled martial artists in over a 100 martial arts, on top of being Olympic level power lifter. Not to mention gymnastics, parkour, detective skills.

 

[BebopCola]

Batman may not be superhuman but his wealth sure is, and that is truly the source of his power

 

[entremet]

Batman may not be superhuman but his wealth sure is, and that is truly the source of his power

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Lex is richer I think. And he's nowhere near Bruce's physical level. Lex is smarter than Bruce tho. He's the smartest "human" in the DC universe I believe.

Edit: I think Mr. Terrific is the smartest.

 

[Sephiroth]

Batman a superhuman? HAH!

HA HA HA! Such a thing...such an octopus of a thing. And I have only an inkling!

 

[Mr. Poolman]

Lex is richer I think. And he's nowhere near Bruce's physical level. Lex is smarter than Bruce tho. He's the smartest "human" in the DC universe I believe.

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DC intelligence ranking is bananas.

1. Lex Luthor, I can buy it, but other characters are smarter (but not as popular)
2. Batman, this is something I just can't accept. There is no way Batman is smarter than Dr Sivana, TO Morrow, Doc Magnus, and many other supergeniuses. But here we are. Heck, Batman wouldn't be on the top 50 smarter people in the Marvel Universe.

 

[entremet]

DC intelligence ranking is bananas.

1. Lex Luthor, I can buy it, but other characters are smarter (but not as popular)
2. Batman, this is something I just can't accept. There is no way Batman is smarter than Dr Sivana, TO Morrow, Doc Magnus, and many other supergeniuses. But here we are. Heck, Batman wouldn't be on the top 50 smarter people in the Marvel Universe.

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Listicle, so not official. But an interesting list.

https://www.cbr.com/dc-universe-heroes-smart-ranked/

He's ranked two here after Lex.

Batman was officially labeled as DC's second-smartest person on the planet in the Doomsday Clock series. As most people already know, Batman is a master fighter, tactician, and detective driven by the death of his parents to strike fear in the hearts of criminals. Over the years, Batman has created some of the most advanced technology which he uses in his war on crime.

There aren't too many unpowered heroes as cool as Batman. His experiences as a detective and as a member of the Justice League have only strengthened his knowledge of the scientific world, easily making the Dark Knight one of the planet's smartest heroes.

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The Marvel Universe does have some broken intellectual giants, though. Like Tony Stark and Reed Richards, who basically create new fields of science.

 

[TiamatSword]

He's a peak human in a comic book which is a superhuman in real life but not a superhuman in comics.

Anyone in a comic book can train to get a 10 foot vertical and survive having all their bones broken from falling off a building.

 

[Rod]

DC intelligence ranking is bananas.

1. Lex Luthor, I can buy it, but other characters are smarter (but not as popular)
2. Batman, this is something I just can't accept. There is no way Batman is smarter than Dr Sivana, TO Morrow, Doc Magnus, and many other supergeniuses. But here we are. Heck, Batman wouldn't be on the top 50 smarter people in the Marvel Universe.

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Tbh, the Grant Morrison run is very good in displaying Bruce's intelligence in another level. It's just absolutely crazy the amount of "Batman always has a plan", especially in Batman RIP and Return of Bruce Wayne

 

[entremet]

Yeah. The 60s era Cap was still advertised as "peak of human potential" but that's been done away with for a long time now.

Rogers is immune or resistant to most poisons, does not age, does not generate fatigue toxins, has cognitive enhancements, is durable enough to jump out of planes without a parachute and "sees faster" than humans do which let's him casually evade bullets and whatnot.

Nobody knows exactly how fast or strong he is and Marvel won't put a hard number on that since it lets him get away with knocking out people he has no business fighting.

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Yeah, I remember Cap wasn't as broken from his original introduction. Gotta love power creep.

Like many comics things, the writers tend to establish precedence.

 

[Manmademan]

Yeah, I remember Cap wasn't as broken from his original introduction. Gotta love power creep.

Like many comics things, the writers tend to establish precedence.

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Weirdly though the most notable thing about Cap (his unbreakable shield) is itself an example of power creep. For a few years after his reintroduction in Avengers he was using steel shields that would constantly get trashed.

The unbreakable one was a later retcon, and they waved off the steel ones as "replacements" Rogers was using while Tony was studying the original or something equally absurd.

Comics!

 

[Rangerx]

Yeah, Captain America is way more powerful. Dude can run 60MPH for hours I think. Plus he's enhanced cognitively. Kinda like cyclops he can calculate angles with ease and hit his Shield off ricochets and such.

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You really like Cyclops. He is very cool.

 

[DimpleSan]

Batman is straight up superhuman. The current world record RAW bench press(meaning no equipment to help you lift it) was set in 2021 by Julius Maddox at 783lbs. In 1982 it was 700.9lbs, and in 1996 it was 705lbs.

The only body types that can put up 700+lbs have been people who weighed 350+lbs themselves with significant amounts of body fat, basically a barrel-shaped human with short arms which reduces your range of motion and gives a large torso/belly for the weight to rest on. There is no person who could bench press the world record and be athletic in other domains such as 'ninja' or 'sprinting' or 'acrobatics'. Athletic, low body-fat people with high levels of muscularity in the 250lb range might be able to bench 500-600lbs raw but that is extremely rare, the current world record in the 100kg(220lb) weight class is 600.7lbs, competitors usually water cut to make weight so their true weight is heavier, but I think John Haack might have actually been walking around at 215-220lbs.

When you see any figure about a world-record bench press being 1000+lbs or anything above 805, that is for equipped bench pressing, which uses a bench press shirt which is essentially a very stiff suit that you squeeze into which helps you lift the weight off your chest. There are 1 ply, 2 ply, and 3 ply suits which have increased levels of stiffness.

 

[entremet]

You really like Cyclops. He is very cool.

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I do lol.

But mostly just sharing that Cyclops mutant ability of "angle calculations" is something Cap can do since the Super Serum also affected his mind.

Basically Cap has a similar ability but as a mutate, not a mutant.

 

[BWoog]

Yeah. The 60s era Cap was still advertised as "peak of human potential" but that's been done away with for a long time now.

Rogers is immune or resistant to most poisons, does not age, does not generate fatigue toxins, has cognitive enhancements, is durable enough to jump out of planes without a parachute and "sees faster" than humans do which let's him casually evade bullets and whatnot.

Nobody knows exactly how fast or strong he is and Marvel won't put a hard number on that since it lets him get away with knocking out people he has no business fighting.

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The Cap/Bats fight from JLA/Avengers is still one of the greatest comic book fights of all time where Batman simply goes, "Yeah, you'd win."

 

[Manmademan]

Batman is straight up superhuman. The current world record RAW bench press(meaning no equipment to help you lift it) was set in 2021 by Julius Maddox at 783lbs. In 1982 it was 700.9lbs, and in 1996 it was 705lbs.

The only body types that can put up 700+lbs have been people who weighed 350+lbs themselves with significant amounts of body fat, basically a barrel-shaped human with short arms which reduces your range of motion and gives a large torso/belly for the weight to rest on. There is no person who could bench press the world record and be athletic in other domains such as 'ninja' or 'sprinting' or 'acrobatics'. Athletic, low body-fat people with high levels of muscularity in the 250lb range might be able to bench 500-600lbs raw but that is extremely rare, the current world record in the 100kg(220lb) weight class is 600.7lbs, competitors usually water cut to make weight so their true weight is heavier, but I think John Haack might have actually been walking around at 215-220lbs.

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At the risk of being "that guy" the flaw in your argument is that Batman isn't in THIS world, he's on DC earth. Humans on DC earth (and Marvel, for that matter) routinely clock physical feats that Olympic athletes could never touch, with the only explanation being "training."

If you can hit Wayne's level by just hitting the gym really hard (and there's a few people in that category, he's not unique) then he's not superhuman.

Edit: Kingpin is the most absurd example of this, but marvel refuses to back off the "he's just a really big human" defense.

 

[DimpleSan]

At the risk of being "that guy" the flaw in your argument is that Batman isn't in THIS world, he's on DC earth. Humans on DC earth (and Marvel, for that matter) routinely clock physical feats that Olympic athletes could never touch, with the only explanation being "training."

If you can hit Wayne's level by just hitting the gym really hard (and there's a few people in that category, he's not unique) then he's not superhuman.

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You have a good point.

 

[pants]

He is the night

 

[Whitemex]

the man has and 70" vertical. yeah he's superhuman

 

[entremet]

The Cap/Bats fight from JLA/Avengers is still one of the greatest comic book fights of all time where Batman simply goes, "Yeah, you'd win."

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I believe they're reprinting JLA/Avengers for the first time in a long time.

Marvel And DC Comics To Republish Their Crossovers, Including Amalgam

"Marvel and DC are collaborating on reprinting many of the Amalgam titles... and the crossover events" says Barry Kitson.

bleedingcool.com

At the risk of being "that guy" the flaw in your argument is that Batman isn't in THIS world, he's on DC earth. Humans on DC earth (and Marvel, for that matter) routinely clock physical feats that Olympic athletes could never touch, with the only explanation being "training."

If you can hit Wayne's level by just hitting the gym really hard (and there's a few people in that category, he's not unique) then he's not superhuman.

Edit: Kingpin is the most absurd example of this, but marvel refuses to back off the "he's just a really big human" defense.

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The fact that Kingpin goes toe to toe with Spider-Man is nuts lol.

Writers explain it with Spider-Man and his routine "holding back" lol.

Spider-Man is incredibly powerful.

 

[Rangerx]

How does punisher compare to Bats? I'm not much of a DC guy but I've read a lot of Punisher comics and I think he's up there.

 

[JusDoIt]

writers say he's not but they have him do superhuman shit anyways

 

[Daingurse]

It's pretty unrealistic for Batman to possess so many physical and mental talents. He's kinda like what real life "superhuman" athletes and geniuses are, complete freaks of nature whose feats can't really be replicated by an average person, but all wrapped up in one guy. So I think calling him "peak human" could actually still be apt, but when you're "peak human" in ALL attributes that basically makes you superhuman lol. Dude is like a mutant savant of the highest order.

 

[SilentStorm]

Am i crazy or didn't DC reveal that their humanity is different than us?

Something about an eldritch abomination making experiments on the first humans leading to their successors being stronger, tougher and healing faster than us, even if bullets are still harmful, i think that was the reason as to why Bruce, Oliver Queen and others can do and survive so much and beat up people so badly without killing or crippling them...even if some writers also forget this.

But yes, Bruce is peak human...but peak human in DC Comics universe is something else.

 

[Omegasquash]

I've done 4-5 for 20 year and me brain worked still good.

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5 hours fine is when me stop to think about decision.

 

[Manmademan]

I believe they're reprinting JLA/Avengers for the first time in a long time.

Marvel And DC Comics To Republish Their Crossovers, Including Amalgam

"Marvel and DC are collaborating on reprinting many of the Amalgam titles... and the crossover events" says Barry Kitson.

bleedingcool.com

The fact that Kingpin goes toe to toe with Spider-Man is nuts lol.

Writers explain it with Spider-Man and his routine "holding back" lol.

Spider-Man is incredibly powerful.

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It's gotten more absurd than that.

Fisk has gone head to head with Spider-Woman who not only does NOT hold back, she has SHIELD combat training and was absolutely enraged at the time. Fisk basically laughed off everything she did and never seemed pressed in that fight.

There was also the time a sleepwalking Wilson Fisk beat Bucky so bad he thought he was going to die and ran out of that house before Kingpin slaughtered him. Winter Soldier is one of the top assassins on the planet AND has a superhuman bionic arm. It didn't matter- he was completely helpless. Kingpin on the other hand was barely aware he was there.

Even more recently Fisk got into a knock down, drag out slugfest with freaking TOMBSTONE and took him to a draw. TOMBSTONE. The guy who is not only superhuman, but has a body so rock hard that Spidey often has to web up his own fists just so he doesn't break his hands.

It's almost a meme at this point that Kingpin is OBVIOUSLY superhuman and everyone treats him as such while Marvel says "nah".

 

[cursed knowledge]

batman is like lebron

 

[PunishedPrince]

By comic standards he's peak human. Real life? Definitely counts as superhuman.

 

[Wackamole]

Well, i think it's fictional for a big part. Not sure though.

 

[entremet]

It's gotten more absurd than that.

Fisk has gone head to head with Spider-Woman who not only does NOT hold back, she has SHIELD combat training and was absolutely enraged at the time. Fisk basically laughed off everything she did and never seemed pressed in that fight.

There was also the time a sleepwalking Wilson Fisk beat Bucky so bad he thought he was going to die and ran out of that house before Kingpin slaughtered him. Winter Soldier is one of the top assassins on the planet AND has a superhuman bionic arm. It didn't matter- he was completely helpless. Kingpin on the other hand was barely aware he was there.

Even more recently Fisk got into a knock down, drag out slugfest with freaking TOMBSTONE and took him to a draw. TOMBSTONE. The guy who is not only superhuman, but has a body so rock hard that Spidey often has to web up his own fists just so he doesn't break his hands.

It's almost a meme at this point that Kingpin is OBVIOUSLY superhuman and everyone treats him as such while Marvel says "nah".

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I remember the Marvel handbook back in the day. Basically codifying powers and abilities of the major characters. But it's never really followed.

 

[breakdancing duck]

BTAS Batman is peak human. Comic Batman is superhuman. It's why I prefer BTAS.

 

[entremet]

BTAS Batman is peak human. Comic Batman is superhuman. It's why I prefer BTAS.

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I love how BTAS shows a younger Bruce training over various episodes, from his circus training to his martial arts/ninja stuff.

 

[Stalker]

Not officially but by any metric you'd score "humans" on he's absolutely on the Meta/Super side of the fence.

 

[balohna]

Any super hero, with powers or not, that's "peak human" in terms of strength/agility seems to be basically super human. Like they might as well have Captain America's powers because the writers will treat them like that anyway. Like most of the X-Men should be getting injured way more than they do.

 

[Tace]

For all intents and purposes, yea, he is.

 

[SoneaB]

• He barely sleeps, on purpose. And still is able to handle his superhero duties. Most people need 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Cognitive function is compromised if sleep deprived for a few days in most people.

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Now I won't deign to speak on the rest of your points but this never seemed too ridiculous to me. Granted I don't fight crime but I've managed fine on 3-4 hours sleep at most for 30 years. Too many things to do. If I can do it then Batman can.

 

[tim1138]

In the comics, he's seen as peak human, but if you put everything together, it's kinda nuts. Yes, I know it's still "comics".

But look at these feats:

• Leg press 2500lbs for reps. World record is 3000 for one rep.
• Benches 1000lbs for reps! I think the World Record is 1400 for one rep.
• He barely sleeps, on purpose. And still is able to handle his superhero duties. Most people need 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Cognitive function is compromised if sleep deprived for a few days in most people.
• Master level of dozens of martial arts.
• Parkour expert, gymnast, ninja arts
• Intellect wise, he's just shy of Lex Luthor, and a genius in various fields basically.

Not to mention all the wear and tear he's taken. Should be in a wheelchair. But nah.

So what makes him superhuman is really the mastery of all these. In reality most people cannot be so well rounded since many of these feats require years of specialization. But Batman clears these with ease.

Amanda Waller sees him as meta human as well.

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How do you know how much Batman can bench press?

 

[KingM]

How do you know how much Batman can bench press?

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He's drawn working out fairly often in comics. Sometimes the weight is stated or you can see the weights written on the plates.

 

[A More Normal Bird]

Yeah but he's not just jacked lol. He has dozens of doctorates in various fields, speaks many languages, is a skilled martial artists in over a 100 martial arts, on top of being Olympic level power lifter. Not to mention gymnastics, parkour, detective skills.

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Just to note because it's come up a few times in this thread, powerlifting (squat, bench-press, deadlift) isn't an Olympic sport, with the exception of the bench-press in the Paralympics. Weightlifting (snatch, clean and jerk and historically also the clean and press) is, and is also sometimes referred to as Olympic weightlifting. Funnily enough the sport of weightlifting has a greater emphasis on power (explosive strength) than powerlifting, where you can more slowly grind out maximum effort lifts.

 

[entremet]

He's drawn working out fairly often in comics. Sometimes the weight is stated or you can see the weights written on the plates.

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Yep.

 

[Slayven]

 

[Nemesis121]

In the Batman beyond suit he superhuman, the suit gave Terry 10 times his strength allowing him to lift up to 1700lbs, Bruce at his peak probably lifting 2 tons with ease..

 

[The Quentulated Mox]

Am i crazy or didn't DC reveal that their humanity is different than us?

Something about an eldritch abomination making experiments on the first humans leading to their successors being stronger, tougher and healing faster than us, even if bullets are still harmful, i think that was the reason as to why Bruce, Oliver Queen and others can do and survive so much and beat up people so badly without killing or crippling them...even if some writers also forget this.

But yes, Bruce is peak human...but peak human in DC Comics universe is something else.

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.....comics are so fuckin stupid

 

[massoluk]

I thought he also knows Chi in some books, able to manipulate body heat to melt ice and shits, being able to use Chi strike and what not in theory, being all Iron Fist/Shang Chi

 

[Imperial Bishop]

There's no way Bruce isn't on some kind of performance-enhancing drug.
I refuse to believe otherwise.

 

[Zaied]

BTAS Batman is peak human. Comic Batman is superhuman. It's why I prefer BTAS.

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After rewatching it recently, Batman was also ridiculously strong and fast in BTAS; he's pretty close to Comic Batman, especially by TNBA.

 

[Slayven]

I thought he also knows Chi in some books, able to manipulate body heat to melt ice and shits, being able to use Chi strike and what not in theory, being all Iron Fist/Shang Chi

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He gave up after the 101 course on chi during his world of training to become the Bat. He was training with Richard Dragon under the same gu

 

[entremet]

There's no way Bruce isn't on some kind of performance-enhancing drug.
I refuse to believe otherwise.

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Yeah just by his sleep schedule lol

 

[Zemoco]

Well he's not intended to be, but with general power creep of an ongoing story and keeping things exiting he's going to have to pull off nonsense feats. On some point you have to have willing suspension of disbelief if you want to read comics.

 

[The Adder]

The average person in DC can match him with similar dedication. Normal people who specialize can exceed him. He's a normal human by DC comic standards. DC comics humans are just stronger and more durable than real world humans.

 

[entremet]

The average person in DC can match him with similar dedication. Normal people who specialize can exceed him. He's a normal human by DC comic standards. DC comics humans are just stronger and more durable than real world humans.

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The crazy thing is that he's also a huge nerd. I think that's were the suspension of disbelief comes in, even a fictional world.

Yeah, be an amazing athlete, fighter, gymnast. Cool.

But also a genius in computers, engineering, forensics, world languages, etc?

Check the abilities section lol

Batman (Bruce Wayne)

Batman is the superhero protector of Gotham City, a tortured, brooding vigilante dressed as a bat who fights against evil and strikes fear into the hearts of criminals everywhere. In his public identity, he is Bruce Wayne, a billionaire industrialist and notorious playboy. Although he has no...

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