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How to Become A Real-World Superhero
utherdoul writes "Batman isn't from outer space and wasn't born with a mutant gene --he uses his riches, raw determination and technological know-how to equip himself to fight evil. So why couldn't the average geek do the same? I've written a story for Forbes.com that breaks down the Dark Knight's expenses and explains what it would cost to become a real-world Batman using commercially available training and technology." From the article: "Batman's suit is a modified piece of infantry armor built by the applied sciences division of Wayne Enterprises. It's waterproof, bulletproof, knife-proof and temperature-regulating. Paired with an impact-resistant, graphite-composite cowl and spiked ninja-style gauntlets, it allows Batman to protect himself against everything from swords to machine guns."
> Batman isn't from outer space and wasn't born with a mutant gene --he uses his riches, raw determination and technological know-how to equip himself to fight evil. So why couldn't the average geek do the same?
Did you miss the part about riches?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
ans several years of your life for training.
The Bottom Line
Final Cost: $3,365,449
The Training: $30,000
The Suit: $1,585
The Belt: $290
The Car: $2,000,000
The Cave: $24,000
The Alter Ego: $1,109,574
The Butler: $200,000
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Also, Batman isn't real.
Why doesn't anybody aim at his chin? (no armor there)
All it requires is a sniper.
Even being totally l33t equipt and fit like Rambo wont give you the magic "perfect Luck" factor batman has.
... If you go crimefighting every night, after a few months youre chances of being a corpse in some alley are really really good.
Even if your suit will stop 99% of all bullets, and your fit enough to beat thugs people into submission 95% of the time....
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
This reminds me of a quote from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash:
:(
Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world. If I moved to a martial-arts monastery in China and studied real hard for ten years. If my family was wiped out by Colombian drug dealers and I swore myself to revenge. If I got a fatal disease, had one year to live, and devoted it to wiping out street crime. If I just dropped out and devoted my life to being bad.
It's funny, because I used to think that exact thought. Then reality hit, and I realized I'm just a big pussy
The batman I know and love from comics to cartoons to movies to even the hokey 60's Adam West has always been a brilliant detective and keen scientist.
I loved Batman Begins, but I really think they missed the mark when it comes to Batman's CSI savvy.
My head was spinning when Bruce Wayne says "Am I supposed to know what that means?"
So if you want to be a real Batman, figure in another several hundred thousand dollars for advanced degrees in science and criminology.
(Also... $30,000 + 3 years in China != the ability to fight like the movies, but only the keenly stupid would think otherwise, right?)
It's a no-brainer. Also, we are geeks, right? Real life is a bit too ... real. Especially when it comes to engaging in violence with unsavory characters.
Now, a badass remote-controlled robot to roam the streets, beating the crap out of the bad guys, that would be something else ...
I hear there's rumors on the Slashdots
You could spend $3.4 million on the batman shtick, or you could spend that money on hiring a vigilante army.
Think about it, what are they paying contractors in Iraq to do protection and security jobs where they are getting hsot at constantly. So pay for them, and then the equipment to arm them, and you'd have a wrecking crew far superior to you on your own.
Figure $250K/vigilante/year for salary and benefits and you could hire 10 of these guys for $2.5 million. Then you'd have about $1 million/year to spend on equipment for them. Body armor, assault rifles, etc.
Then whenever you want justice to be done, you give them a call and they crack some skulls for you. If you want, you can even give them bat ears to put on their helmet so they can keep with the theme.
The best part is, you don't have to worry about getting bruised or scarred. You can go to your rich parties, party it up and know that you've kept the streets safe without personally lifting a finger.
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Not only is this bullshit, it is also the cause of much of the casual crime that goes on today. If you see an old lady being kicked on the ground by someone trying to rob her, that's everybodys business. Obviously, the police are not on the spot when crime happens. They just show up later to collect the bodies.
If, however, you prefer no one helps you when you get mugged, I guess I'll respect your wishes.
The rest of your "class warfare" rant is too foolish to bother responding to.
Just because Christians in ancient Rome wanted to worship Jesus didn't mean that it wasn't illegal.
Just because black people in 1860 wanted to be free didn't mean that helping escaped slaves wasn't illegal.
Just because women before the 1960s wanted to control their own bodies didn't mean that contraception and abortion weren't illegal.
Anyone who attempts to live by any reasonable code of ethics is going to find themselves quite often rooting for, actively assisting, or even becoming, "criminals".
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
The generally regarded LD50 (lethal dose where 50% of the involved die) for height is about 4-5 stories. I do a lot of trauma orthopaedic surgery, and I have to say that we don't get many people alive who've fallen more than 50 feet. We do get some exceptions, but just remember the good old E=1/2MV^2 rule - survivability falls off sharply at height greater than 50 ft (roughly 40 MPH).
..........FULL STOP.