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5 Ways Wealth Helped Bruce Wayne (& 5 It Ruined Him) | CBR

Money can’t buy everything but it can buy a lot of stuff to make crimefighting easier. Just ask Batman. While being as smart as he is has helped a lot over the years, there’s no doubt that without his money, he wouldn’t be nearly as formidable, as his gadgets and resources have helped him take down some of the most dangerous villains imaginable.

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However, Batman still makes mistakes and sometimes all of that wealth compounds those mistakes. Sure, it’s made things easier in a lot of ways but it’s also complicated his life immensely. It’s both a blessing and a curse.

10 His Wealth Helped Him: It’s Given Him Standing In Gotham

Bruce Wayne murderer

Bruce Wayne is a titan in Gotham City and this makes his job a lot easier. While it might be crime-infested, Gotham is a very important place and the Waynes used their wealth to build it, employing many people and moving through the upper echelons of the city’s best and brightest. These connections have helped Batman a lot.

Bruce Wayne’s wealth has allowed him to have an into all kinds of facets of Gotham society, from the government to the police to the city’s elite, giving him access to information and resources he wouldn’t otherwise have.

9 His Wealth Ruined Him: It’s Removed Him From The People He’s Trying To Protect

Batman keeps an eye out

Batman works very hard to protect the people of Gotham City. He does his best but he’s only one man and sometimes tragedies still happen. However, one of the ironies of Batman is that he’s so far above those he protects that in a lot of ways, he doesn’t understand their lives.

For example, he’s been known to beat up on a lot of low-level criminals, people just trying to feed their families the only way they can. It’s not legal but they aren’t killers in a lot of cases and he still beats them up. He doesn’t understand the desperation that poverty can bring and that’s because of his wealth.

8 His Wealth Helped Him: It Allowed Him To Go And Learn What He Needed To Know

Batman Legends of the Dark Knight 1

After the death of his parents, Bruce Wayne would eventually travel the globe, learning from some of the best teachers in the world. The only reason he was able to do this at all was because of his wealth- without his money, he never would have been able to drop everything and learn what he needed to know to become Batman.

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This knowledge has been a great help to him over the years, allowing him to come up with plans to deal with any situation and become a better fighter. Batman would have been dead years ago without all of that training.

7 His Wealth Ruined Him: It’s Made Him A Target

In a city like Gotham being wealthy is a mixed blessing. It puts one above the concerns of having to make a living in the city but it also puts a target on one’s back. While this shouldn’t be a problem for Bruce Wayne- he is Batman, after all- it doesn’t make his life any easier.

Bruce Wayne is a wealthy playboy socialite and for him to suddenly bust out with some Batman moves would make everyone suspicious of him. He has to act meek as Wayne and this has opened him up to all kinds of kidnappings and things of that nature, things that wouldn’t be an issue without his wealth.

6 His Wealth Helped Him: It Allowed Him To Build The Bat-Family

Artwork for the Batfamily during the Rebirth era of DC Comics

Bruce Wayne was left without a family on the night his parents were killed and this affected him greatly. One of the things he did in his later years built a family- starting with Dick Grayson, Batman would bring other broken people into his orbit and take care of them, creating a whole new family for himself. He created a whole new family for himself, a move that would have been much harder without his money.

The members of the Bat-Family don’t have to worry about anything because they have Bruce Wayne’s money behind them. In return, Bruce gets the one thing he wanted more than anything- a family. His wealth allowed him to have that in a way he couldn’t if he was poor.

5 His Wealth Ruined Him: It Let Him Become Batman

Batman Detective Comics feature

Batman has done a lot of good for the world but if one is being honest, it pretty much ruined Bruce Wayne’s life. Bruce Wayne can never have a normal life because of being Batman. That’s a simple fact and there’s no denying it. Without his money, he’d never be able to be Batman.

Batman is one of the biggest things keeping Bruce Wayne from having a happy life. If he couldn’t be Batman, he would be a happier person. Because of his money, he can indulge this lifestyle that actively hurts his life.

4 His Wealth Helped Him: It Gives Him Everything He Needs To Be Batman

The Batcave is chock full of the best crimefighting technology available and the only reason is because of Bruce Wayne’s wealth. Without that wealth, he’d never be able to afford things like a Batmobile, the Batwing, the assorted Bat-water craft, the literal space rocket he has in his front yard, and the fuel to make it all work.

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On top of that, he has to shell out for replacement batarangs, grapnels for his grapple guns, new costumes, and all kinds of other equipment. Bruce Wayne’s wealth has made Batman one of the best-equipped heroes in the world.

3 His Wealth Ruined Him: He’s Kind Of Dependent On His Resources

Batman Harley Oracle feature

Batman is known for being able to come up with a plan to beat anyone but that’s just as dependent on his wealth as his brains. Coming up with the plan is only half the battle- the other half is having the resources. Batman’s wealth gives him all of the resources he needs to make his plans reality.

Without all of that, he’s not the superhero he could be- he’s just a vicious vigilante who beats up drug dealers. He’s become dependent on his wealth and resources to work at the level he does. Without it, Batman would be a very different kind of hero, one who couldn’t do the types of things he does.

2 His Wealth Helped Him: It Gave Him Time To Be Batman

Being Batman might not be the best thing for Bruce Wayne but it’s his reality and he gets something from it. His wealth makes the whole thing possible in a lot of ways but the biggest way is simply this- it allows him the time to devote to being Batman. Bruce Wayne has made Batman into a full-time job- not only does he hang out in Gotham but he has a full-time role in the Justice League as well.

Bruce Wayne’s wealth allows him the time to be Batman. He doesn’t have to go to the office every day- he can sleep in, go down to the Batcave and start working cases or teleport to Justice League headquarters to take care of stuff there.

1 His Wealth Ruined Him: It’s The Reason His Parents Were Killed

a boy kneeling between two bodies

Joe Chill shot Batman’s parents for a string of pearls. It’s safe to say that they were very expensive because of the Wayne family fortune. While Joe Chill probably would have robbed anyone, those pearls were a big enough enticement for him to come out of the shadows because anyone with a necklace like that had money.

There’s a very good chance that without the Wayne family’s wealth, his parents never would have been killed. The main thing that ruined Batman’s life only happened because he was wealthy.

NEXT: 10 Ways Batman Holds The Justice League Back

DC time travel. Booster Gold. The Return of Bruce Wayne Batman. Jonah Hex. DC Comics


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