Can you become Batman?
The Dark Knight
Batman is one of the most loved comic book superheroes. Thousands of children would like to be like him, and it is most likely that even the adults imagine once in a while how it would be like to be Batman. One of the main reasons why he is so popular is because of the fact that even if he is a superhero, he has no super powers.
He does not have X-Ray vision, or superhuman strength like Superman, or the capacity of shooting spider web from his hands like Spider-Man. He is a regular person who has some unique skills, which might be achievable. In what follows I am going to present you some information about what it would take to become Batman, analyzing his physical qualities, as well as his psychological ones. He has martial arts skills as well as acrobatic ones, and he relies on his musculature to do many of the things he does. He is motivated by the desire to eradicate crime from his city, and it all started when he saw his parents getting murdered in front of him. Right from the beginning of the Batman series, starting with the first issue from 1939, which had the name of Bat-Man, people realized that a regular person could become a superhero if he has the right tools for the job.
E. Paul Zehr, a professor of neuroscience and kinesiology at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, and a martial arts expert, decided to find out if anyone could be able to become Batman. He analyzed numerous things and he analyzed every aspect of Batman’s job, from the physical strength he needs when he fights with all his enemies, to his utility belt which seems to carry thousands of things. He wrote a detail answer about this in his book “Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero”, and the short answer to it is: maybe. It seems that Batman is no regular Joe after all, as he has great genetics, lots of will, and he has all the money in the world to toy with. Not to mention that he lives in the perfect environment and this aids him in the task of becoming the world’s greatest superhero. Zehr stated that one of the easiest things one could do in order to get closer to becoming Batman would be to posses his strength.
It will take some time, more precisely up to five years, as long as you are 100 percent committed to this task. You will need to know how to train, what to eat, how much to sleep, and so on. It will require lots of dedication and hard work. Arnold Schwarzenegger trained for more than 5 years in order to win his first Mr. Olympia title and he kept on working in order to make sure that he would maintain his muscle mass. Genetics is extremely important in this situation, because there are some people who have the gift on putting on muscle mass way faster than other people. The regular people can add muscle mass as well, only that not as fast as the gifted ones. The myostatin protein from the body has the capacity of hindering the muscle growth, and in case you have it, you will need to work harder in order to put on muscle mass.
It is very likely that Bruce Wayne did not have this problem, and this is one of the main reasons why he was able to put on all that amount of muscles. Besides having all that muscle mass, Batman is an expert in numerous martial arts, and that helps him fight his enemies. He is a master in judo, tae kwon do, ninjutsu, and other martial arts as well. You would need more than ten years in order to master all these martial arts, and you would need to train with a person who knows what he is doing. Once you have these skills, then you would need to know how to apply them in street combat. That is called reality-based training, and it is very different than the practice one does in the gym or in the dojo. You will need about 4 years for that. Of course, Bruce Wayne had the opportunity of doing all of those things because he is a billionaire, and because he did not have anything else to do. If you do not have his money, then you need to work, which would complicate things a lot. Batman needed about 20 years to train all his skills, but with a job and other problems you would need about 30.
Zehr stated that the biggest problem Batman would have to deal with would be preventing the injuries he often sustains. Since he has a very difficult job, it is very likely that he suffers numerous injuries, yet he seems to fight crime at a constant level. It is very likely that he would suffer from stress problems, tendonitis, arthritis, and so on. Retired football players suffer from all of these, and that is nothing compared to the difficulties Batman faces in his adventures. Batman took some kicks and punches to the head, and he would seriously be affected by it. He would suffer from depression and memory loss, which would make his job much more difficult. Batman is fighting crime every night, and Zehr stated that it is impossible for a regular person to do that. One can make his bones stronger, and his muscles more resistant, but can not increase his healing capabilities.
Many police officers take their own lives because they can not cope with the stress anymore, and in the case of Batman, the situation would be much more complicated. Seeing all those crimes makes one depressed, and Batman sees lots of it. The family can be very helpful in those situations, but he has none. All he has is Alfred, his butler, and the occasional women he hooks-up with. Zehr stated that it is very likely that Batman is sleep deprived, and because of it he would be in serious danger of getting cancer and developing other illnesses such as heart related ones. There are many people who work during the night, but they sleep during the day. Batman does not do it, as he is up during the day as well.
A regular man would not be able to do that, as he would most likely collapse from exhaustion. Analyzing all these situations it seems that it is very unlikely that one could become Batman. Zehr stated that it is very difficult to become like Batman nowadays, but that maybe someday thanks to the technology that would be possible. He stated that we could learn something from Batman, and that is that we can use an unfortunate situation to motivate us, just like the death of his parents motivated him.11
