Batman's waste of money on gadgets instead of infrastructure

[Fianna]

The problem with improving Gotham's economy and infrastructure is that supervillains keep wrecking it all.

How many important construction or renovation projects were never completed because some master criminal blew up a bridge, and half the city's coffers have to go towards fixing that? How many businesses have shut down because everyone in the building got dosed with fear gas, and they tore the place to pieces by the time they sobered up? How many funds to cover medical expenses have been bled dry when supervillain victims keep coming in by the hundreds?

Bruce Wayne could be funneling billions into repairing and improving Gotham, and it'd still barely keep them above water.

[FaxModem1]

The assumption is that Gotham is a cesspool because it has supervillains, yes? How many times could Batman just break all of Joker's limbs and force the guy to spend months in traction, giving construction crews enough time to build a better cell as part of a new facility? How about a bunch of antipsychotics in an IV, so as to make the Joker less psychotic, as shown in some comics? How about hiring competent security staff? It'd be more humane than what Arkham practices, with their using them as guinea pigs and in the Arkham video game series, developing medicinal strengthening steroids derived from Bane's Venom so as to make the patients better able to 'endure treatment'. Just what kind of horrible things are they doing there? Maybe get doctors who think treating Killer Croc because he looks like a reptile monster as a monster by throwing him in the sewers and occasionally throwing meat at him is a bad idea?

The reality is that Arkham Asylum is a joke, as it's meant as both a containment facility and a mental wellness facility. This accomplishes neither. That's not what mental health places are meant to be. Batman treating it like a cage, with doctors treating their patients like monsters, and with Batman sneaking in to scare the patients so that they don't get better. Yeah, it's no wonder Gotham has problems with their supervillains. Build a real mental health facility, and send those who you can possibly reform there, and the ones that are unlikely to be reformed to Blackgate, and watch the numerous escapes drop.

This is why I rather like the Telltale version of Batman, in which he was spending money to build a better mental wellness facility. The game then makes you choose on whether to do that or rebuild a new Police station, and deals with the fallout of the Wayne legacy. But it shows that Bruce Wayne could be more proactive in solving the city's problems.

Sometimes the root of all these is supposedly dark magic haunting Gotham. Then, hire Zatanna, John Constantine, Dr. Fate, or some other magic person to remove/exorcise whatever evil curses make Gotham a cesspool. Or have Flash come in once a month to deal with all the street crime. Or just make better conditions for cops.

It doesn't have to be "Be the bat" or "Rebuild the city". It can be both. It's just that we don't see him doing the latter, or if it is, it's so inept that it feels like a token effort.

[TheStarWarsTrek]

It doesn't have to be "Be the bat" or "Rebuild the city". It can be both. It's just that we don't see him doing the latter, or if it is, it's so inept that it feels like a token effort.

I disagree with the last part. I said it before, but I don't read or watch Batman stories to hear about financial plans/social plans/whatever. So for me it's enough to have Bruce mention offhandedly that he started the Whatever Foundation, or helped improve security at Arkham (they did that for the Rocksteady Arkham games too). That assures me he's using other methods to clean up the city too, and we can get back to the action.

Sure Gotham will always be a cesspool, but that's just because comics love a Status Quo. By the same token, like you said, Batman should easily be able to hospitalize the Joker or put him in a better prison or find some other solution even without breaking his "one rule".

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Arkham is just a supermax prison. Without the super- of course.

While Ivy and Harley have gotten cured there, it's mainly just a prison for people that don't belong at Blackgate.

[Nealithi]

The assumption is that Gotham is a cesspool because it has supervillains, yes? How many times could Batman just break all of Joker's limbs and force the guy to spend months in traction, giving construction crews enough time to build a better cell as part of a new facility? How about a bunch of antipsychotics in an IV, so as to make the Joker less psychotic, as shown in some comics? How about hiring competent security staff? It'd be more humane than what Arkham practices, with their using them as guinea pigs and in the Arkham video game series, developing medicinal strengthening steroids derived from Bane's Venom so as to make the patients better able to 'endure treatment'. Just what kind of horrible things are they doing there? Maybe get doctors who think treating Killer Croc because he looks like a reptile monster as a monster by throwing him in the sewers and occasionally throwing meat at him is a bad idea?

The reality is that Arkham Asylum is a joke, as it's meant as both a containment facility and a mental wellness facility. This accomplishes neither. That's not what mental health places are meant to be. Batman treating it like a cage, with doctors treating their patients like monsters, and with Batman sneaking in to scare the patients so that they don't get better. Yeah, it's no wonder Gotham has problems with their supervillains. Build a real mental health facility, and send those who you can possibly reform there, and the ones that are unlikely to be reformed to Blackgate, and watch the numerous escapes drop.

This is why I rather like the Telltale version of Batman, in which he was spending money to build a better mental wellness facility. The game then makes you choose on whether to do that or rebuild a new Police station, and deals with the fallout of the Wayne legacy. But it shows that Bruce Wayne could be more proactive in solving the city's problems.

Sometimes the root of all these is supposedly dark magic haunting Gotham. Then, hire Zatanna, John Constantine, Dr. Fate, or some other magic person to remove/exorcise whatever evil curses make Gotham a cesspool. Or have Flash come in once a month to deal with all the street crime. Or just make better conditions for cops.

It doesn't have to be "Be the bat" or "Rebuild the city". It can be both. It's just that we don't see him doing the latter, or if it is, it's so inept that it feels like a token effort.

Okay here is an issue I have, maybe a few. Why is Arkham allowed to continue? This is a mental institute circa the 1950's. A dumping ground for anyone labelled mentally disturbed. And then basically tortured. Why does Gotham allow it to continue? The state? Federally?
These questions are not to refute you on this one. Arkham is just the worst. But they had to drop to 'dark magic' to handwave this?

The thing is I think Gotham is a hole because too many in it like it that way. Penguin is released and tries to go straight. So some high society people maneuver him to attack them to alleviate boredom!? In this city you pull stunts like this? Now in the middle of typing this I am beginning to wonder if the reason Gotham is so bad is because it is a playground for the wealthy to break 'toys' and Bruce might be too myopic to see it. Hence why even with him trying reforms nothing seems to make a dent. (Or worse. He is making vast improvements and try to imagine what it would look like if he wasn't there.)

[Elderdog]

The assumption is that Gotham is a cesspool because it has supervillains, yes? How many times could Batman just break all of Joker's limbs and force the guy to spend months in traction, giving construction crews enough time to build a better cell as part of a new facility? How about a bunch of antipsychotics in an IV, so as to make the Joker less psychotic, as shown in some comics? How about hiring competent security staff? It'd be more humane than what Arkham practices, with their using them as guinea pigs and in the Arkham video game series, developing medicinal strengthening steroids derived from Bane's Venom so as to make the patients better able to 'endure treatment'. Just what kind of horrible things are they doing there? Maybe get doctors who think treating Killer Croc because he looks like a reptile monster as a monster by throwing him in the sewers and occasionally throwing meat at him is a bad idea?

The reality is that Arkham Asylum is a joke, as it's meant as both a containment facility and a mental wellness facility. This accomplishes neither. That's not what mental health places are meant to be. Batman treating it like a cage, with doctors treating their patients like monsters, and with Batman sneaking in to scare the patients so that they don't get better. Yeah, it's no wonder Gotham has problems with their supervillains. Build a real mental health facility, and send those who you can possibly reform there, and the ones that are unlikely to be reformed to Blackgate, and watch the numerous escapes drop.

This is why I rather like the Telltale version of Batman, in which he was spending money to build a better mental wellness facility. The game then makes you choose on whether to do that or rebuild a new Police station, and deals with the fallout of the Wayne legacy. But it shows that Bruce Wayne could be more proactive in solving the city's problems.

Sometimes the root of all these is supposedly dark magic haunting Gotham. Then, hire Zatanna, John Constantine, Dr. Fate, or some other magic person to remove/exorcise whatever evil curses make Gotham a cesspool. Or have Flash come in once a month to deal with all the street crime. Or just make better conditions for cops.

It doesn't have to be "Be the bat" or "Rebuild the city". It can be both. It's just that we don't see him doing the latter, or if it is, it's so inept that it feels like a token effort.

Okay here is an issue I have, maybe a few. Why is Arkham allowed to continue? This is a mental institute circa the 1950's. A dumping ground for anyone labelled mentally disturbed. And then basically tortured. Why does Gotham allow it to continue? The state? Federally?
These questions are not to refute you on this one. Arkham is just the worst. But they had to drop to 'dark magic' to handwave this?

The thing is I think Gotham is a hole because too many in it like it that way. Penguin is released and tries to go straight. So some high society people maneuver him to attack them to alleviate boredom!? In this city you pull stunts like this? Now in the middle of typing this I am beginning to wonder if the reason Gotham is so bad is because it is a playground for the wealthy to break 'toys' and Bruce might be too myopic to see it. Hence why even with him trying reforms nothing seems to make a dent. (Or worse. He is making vast improvements and try to imagine what it would look like if he wasn't there.)

This was surprisingly explored in the comics with the Court of Owls. Essentially, the Court of Owls was a secret cabal of Gotham's most influential citizens who decided to rule the city from the shadows and essentially subvert any attempt to actually change the city. In fact there influence on Gotham City's culture is so extensive that the Court of Owls literally kidnaps local children to turn into undead
assassins and they actually managed to hide their presence from Batman. The thing is that the comics haven't really acknowledged the influence of the Court of Owls on Gotham because DC decided to ditch the New 52 and focus more on the crime fighting rather than focusing on Gotham city's unique relationship with crime and corruption.

[FaxModem1]

The other problem with the Court of Owls was that, if you included the old canon, their stated purpose of protecting Gotham didn't make sense as they did absolutely nothing during the events of No Man's Land and other disasters that fell into their stated mission statement.

[AllanO]

One line you could take is that Gotham would be even worse sans Batman and Bruce Wayne. I mean it could be some unmitigated hell hole like Cabot Cove, Maine.

The immigration argument reminds me of the classic description of a restaurant "No one goes there anymore, it's too busy."

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

The other problem with the Court of Owls was that, if you included the old canon, their stated purpose of protecting Gotham didn't make sense as they did absolutely nothing during the events of No Man's Land and other disasters that fell into their stated mission statement.

That's just what they want you to think.

[CharlesPhipps]

Pretty much, but crime is at the heart of Bruce Wayne's plea to save Gotham. He doesn't start doing it because of the super villains.

True but organized crime is also a different beast than crime-crime too.