credit: Batman Begins
Superheroes do lose occasionally, but in the comics, it’s very easy to come back in the next episode or two and thrash the villain that put them down in the first place because of the hero’s amazing willpower, their new device, or some other bit of plot armor that allows them to shake off a defeat and get back into the fight. The comics might show a hero taking time to heal, but the movies tend to make it appear as though the worst damage imaginable can be overcome in a short amount of time and that the possible therapy that’s needed is easy to disregard because the hero is that tough. Few heroes in the history of comic books have ever been given nearly as much plot armor as Batman, though. Many admire Batman because, in truth, he is a highly-trained human being that relies heavily on his gadgets and skills to keep himself in the game most times. But the truth of it is that Batman’s body should have given out by now with the amount of damage he’s soaked up, and one of the only things keeping him in one piece at this time between the comics and the movies is the plot armor that appears to be activated when he says…”I’m Batman.”
credit: Batman Begins
Batman has lost on the big screen before, but his return was kind of questionable.
The character has taken his lumps and has even been put down a couple of times by his enemies, meaning he needs time to recuperate, but it’s usually been seen that he comes back and somehow manages to retain enough strength to take down his enemies simply because he’s that tough. Granted, Bruce Wayne is a tenacious and determined character, but at the same time, he’s only human, and the drawback with being human is that being damaged on countless occasions tends to break the body down, not make it stronger. With his tech and his training, it’s not too hard to think that he can keep coming back a few times after some of the worst damage he’s taken, but if not for his insane amount of plot armor, and the fact that fans are ready and willing to embrace it, Batman should have been down and out a long time ago, and possibly placed in traction a few times.
The amount of times his story has been retold makes one think that it’s time to see him take a major L.
Again, some would state that he has taken an L in the movies before, but it would be refreshing to see Batman take a huge loss that led into the credits since this technically hasn’t happened yet. Recall that the Avengers took a huge L in Infinity War and that even Captain America took an emotional L when he woke up at the end of his own movie, but Batman hasn’t had to deal with this type of emotional or physical loss before, and while some people might state that this isn’t a popular idea for a superhero movie, it does feel as though it would make Batman easier for people to enjoy if he finally took a loss that he couldn’t come back from, a loss that meant he had to start over and reinvent himself again. And no, the loss of his parents was tragic, but it was the catalyst that turned him into Batman.
credit: Batman Begins
Plot armor has kind of ruined this character.
Plot armor is actually kind of important for a lot of heroes since, otherwise, it’s very easy to see that many of them would have been defeated soundly at this point. Batman has been punching way above his weight class for decades now, and it’s because of plot armor that he’s been allowed to do so. The villains, and even the heroes, that he’s taken on should be able to take him down quite easily at times, but because he’s rich and has dedicated his life to his sense of justice, Batman is allowed to run rampant over Gotham and wherever else he happens to be at the time because…he’s Batman. Seriously, this guy was pitted against Spawn with no prep time in a past crossover, and he was allowed to beat the demonic character simply because he knew where and how hard to hit Spawn. Batman…versus a hellspawn…and he held his own. The plot armor runs thick with this guy.
The idea that Batman can take on anyone with prep time has become more than ridiculous.
I get it; prep time is important in any fight since it means that a person can research another character and find any possible weaknesses that they can exploit in a fight. That’s great; it gives a regular human like Batman a chance to level the playing field. But it also means that thanks to his own personal mania, he’s always seeking ways to take down the villains, as well as his allies. Seriously, why does the Justice League not consider Batman, a villain at this point?