Theory Thursday- Batman insane?

Batman’s Sanity

A lot of people have offered their speculation on this one. Some support the idea that Batman is insane while others vote that he is Sane. Well, as part of my path to Dawn of Justice, I’m going to give you my say:

Welcome to Theory Thursday, where I offer insight and theories in the world of fiction. today I will discuss whether or not Batman (Bruce Wayne) is in fact Sane or not?

First to define sanity. According to Wikipedia, Sanity: refers to the soundness, rationality and healthiness of the human mind, as opposed to insanity. A person is not considered sane anymore just if he/she is irrational.

So let’s look at these three things. Is Batman Sound, Rational, and healthy? At what point would he not be? According to this definition, one could argue that everyone jumps between sanity and insanity simply based on the fact that people do irrational things, but I think it’s safe to say that Batman can be considered sane if he is rational at least half of the time or more. So let’s delve into it.

Soundness: in the Batman Arkham series of Video Games (especially Arkham City) there is a level where Batman is given a Hat by the Mad Hatter. This hat put Batman in a wonderland where he was supposed to be completely under the Mad Hatter’s control. Batman was somehow able to keep control of his mind long enough to beat the mad hatter in the level. In Arkham Knight, Batman is struggling with visions of the Joker in his mind popping up at the most inconvenient of times. This entire game was about Batman and how long it would take for him to lose control, but the impressive part is that even after Batman lost his control he was somehow able to re-gain it at the end of the game. We learn that in the span between the two games, Batman has had relatively nothing to do and it’s been several months between the two games, meaning that Batman was doing nothing but fighting off Joker visions in his head. Is Batman sound in mind? I say so!

Rationality: Batman has lost a lot of people in his life from his parents to Jason Todd (the second robin) and I noticed that every loss seems to make Batman do something irrational. For those who follow the T.V show Gotham, we see direct effects of this where Bruce Wayne starts harming himself after the death of his parents to try and be tougher than his fear. An end was put to this when Alfred started showing Bruce that he could channel his anguish into more constructive outlets like humanitarian work and running the family business, as well as detectiving and Batman-ing.

This kind of thing isn’t limited just to the T.V. show. In the comics, Bruce follows a very similar path. Both the comics, movies, and various T.V. shows (exception Adam West) show Bruce go through this lifelong pursuit to become Batman, but is this really as irrational as it sounds? In the animated “Justice League” T.V. series, Batman mentions that he wants to create a world where no kid would have to worry about his parents being shot with a gun. In Batman: Beyond, Bruce mentions that he doesn’t want the old theatre district of Gotham torn down because he needs to remember his parents in turn to remember what he is fighting for. So did Bruce rationalize his decision to become Batman? I’m not sure, but let’s look at a different decision: not killing the Joker.

Batman has said that he will not kill the joker because if he did, he would then be sent on a spiraling path of killing because that’s the person that he is. I say that is a rational decision.

Taking in Dick Grayson. Young Richard Grayson’s parents died in circus sabotage. Bruce had compassion on this kid and took him in and raised him as his own. He trained Dick Grayson to become Robin to help Dick Grayson overcome his parent’s deaths and receive some closure to the problem. Rational decision. So I think I can say overall that Batman is a rational person.

Healthiness: how do you even measure that? A healthy body is created by feeding it right and giving it exercise, so the same must go for your mind. Healthy mind can be measured by how much brain activity you are putting forward.  As far as using his mind- he has plenty of villains that do that for him. Why don’t the bad guys try beating batman at something he isn’t good at? What isn’t he good at? So is his mind being exercised and well fed? Definite yes.

My argument is that Batman is completely and certified Sane.

Your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below! Have a great rest of your week!