Batman battles many of the most dangerous criminals in the world. Gotham City is a magnet for the worst people, and without Batman and the Bat Family, the city would degenerate into corruption and chaos. Batman has learned a lot about the criminal element of Gotham City, and a big lesson he’s learned is to make as few mistakes as possible. Batman has worked hard to bring himself as close to perfection as he can be, but he still makes mistakes that have allowed his foes to keep operating.
Batman’s mission suffers because of these mistakes. Whether it be mistakes he makes with individual villains or mistakes he makes that affect his entire rogues’ gallery, these missteps allow Batman’s greatest foes to keep making him and the people of Gotham suffer. Batman seems perfect, but his foes have managed to drive trucks through these blindspots that are completely his fault.
10 Batman Never Uses The City’s Corruption To His Advantage

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Gotham City has changed a lot over the years, but the corruption stays the same. Every big city has its share of graft at the highest levels, and Gotham has enough corruption for any three large coastal cities. The GCPD, the district attorneys, and the municipal authorities all have people on the take. They’ve caused Batman a lot of problems over the years, but Bruce Wayne is in the perfect position to take advantage of the way Gotham runs.
- Gotham City is notoriously corrupt, and the wealthy of the city have learned to use it to their advantage
- Bruce Wayne has a great reputation, and the fact that he doesn’t participate in the graft makes him a very noticeable outlier
- Bruce Wayne could hand out bribes like they were candy, using the information and connections to make his work as Batman easier
Everyone expects the wealthy in Gotham to pay people off and use the city’s corruption to their advantage, so Bruce Wayne is something of an outlier because he’s so squeaky clean. The thing is he doesn’t have to be. Batman is smart enough to pay off the right people, making connections that would allow him to work more easily as Batman. Many of Batman’s foes, especially the organized crime segments of Gotham, use corruption to their advantage, and Batman should be able to do the same.
9 Batman Should Make Blackgate Prison Harder To Escape From
Batman’s foes end up in two places – Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Prison. However, both of these places are equally easy to escape from. Blackgate is considered a hard prison, but the crime bosses and villains Batman puts there end up getting out all the time. Now, in a world with the kind of technology that DC’s Earth has, it would be very hard to make a prison that was impossible to escape from. However, if there’s anyone who could figure out how to do so, it would be Batman.
- Blackgate Prison is where criminals go when they can’t get an insanity plea
- Blackgate is a very tough prison for some inmates, but it’s also rather easy to get out of
- That Batman never tried to harden the prison is flabbergasting
Batman has access to all kinds of technology, from his own creations to the extraterrestrial technology of Krypton, Thanagar, Rann, New Genesis, and more. Batman and the Justice League could easily ask to modify the prison, stacking it with all kinds of technology that would make it much harder to escape. While it wouldn’t be perfectly escape-proof, it would be better than Blackgate.
8 Batman Doesn’t Use His Weapons In The Smartest Ways

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Batman’s utility belt is legendary in the superhero world. Batman carries all manner of weapons, from Kryptonite rings to thermite to batarangs. Batman is known for taking what he has and using it to defeat his foes or escape traps. Batman is very good at improvising and surprises, but it seems like he uses weapons constantly in the same ways, or doesn’t use certain weapons enough.
- Batman’s utility belt is the best collection of weapons in the superhero community
- It often seems like Batman depends on certain weapons too much, and often does so in predictable ways
- Batman could easily use what he has in better ways, giving him even more of an advantage
For example, Batman is known to use an ultrasonic generator on Man-Bat, which wreaks havoc on his sensitive ears and sonar-based navigation. However, that’s just a good weapon to use in general, especially since he could modify it to pitch it lower and hit sound frequencies that incapacitate anyone. Batman has flashbang grenades, both regular and more high-tech versions, but he doesn’t use them nearly as often as he should. Batarangs are cool, but someone with Batman’s technology should use better weapons in smarter ways.
7 Bruce Wayne Should Just Bankroll Mister Freeze
Mister Freeze and Batman have had a lot of battles over the years, and Batman understands Freeze’s MO pretty well by now. Mister Freeze’s origins have changed a lot over the years, but there’s one defining factor – that at some point, Victor Fries needed more money to keep treating his wife’s condition. Batman knows that Mister Freeze isn’t as bad as some other villains, he’s mostly just desperate. So, the fact that Bruce Wayne doesn’t step in and just bankroll Victor Fries is kind of mind-boggling.
- Mister Freeze worked for WayneTech in Batman: The Animated Series, and Bruce Wayne himself fired him, starting his criminal career
- Mister Freeze isn’t a mad dog like some other villains
- Bruce Wayne could easily give Victor Fries as much money as he needed and end a threat to Gotham City forever
Bruce Wayne basically has infinite money and could easily just put Victor Fries on the Wayne payroll and be done with it. Nightwing has shown that a billionaire can figure out ways to stop crimes that don’t involve kicking someone in the face. Batman is seemingly resistant to this sort of thing, but if he is going to try it with anyone, Victor Fries is just the right candidate.
6 Batman Plays Along With His Foes Way Too Much
Batman’s villains are known for their gimmicks. Two-Face has his coins, the Riddler has his puzzles, et cetera. These often represent the neuroses of the criminals themselves, as they commit crimes that fit their mental conditions or play to their strengths. Batman has alternately been flummoxed by them and used them to his advantage, but one thing remains the same – Batman plays along with his enemies, giving them the power.
- Batman has often been forced to play the games set out for him by his enemies
- However, Batman has way more resources he can bring to bear, including the superpowers of his friends
- Batman doesn’t need to play along with someone like the Riddler, he just needs to outmaneuver him
Batman and Martian Manhunter are good friends, and Manhunter’s telepathy could easily help Batman with finding clues, victims, or even the criminals themselves. Riddler’s puzzles are difficult, but having a telepath around who can find him, read his mind, and find out the answers to the riddles would make things so much easier. Martian Manhunter isn’t the only mental talent that Batman can bring to bear either. Batman allows his enemies to set the moves for the dance, but there’s no reason for someone as intelligent and resourceful as Batman to play along with his foes.
5 Bane Always Has More Going On Than It Seems
Bane has quickly risen up the ranks of Batman’s villains, rivaling the Joker as Batman’s greatest foe. Bane was able to break Batman’s back, but that wasn’t strictly because Bane was so much tougher than Batman; it was because Bane had a plan. Bane is a cunning, intelligent villain, and his best plans involve misdirects and mind games, all meant to wear Batman down physically and mentally. However, by this point, Batman should know all of this.
- Bane’s last scheme involved pretty much every major Batman villain and Flashpoint Batman
- Breaking the bat was only possible because he broke everyone out of Arkham first, running Batman ragged and taking advantage of that
- His plans are always multi-faceted and they’ve only gotten more complicated as time has gone on
Bane is smart enough to understand that he always has to raise the ante with Batman, and Batman knows by now that this is how Bane will operate. Right when Batman has any dealings with Bane, he needs to stack the deck to a ridiculous extent. Bane has proven that he can fool Batman. With that in mind, the Dark Knight should just expect that Bane is outsmarting him somehow and go from there.
4 Batman Needs To Stop Looking For The Good In Two-Face
Batman and Two-Face have an interesting relationship. Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent were friends, but Batman and Dent were partners. Along with Jim Gordon, the three of them worked hard to clean up the streets of Gotham and made an excellent team. Then, a mobster threw acid in his face, an attack that shattered his tenuous grip on sanity. Since then, Batman has handled Two-Face with kid gloves, mostly because he wants his friend back.
- Harvey Dent was integral to Batman’s success in his early days
- Harvey Dent already had symptoms of DID but had been able to hold it in check for years
- Two-Face has been “cured” multiple times and always went back to crime
Batman does his best to stop Two-Face without doing anything too damaging to him. Two-Face knows this and has used it to his advantage many times. Batman leaves himself wide open when Two-Face shows up, and he needs to stop doing that. Harvey Dent might come back for short periods, but this always ends up lulling Batman into a false sense of security, which has allowed Two-Face to slip the knife in when Batman doesn’t expect it.
3 Why Doesn’t Batman Just Ask Superman For Help?

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Batman is among the most well-connected superheroes in any comic universe. He has the Bat Family to help him out, and is part of the Trinity, making him a leader of the superhero community. Not counting Nightwing, Superman is Batman’s best friend in the world. He has close relationships with other members of the Justice League. However, Batman doesn’t ask for help from any of them the vast majority of the time.
- Batman working with his friends on cases would make things so much easier for him
- Batman’s Rolodex contains the greatest heroes on Earth, yet he’s refused their help
- Superman offered to help Batman during No Man’s Land and Batman straight up refused him
Batman asking Superman for help would solve many of the bigger problems that Batman has to deal with. Batman could work more closely with someone like Plastic Man, using his shapeshifting powers to get inside information about his foes. Batman doesn’t like to ask for help, but at this point his not doing so has cost countless lives and made his job a thousand percent harder.
2 The Joker Needs To Be Treated As An Actual Criminal, Not Someone Who Belongs In An Asylum
Batman and the Joker’s rivalry is intense. The two of them are often looked at as two sides of the same coin, with Batman representing order and the Joker representing chaos. Batman refuses to kill the Joker, which seems a little shortsighted. The biggest problem is that the law looks at the Joker as someone who needs mental health facilities more than jail. And Batman seems to agree with that.
- The Joker’s plans are extremely complex and show a person who knows exactly what they’re doing
- Joker constantly being put into Arkham Asylum has allowed him to gain even more power
- The Joker’s insanity has progressed far beyond anything that can be cured
Batman isn’t an officer of the court. He has nothing to do with the justice process, but Batman can easily prove that the Joker being put in Arkham is basically just giving him a get-out-of-jail-free card. The Joker gets to play his mind games at Arkham and can escape much easier because an asylum isn’t a prison. The Joker loves what he does. He is a serial murderer and pretending like he can be cured has given him the chance to commit even more crimes.
1 Arkham Asylum Is The Worst Place To Keep Batman’s Rogues

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Every single one of Batman’s villains has spent time in Arkham Asylum. Some Batman villains belong in Arkham, like the Ventriloquist, Scarecrow, or even Two-Face, but the vast majority of Batman villains just look at Arkham as a nice little vacation before they get back out on the streets. Arkham Asylum’s place in Batman’s mythos is important, but it’s become a facility with a revolving door.
- Every Batman villain has broken out of Arkham Asylum multiple times
- Many of Batman’s foes can use Arkham’s treatments as a way to lull the public into a false sense of security
- Arkham Asylum has been portrayed as haunted many times and has made many villains worse
Arkham shouldn’t be the main place where Batman’s villains are sent after they’re apprehended. Mental health facilities can help people, but Arkham has done more harm than good in Gotham. How many times has the person running Arkham been corrupt? How many times have villains been made worse in Arkham? How many times does someone have to break out of Arkham? Arkham Asylum doesn’t help anyone and might as well have a revolving door.

Batman
Batman is one of the oldest comic superheroes, with nearly a century of comics, TV-shows, films, and video games. The mild-mannered Bruce Wayne becomes Gotham City’s caped crusader, protecting it from villains like The Joker, Killer Croc, The Penguin, and more. Batman is also one of DC comics’ “Big Three” alongside Superman and Wonder Woman, and together the three help keep the earth safe as founding members of the Justice League.Â
- Created by
- Bill Finger , Bob Kane
- First Film
- Batman: The Movie (1966)
- Upcoming Films
- The Batman – Part II
- First TV Show
- Batman
- First Episode Air Date
- January 12, 1966
- Cast
- Adam West , Kevin Conroy , Christian Bale , Robert Pattinson , Ben Affleck , Michael Keaton , Keanu Reeves , Josh Hutcherson , Will Friedle , Anson Mount , Will Arnett