Batman/Skills, resources, and abilities
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Batman is a superhero despite his not having super-powers. His resourcefulness, insight, and years of rigorous training make up for the absence of any other special abilities.
Physically, he is at the peak of human ability in dozens of areas, notably martial arts, acrobatics, strength, and escape artistry. Intellectually, he is just as peerless; Batman is one of the world's greatest scientists, criminologists, and tacticians, as well as a master of disguise. He is regarded as one of the DC Universe's greatest detectives. Rather than simply out-fighting his opponents, Batman often uses cunning and planning to outwit them.
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[edit] Equipment
Batman designs or modifies the majority of costumes, equipment, and vehicles he uses as Batman, producing them through various divisions of Wayne Enterprises, including Kordtronics. At various times, characters such as Oracle, Harold, and Toyman III create, modify, or repair Batman's equipment. Additionally, sometimes Batman adapts or reverse-engineers the technology of other villains and heroes, such as Mister Terrific's T-spheres.
Over the years, Batman accumulates a large arsenal of specialized gadgets (compare with the later James Bond), the designs of which usually share a common theme of dark coloration and a bat motif. A notable example is Batman's primary vehicle, the Batmobile, usually depicted as an imposing black car with large tailfins that suggest a bat's wings; another is his chief throwing weapon, the batarang, a bat-shaped boomerang/throwing star. Batman's other vehicles include the Batplane (aka the Batwing), Batboat, Bat-Sub, and Batcycle.
In proper practice, the "bat" prefix (as in batmobile or batarang) is rarely used by Batman himself when referring to his equipment, particularly after some portrayals (primarily the 1960s Batman live-action television show and the Super Friends animated series) stretched the practice to camp proportions. The 1960s television series Batman has an arsenal that includes such ridiculous, satirical "bat-" names as the bat-computer, bat-scanner, bat-radar, bat-cuffs, bat-pontoons, bat-drinking water dispenser, bat-camera with polarized bat-filter, shark repellent bat-spray, and bat-rope. In one episode, Batman and Robin stop by an outdoor hamburger stand which sells "bat-burgers", beef sandwiches supposedly named in his honor. The storyline "A Death in the Family" suggests that given Batman's grim nature, he is unlikely to have adopted the "bat" prefix on his own.
Batman keeps most of his field equipment in a signature piece of apparel, a utility belt. Over the years it is shown to contain a virtually limitless variety of crimefighting tools. Different versions of the belt have these items stored in either pouches or hard cylinders attached evenly around it.
In some of his early appearances, Batman uses side arms (see especially Detective Comics #32, September 1939), but he uses them less over time, later eschewing their use because a gun was used to murder his parents. Some stories relax this rule, allowing Batman to arm his vehicles for the purpose of disabling other vehicles or removing inanimate obstacles. In two stories, The Dark Knight Returns and The Cult, Batman used machine guns loaded with rubber bullets rather than live ammunition. In the 1989 Batman film, firearms figure more prominently in the Dark Knight's arsenal; machine guns and grenades are mounted on the Batmobile, and missiles and machine cannons on the Batwing.
[edit] Costume
The details of the Batman costume change repeatedly through the character's evolution, but the most distinctive elements remain consistent: a black scallop-hem cape, a cowl covering most of the face featuring a pair of batlike ears, and a stylized bat emblem on the chest, plus the ever-present utility belt. His gloves also typically feature three scallops that protrude from the sides. The most significant costume variations over the years involve the chest emblem–a yellow ellipse was added in 1964, and has come and gone since then; and the color scheme, alternately lighter colors (medium blue and light gray) or darker (black and dark gray). The length of the cowl's ears and of the cape vary greatly depending on the artist.
In his earliest appearances, Batman wears a bulletproof vest, but it was dropped soon after, in order to make the character even more human. However with more informed writers who are aware bullet hits, even when armored, are undesirably painful and potentially dangerous, the idea of the hero having such protection and still endeavouring to avoid being hit has been reintroduced. To that end, in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Batman explains that the bright yellow ellipse on an otherwise dark costume provides an attractive target, as drawing shooters away from a headshot and to a region of his costume that can better take the blow.
[edit] Bat-Signal
One of the best-known elements of the Batman mythos is the Bat-Signal. When Batman is needed, the Gotham City police activate a searchlight with a bat-shaped insignia over the lens that shines into the night sky, creating a bat-symbol on a passing cloud which can be seen from any point in Gotham. The origin of the signal varies, depending on the continuity and medium.
In various incarnations, most notably the 1960s Batman TV series, Commissioner Gordon also has a dedicated phone line, dubbed the Bat-Phone, connected to a bright red telephone (in the TV series) which sits on a wooden base and has a transparent cake cover on top. The line connects directly to Wayne Manor, specifically to a similar phone sitting on the desk in Bruce Wayne's study.
[edit] Batcave
The Batcave is Batman's secret headquarters, consisting of a series of subterranean caves beneath his residence, Wayne Manor. It serves as his command centre for both local and global surveillance, as well as housing his vehicles and equipment for his war on crime. It also is a storeroom for Batman's memorabilia. In both the comic Batman: Shadow of the Bat issue #45, and the 2005 film Batman Begins, the cave is said to have been part of the Underground Railroad. Of the heroes and villains who see the Batcave, few know where it is located.
[edit] Gotham City
Modeled after cities such as Chicago, New York City, Boston, and Pittsburgh, Gotham is positioned on the northeast coast of the United States. Suffering from urban blight, Gotham is generally portrayed as dirty, crime-ridden, and corrupt, in stark contrast to the bright, clean, futuristic feel of Superman's Metropolis. It has been said that Gotham is "New York at night", in reference to New York's former reputation as a city struggling with crime. Thomas and Martha Wayne are gunned down in 'Crime Alley', formerly Gotham's ritzy Park Row but now a slum.
