Superheroes have almost exclusively been defined by their superhuman abilities, courtesy of mutant spiders, vats of chemicals or their alien planet origins. However, Batman always broke that mould. Outside of his extreme intelligence and impressive combat abilities, Batman is simply a man. His greatest asset was always an impressive array of gadgets and that iconic set of armour.
However, throughout the extensive Batman universe, it turns out that when Bruce Wayne was masked up as a caped alter-ego, things didn’t always go to plan. He relied on a lot of technology most of us could only dream of, and yet, even the cutting-edge stuff Batman was wielding wasn’t untouchable. As we shall see, this was partly due to his opponents also having access to, and knowledge of fancy technology. Here are some of the best-known and surprising occasions when Batman could really have done better investing in his security.
Hacking The Bat
The Justice League – a clandestine team of superheroes including the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman – would send shivers down any villain’s spine. How do you defeat a whole team of superheroes working together? Well, on this occasion, it turns out targeting the one with no actual superpowers worked quite well.
One of Batman’s main assets, outside of his vehicles and suit, is his Batcomputer. Yes, that’s actually what he named it, the man knew how to stay on-brand. As any self-respecting crime-fighter would, Batman considered all possibilities, including the chance of one of the Justice League turning against the team. As such, he included files on every member, and more importantly, how to defeat them. It was a pretty glaring weak spot, even with his sophisticated encryption tools, and Lex Luthor was able to provide a means to capture all those files and almost spell the end of the Justice League for good. It was only for a stroke of luck that Batman included a failsafe in his files, meaning their encryption would expose the location of where it happened simultaneously. The Justice League saw the location, and took it from there. Bye-bye, would-be bat-hackers.
What we can learn from this is anyone is vulnerable to having their identities stolen, we just can’t all send a team of superheroes after the bad guys when it does. In fact, only a handful of the characters in Batman’s world have managed to keep their identities relatively secret or unclear – the Riddler being one of the few. For old Bruce, it’s only thanks to some very good fortune, and a few unfortunate ends for certain supervillains, that his masked alter-ego remained more or less secure over the years.
Dude, Where’s My Batmobile?
The Batmobile is one of the iconic features of the Batman look. His car is brimming with clever gadgets, weapons, and, obviously, a jet engine. Because why not. However, one of the smartest features was its remote control. By connecting to his trusty Batcomputer, Batman could actually drive his trusty vehicle remotely. Pretty snazzy, yes, but also a fairly obvious security risk.
The Penguin, also known as Oswald Cobblepot, would manage to hack into and drive the Batmobile, with Batman trapped behind the wheel, thanks to a device he plants on the underbelly of the car.
The Lowest Point
One of the worst failures of Batman’s career, which occurs during the formative years of his crime-fighting career, also turns out to be a result of being hacked. The Riddler’s plot is simple. He wants to destroy Gotham by breaking into the power grid and rigging the breakwaters and dams around the city with explosives. The Riddler, against all the odds and logic of a superhero story, is able to steal various pieces of research, build a ‘hacking hub’ and successfully avoid Batman’s hastily-constructed signal jammer.
The experience results in large chunks of Gotham being destroyed entirely. It’s one of those occasions that shapes Batman pretty distinctly and reveals the dark reality and chaotic underbelly of the seemingly child-like riddles and games that villains like the Riddler play with Batman.
All the above occasions are proof that even the most sophisticated hero, with limitless resources and state-of-the-art security, can fall foul of tricks and hacks from time to time. It’s only thanks to his contingency plans, that he’s able to overcome some of these situations. Of all the superheroes in the Justice League and universe, Batman is the closest to us, the most human. And some of the tough lessons he learns over the years – especially to do with staying secure and keeping his identity hidden in certain situations – can be applied to our own lives too. Stay safe out there, citizens!
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