Is batman a super hero?

What makes you think he isn’t both at the same time?

I don’t believe he is no. More of a reluctant crime fighter haunted by his past. Still, loads of cool gadgets to play with though.

he technically isnt a super hero because he dosent have abnormal powers such as flying..but he have mastered many techniques such as stealth etc.. and Vengeance drives him to do what he does which makes him passionate, and that much more deadly!

Same question could be asked about Captain America, right? If I remember correctly, he doesn’t have any special abilities either, does he?

@stump Actually he is a sickly young man who was enhanced to the peak of human perfection by an experimental serum in order to aid the United States war effort.

Source

Batman is most definitely not a superhero unless “being rich” has been elevated to super power status in which case, I’ll need to get a costume…

He’s just bored, crazy and rich. That does not make a superhero. I would say that Iron Man is also not a superhero except that he is so smart that he leaves the rest of us in his dust which borders on being super.

@erichw1504 I stand corrected. But I would say they are both superheroes. I don’t think it is the special abilities that make a superhero. It is the costume.

@KatawaGrey So, I guess constantly beating The Joker’s face in with your fist makes one bored? I think I’d be the opposite of bored!

I think his super powers are vengeance and hate for criminals.

@KatawaGrey If intelligence is a borderline superpower, then Batman must be a borderline superhero. According to DC canon, he’s one of the most intelligent human beings there is. That’s why Superman calls him “the most dangerous man alive” in JLA. Remember, he has backup plans for defeating every superhero around—even Superman himself. And in The Dark Knight Returns, he beats Superman (who can survive being hit with a nuclear missile).

@SavoirFaire: Yeah, I’ve seen maybe two of the movies and haven’t read any of the comics. I’ll call him a hero for going out and defeating crime, but I won’t call him a superhero because his intelligence is still within the realm of human possibility. Now, if he was given some kind of serum or got hit in the head with a magical meteorite or something that made him smarter than any normal human, I’d call that a superpower. Besides, if we’re handing out medals for intelligence, then Sherlock Holmes is totally a superhero. ;)

Batman has no super powers, with the very slight possiblity of his considerable deduction and strategy skills.
Keep in mind, this is a guy who has kicked Superman’s ass a couple times. THAT takes some doing.

depends on how we define “super” and define “hero”... he is a hero… its the super that we need to define

@KatawaGrey Fair enough. I haven’t actually read all that many Batman comics myself, but he was always my favorite when I was a child.

If Batman isn’t a superhero, then neither is Iron Man, Catwoman, Green Lantern, or Punisher, to name a few.

Also, most supervillains aren’t supervillains either (Joker, Penguin, Lex Luthor, Kraven the Hunter, Kingpin…).

Batman is a superhero because he manages to be so damn much with only the passionate love he has for his parents. He is a human being who devoted his whole life to the one cause of never letting his past happen to anybody else. It is a noble cause full of much sacrifice, and just that he is able to accomplish all of that while remaining completely elusive about his identities is without a doubt super.

@Seelix: I was always under the impressions that supervillains were called such because they were super evil. Also, I agree with you on your list of heroes who are not super heroes except for Green Lantern. Doesn’t he have artifacts that make him super? The abilities aren’t inherent, but they do take him above and beyond normal humans.

@KatawaGrey – In a way. The Green Lantern Corps is a group of beings (from all planets) who are basically an intergalactic police force (there are all other colours of Lanterns, too). It’s the rings that they get when they’re made members of the corps that grant them powers – otherwise, they’re just regular people. There have been a handful of different Green Lanterns over the years – Alan Scott, Earth’s first Green Lantern; Hal Jordan; Guy Gardner… So yeah, he’s kind of super.

I thought the super in supervillain had to do with badassery, too, but if the super in superhero has to mean special powers… If that’s a criterion for heroes, why not for villains too?

@Seelix: I think because most villains aren’t super in that way. That’s why I like the Spiderman villains because they always have some funky power too which puts them more on par with the superheroes.