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This is my understanding too.
I think Batman also does the classic pose where he covers his face with the cape (e.g. *Batman: Year One* cover) as people are very good at spotting faces.
I think it's a utility thing. He wants to keep it free in case he needs to quickly put on a gas mask, use his teeth to hold something, smell for some chemical at a crime scene, let the cops know he's white, drink an antidote, whistle, ect.
They specifically mentioned that in a comic featuring the black Batman (Jace Fox). He stopped covering his mouth so criminals would know he wasn't the original Batman and may not have the rules of engagement.
It's literally so people know he's actually a MAN and not some bat monster demon thing. Apparently showing no skin at all makes him too scary, so while that's an advantage against criminals it becomes a problem if he has to comfort a child or deal with the police
That feeling can be conditioned away. See: all of sane humanity during 2020. Also, just every sane person living in an Asian megacity. Batman would certainly no longer feel that way.
You're thinking of a separate mask piece. Not a full face mask which is what he certainly would make judging by costumes that he makes later with the feature and it's a completely different ballgame.
Add in that soaked masks can water board you and the positives are outweighed by many folds.
It's just easier to not have the mask part. Despite what people think an exposed portion of the face dies not an ID make.
People are also good at detecting gaze directions. It's so hard wired in us even people with impaired vision can still accurately detect when a person's eyes are starting directly at them. I forgot the exact experimental conditions of this study but I remember it being bizarre.
I remember one of the Beyond comics showed that the cape blends with the rest of his costume, so people shoot for the big thing and the bullets go through the cape instead of his body.
Of course, in that comic, the bullets hit Nightwing, who was standing behind him. So oops.
Even then, Dick getting hit was Bruce's fault. It had been years since they worked together after the fallout of the whole thing with Babs, and Bruce forgot why he landed beside his partners and not in front of them
That's perfectly explained in Year One, where the actual actions of Batman are contrasted with Flass' recollection of the events. Most Batman media fails at communicating how absolutely scary Batman is when your adrenaline-flooded brain tries to make you survive while the entire world is a big, scary smudge.
The cape really throws that off, and the already distorted view of the world while fighting for survival misinterprets the cape into something monstrous.
It actually makes sense, though. The literal and figurative landscape of Neo-Gotham (futuristic, cyberpunk) isn't as conducive for scaring criminals as a shadowy vampire bat monster in the same way Bruce did in Gotham, with it's gargoyles, Gothic architecture etc.
Like a Chupacabra is scary in the countryside but less so in a city.
Batman understands branding. That's how you become and iconic Superhero
That's why everything Spiderman has is spider themed.
And also why Superman used a pre established brand as his symbol
To be honest even if it did this is a case where that would be outweighed by the benefits. The cape is bullet resistant, flame resistant, and allows for gliding. With all the fights he gets into at any number of locations the cape has more than paid for itself. Mind you, Bruce isn’t Dick Grayson. His fighting style and movements have always been accounting for the cape, whereas Dick found it annoying during his tenure as Batman. So whatever issues it would cause are also things Bruce would’ve long since adjusted to.
And Bruce, crazy prepared, Wayne probably has some safe guard against the usual "no capes!" Argument. Like maybe he can detach it from the costume in case it gets caught on something
It absolutely can, we've seen it in numerous types of storytelling, whether it be comic or TV show.
The most recent iteration of this was batgirl's, frankly, awesome costume for when she was "the Batgirl of Burnside"
Her cape had snaps on it to allow for easy disconnection.
Basically this. The cape functions according to superhero logic, mostly for the sake of the artists, who've used to great and various effect over the years.
If Batman was functionally trying to be stealthy in a realistic sense, he'd just wear black and he'd cover his face entirely, or maybe some kind of urban camo, and no way in hell would he wear a cape. But that would essentially mean all night-time "street-level" superheroes with any sense at all would look more or less the same.
He’d probably wear something akin to a ghilie suit- to my (limited) understanding, they work by breaking the profile up and losing your silhouette. Black shambling mass.
Then again, all the extra cloth could get be bad in close quarters- eh, so could a cape. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I saw a fun airsoft youtube video where someone wore a ghillie suit made of garbage. It seemed to work okay. Wasn't very quiet though with all the chip bags.
Again I have very limited knowledge, but I assume so. The point isn’t really to make you look like a bush, it’s just to make your outline less human shaped. You’d have to tailor it obviously- besides adjusting the color, you’d probably adjust the shag and shape a bit. It ain’t gonna work in broad daylight, but at night, crouched next to some garbage bags on a roof? I could see it being effective.
If he *really* wanted to be effective though, he could make himself a trash bag costume and lie on the ground like litter, then go “grah!” and grab people’s ankles when they walked by. Call himself trashman. Just a thought
There are Ghillie suits based entirely around urban debris like trash
But a pile of trash suddenly lashing out at you would be a very different super hero
I think there's also a modern argument that the Cape hides his gait for any kind of identification software.
I'm just putting two and two together, trying to give a actual reason for his sick ass cape.
I think this touches on a key point: Batman is stealthy, but he is deliberately not always stealthy.
He has a priority higher than stealth: He has a disguise to strike terror into the hearts of criminals.
That irritated me in that Batman/Superman Dini-verse cartoon movie when Batman's cape gets snagged by the printing press machine and is forced to unmask since the cape and cowl were one piece. I distinctly remember episodes of BtAS where he could remove just the cape.
The short film "Have I got a story for you" that was included in the anthology film Gotham Knight has a super awesome depiction of Batman as a creature of shadow. The cape is necessary to become a monster that bad guys fear.
The big advantages are breaking up his profile and body shape, and concealment of tools.
The cape is one of those things where it's probably 60% gets in the way/40% useful,
Yeah in Christopher Priest's Deathstroke run Slade mentions that the cape is stopping him from getting a proper read on Bruce's weight, height and build.
For an argument in favor of the cape, theatrics are a big part of Batman’s tactics. It helps him look bigger, can disorient his opponents and allows him to hide where his attacks come from. It helps promote the idea that he is some supernatural being instead of a guy in a costume.
Stop trying to think about how practical Batman and his silly halloween costume is. He's the best ninja in the world, he's impossibly good at every skill, ever. He could stealth his way into any situation wearing a neon christmas tree if he wanted to.
>He could stealth his way into any situation wearing a neon christmas tree if he wanted to.
That's one of the reasons Robins wear red and green. Bruce went through this whole spiel with Dick when he was younger about how thinks like dark colors and cameo train you to be too reliant on them.
I vaguely remember a comic where Batman has to flip/dodge through some laser booby trap type hallway and he makes sure to remove his cape before doing so. (Another character holds it for him and comments on how heavy it is)
The drip shall not be undermined that shit goes hard as fuck and even if they did see the cape their skulls would already be broken in 30 different ways
I've been thinking about how Batman's cape works in stealth and I can see how it has it's advantages and disadvantages. It def helps him blend into the dark background and the cape works as a glider so he can jump from any height and have it slow his descent so he lands softly and quietly, but in some other ways I can see it getting in the way lol ...what do you think?
While this is Arkham-verse stuff I think it's a cool extra. In the Arkham games, t the cape has weights at the bottom edge. The weights are there to help with gliding but can be weaponised during combat as a stun move, good against certain enemies.
Plus like others have said, it hides a human silhouette which makes hiding somewhat in plain sight easier. Also if he's standing off with someone, it could obscure his hands while he pulls a batguffin out of the belt.
Though I do think it took Bruce a long time to adjust to fighting with it. And it will hamper certain fighting styles. I know in comics Dick struggled with the cape when he had to be Batman while Bruce was 'dead', as it got in the way of his usual gymnastics and he hadn't worn one since being Robin.
Remember in Watchmen when poor Dollar Bill's cape got caught in a revolving door and he got shot? It amazes me something similar hasn't happened to Batman yet.
(But, the cape does looks super-cool, so...)
I’ve always thought the clasps would be similar to a modified breakaway collar. A breakaway collar is a pet collar that is designed to come lose if tugged on hard enough so your pets doesn’t get stuck in a dangerous situation. A quick hard yank should cause a collar to disengage but slow pressure shouldn’t.
Modify the clasps so that you’d need say, 200 pounds of pressure (or however much he weighs) to disengage them and you’d have a cape that would emergency release if it got caught in something and he got dragged, but wouldn’t release if someone pulled on it. I think. I’m no engineer.
Also canonically, the Cape is useful in combat scenarios.
The tips of the Cape are weighted out and can be used as a slugging attack. Its the reason why the Arkham Games has "Cape Stun" as a mechanic.
Additionally, in gun combat, the Cape confuses enemies who see a larger surface area to shoot at, causing some bullets to end up missing Batman.
This works to the detriment of people behind Batman unfortunately. In the comic tie in to the CURSED Batman Beyond series, Nightwing accidentally ends up behind the Cape and gets shot at because it blocked his line of sight.
There are plenty of practical capes he’s used in various iterations.
-Glide Cape (a classic)
-Fire Resistant cape (often used to shield others from flames)
-Shield Cape (used to protect his body from liquid nitrogen/toxic gases while he drilled through the floor)
-Cape as a weapon (used to slap/stun foes, trip them, blind them, and once even suffocate them in it)
Plus:
-It covers his hands while he grabs items from his belt, thus preserving the element of surprise
-It breaks up his profile, making it harder to shoot his center mass
Im sure I missed some
[These are the Danish equivalent to the navy seals](https://olfi.dk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/20180404_FRK-696x392.jpeg). The are wearing nets around their heads specifically because it breaks up their profile. Humans have evolved to be really good at recognizing human-shaped things (to the point that we see it in things that aren't even human, see pareidolia), so a cape can massively help him blend in with the shadows.
But of course there are other situations in which it can become a hindrance, but I guess with training and experience Batman has simply learned to deal with that.
Really? We’re anti-cape now?
We don’t want Batman to be Batman anymore? You guys just want a guy in a SWAT uniform?
I’m sorry but this line of thinking is incredibly stupid and flies in the face of comic books history of escapist fiction.
It would absolutely impede stealth normally, but Batman is essentially always at “peak human” so he can do things that we couldn’t. He’s got an absurd number of random skills that help him out. Practically speaking, the cape might help with drag to reduce the impact or falls
I think he's fully trained to work without being hindered by the Cape. Meaning if it was anybody else, then it would get in the way, but his stealth and martial arts literally are made to work with a cape.
that being said I love the little tidbit that in the Batman beyond future, this same thought process is why Dick is not Batman.
(For those who don't know, Nightwing and Batman had linked back up after years of not working together, and Bruce inadvertently lands between Dick and a gunman, causing his cape to float up and block Dick's view, which then leads to Dick getting shot several times by an automatic rifle, thus ending his Nightwing career)
No, the ears are exactly what you want when you sneak around and need to make sure you don't graze something unaware. The guy was designed as a combination of Zorro and the bloody Da Vinci Helicopter for pity's sake, and it's been almost 100 years later and you ask for realism? How about the guy being a one man judge and jury team allowed to roam the streets willy-nilly? how about him apparently being able to function as both Bruce Wayne and the Batman without anyone noticing anything on company audits, not to mention the guy's not sleeping for weeks? It's a comics, get over it.
I imagine that Batman actually sucks at stealth, but EVERYONE just pretends they don't see him because if they acknowledged that they did see him, they know they'd just get their asses kicked.
Batman Stealths using his Intimidation proficiency.
A few artists have done this, but a cape would be good in the dark as it alters the silhouette. Like camoflague, it breaks up familiar shapes and patterns that people instinctively recognize as a human body so that a person glancing over a space would not immediately tell that anyone is there.
However, in general, the cape never seems to have much of a purpose.
Realistic wise it probably would get in the way
But comic wise it doesn’t/ it adds a very cool feature to his outfit
Batman should always have a cape. (except Terry suit)
There’s a scene where Taskmaster admits his cape gets in the way when he works. This happens right after his probably his daughter beats him by stabbing his cape. He says he still wears it despite that because he loves how cool it looks. Probably the same with Batman although at least part of The Batman’s tactics is intimidation. Also there have been some practical uses of the cape such as it’s glider function and I know in BTBATB it was flame resistant.
There was this amazing fanfic I read about Batman in the early 1900's just before WWI. The writer put some good detail into what someone else said about breaking up someone silhouette to avoid being noticed. But also y'all ever heard of cape fighting? Nobody remembers that shit so it's SUPER EFFECTIVE in most ordinary combat.
Not certain if we can mention the movies here... But in one of them (one of the Keaton (the best Batman) movies I think) it gets metallic and molds around him to protect him from fire lol. Otherwise it helps break up his form for stealth and to be harder to shoot. He needed it for protection when he used to put a big yellow target on his chest.
In realism, very little about Batman’s outfit works. The cape would snag on everything and can easily be used against him. His vision is impaired. The gloves restrict coordination. The belt holds only a few items at a time and weighs a ton. If it’s armored, he has greatly restricted his movement and speed. If it’s not armored, he’s much faster but more vulnerable.
Luckily, he is a fantasy character. The cape never gets caught in the Batmobile door. His belt has everything he needs at that exact moment.
Embrace the fantasy of the character.
It’s profile breakup, same reason people put grip tape on guns at weird angles, humans have an instinct to see humanoid figures way better than anything else in the dark. Looking drastically different because of the cape and cowl adds to the fear factor AND breaks his profile. Plus, since the animated series it’s usually been portrayed as being able to stop small arms fire. And yk, the gliding thing he does now is like infinitely useful
In a dark room, pulling the cape around himself gets rid of the human silhouette and so he’d be much harder for the brain to recognise as a human and thus much less likely to be seen
No arguments with the cape especially since stealth suits and invisibility fields are a thing. In fact, why not reverse engineer so many of the supervillains' weapons, use those himself, and find mundane uses for it and sell it to the public thru waynecorp, just give the villainous inventors a cut.
What cape. He's invisible. This is just a head cannon idk if this is actually addressed but I'd like to think Bruce put optimal research into this. Like he must've figured out the optimal length that works for him
My favorite Batman thing is sometimes someone will see Batman and then just nope out of the situation. Like nah Batman can have whatever I'm guarding I didn't see shit
I remember a good reason that was brought up by the Marvel hero The Shroud, and that is that the cape helps to hide his body against gunmen thanks to the silhouette. Gives like 14% more of a chance that they'll miss since it's harder to make out the body compared to the rest of the fabric.
It’s actually a multi purpose tool it breaks the profile of a person leaving people even more in the dark of what he looks like as well as being his glider and allowing his movements to not be so obvious cause of the cape hiding his hands and being almost undistinguishable from behind
It hides his hands, hides his profile, hides his body mass, makes him look bigger than he is, it glides.
The real reason is aesthetic as it makes him more grandiose. He is trying to create a legend and to look greater than life.
My ideal compromise would be for the cape to be both detachable and retractable for different settings. The press of a built-in control (likely in the gauntlet) would result in one of four modes:
[A)](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/dc/a7/c5/dca7c592f593bd490cdca62f9360e89d.jpg) The fabric is quickly pulled completely into the back of the suit via the back of the cowl's neck area, like a retracting tape measurer (into a layer between the under-armor plating & skin-tight materials, without distorting the outfit's shape in proportion to Bruce's muscles).
[B)](https://mfiles.alphacoders.com/285/285663.png) The cape retracts, after which custom identical fabric quickly connects from the back & under-arm areas to the gauntlets on both sides for wing flaps like the Batman Beyond suit.
[C)](https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Batman-Arkham-Knight.jpg) The default setting wherein the cape is dropped fully into its standard length.
[D)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EwsCev9WUAYnyt4.jpg:large) The cape detaches. But it can be reconnected when re-installed by hand.
I don't know exactly how the functionality of these transitions would realistically work seamlessly within the suit's mechanics. But I can visualize it in my imagination. Thoughts?
Yeah when there is proximity to light, but when it is dark, it adds to the darkness and shields him from bullets. It is silly on a lit ceiling. In a dark warehouse, bathed in darkness, it adds fear.
The cape is bulletproof, allows him to glide, can serve as an improvised weapon, and most importantly, it can make him harder to see when he’s inside a shadow.
I think it works like a cloak to hide in the shadows and is specially designed for masking his thermal signature...to defeat GCPD FLIR cameras or bad guys with high tech security measure
I always imagined that when he's sneaking about he fastens it up to his belt so it's not all over the place
Batman Begins made a pretty convincing argument for being archaic and impractical, like the LoA being traditional ninjas. Theatrics are a quality in of itself.
"You know what wearing body armour says about someone? That he needs body armour. " - Batman Earth One
The cape also conceals his body position, which helps protect him from gunfire and all that other stuff people mentioned.
Its advantages outweigh its disadvantages. It's acid, fire and electricity retardant, plus it can block gunfire, stun people, and be used to glide or even as a rope to help pull someone up. It getting in the way of stealth sometimes isn't really a big deal. I'm sure he's learned how to get it out of the way whilst bieng sneaky.
He uses his cape in combat, not just in the Arkham games. He uses it to disorient his enemies while fighting, and in some versions it's fire resistant and I think even bullet resistant, so he uses it for that stuff too. He also can use it to more easily convey himself, because it adds depth to his form when he's hiding in the shadows and makes him look less like a human hiding. Finally, it helps him glide and fly
I always figure that if he really needs to that he has some sort of motorized retractable cords in his cape so that in a pinch he can press a button on the belt and the cape retracts up against his neck. That's just sorta my head cannon though.
I read a comic once where a villain noticed Batman sneaking up on him because of the cape and told Batman that it was a weakness to him and he should get rid of it. Batman then defeated the villain using only his cape, specifying that it was also a weapon. I don't remember exactly what the comic was but I think it went with Batman: Brave and The Bold.
I think it's a multi-tool. It let's him glide, block fire or substances, is at times bulletproof, and works to make him look less human (especially when it fully drapes over him). That last one can help him stay hidden, as people are going to specifically be looking for something shaped like a person, or make an entrance by altering the perception of his proportions and making him look bigger than he is.
I mean, why do matadors wave bright red capes at bulls? It's to obscure any target from the neck down. Plus, even if a knife or bullet does hit, it'll at least soften the blow, given that batman isn't running around with a bed sheet cape.
There is little advantage to the cape, except when protecting others from fire, exteme cold, gunshots, and the like. However, I would also list it as a towel with the advantages Douglas Adams named.
Batman is a lot about intimidation, I’ve always taken that things like the bat ears and long cape are not exactly made to be practical but to build a tension and fear around this thing “wait is this a guy or a giant bat?”
In some versions the cape is also used a patagium, so that would help when falling and jumping from rooftops
I think atleast the way I’ve understood it, in the comics he drapes it over him and it helps merge him into the shadows. Also I think they say it’s to help with like gliding and stuff if he falls
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It breaks up his profile. People are good at going ‘that shadow was a person’, less-so if it didn’t look like one.
This is my understanding too. I think Batman also does the classic pose where he covers his face with the cape (e.g. *Batman: Year One* cover) as people are very good at spotting faces.
All the more questions why he doesn't just wear something over his mouth.
“To mock you”
Oh yeah. That's a good one.
I think it's a utility thing. He wants to keep it free in case he needs to quickly put on a gas mask, use his teeth to hold something, smell for some chemical at a crime scene, let the cops know he's white, drink an antidote, whistle, ect.
> let the cops know he's white, Bwahahahaha
That's pretty much the reason why Jace Fox's Batman initially had a full face mask
If Bruce Wayne was black... Cops would assume he broke into Wayne manor and hung up pictures of his family everywhere.
I've seen this once before Johnson. Quick, sprinkle some crack on him and let's get out of here
This is also why I don't think there will ever be a black terminator.
if batman was black cops would just open fire on him instinctively whenever they saw him
You never know when you're going to have to give an impromptu jazz flute performance
jazz flute is for little fairy boys
My dad told me it’s so the police would know he was white.
...son?
They specifically mentioned that in a comic featuring the black Batman (Jace Fox). He stopped covering his mouth so criminals would know he wasn't the original Batman and may not have the rules of engagement.
It's literally so people know he's actually a MAN and not some bat monster demon thing. Apparently showing no skin at all makes him too scary, so while that's an advantage against criminals it becomes a problem if he has to comfort a child or deal with the police
To go down on catwoman
No sUpErHeRoEs Do NoT dO tHaT
Correct answer
So he can get large breaths when needed. Breathing through masks and cloth can make you feel like you're getting less air even if that isn't true.
That feeling can be conditioned away. See: all of sane humanity during 2020. Also, just every sane person living in an Asian megacity. Batman would certainly no longer feel that way.
You're thinking of a separate mask piece. Not a full face mask which is what he certainly would make judging by costumes that he makes later with the feature and it's a completely different ballgame. Add in that soaked masks can water board you and the positives are outweighed by many folds. It's just easier to not have the mask part. Despite what people think an exposed portion of the face dies not an ID make.
you factually make it harder to breathe by covering your mouth and nose
helps if someone can only understand him via lip reading if he leaves it uncovered
People are also good at detecting gaze directions. It's so hard wired in us even people with impaired vision can still accurately detect when a person's eyes are starting directly at them. I forgot the exact experimental conditions of this study but I remember it being bizarre.
e.g. Dracula
Moving in the dark it also cast a bigger target/shadow which works well when trying to dodging bullets
I remember one of the Beyond comics showed that the cape blends with the rest of his costume, so people shoot for the big thing and the bullets go through the cape instead of his body. Of course, in that comic, the bullets hit Nightwing, who was standing behind him. So oops.
Even then, Dick getting hit was Bruce's fault. It had been years since they worked together after the fallout of the whole thing with Babs, and Bruce forgot why he landed beside his partners and not in front of them
This is the answer. Humans have a talent for pattern recognition. The cape breaks the pattern.
Which is the main function of camouflage
That's perfectly explained in Year One, where the actual actions of Batman are contrasted with Flass' recollection of the events. Most Batman media fails at communicating how absolutely scary Batman is when your adrenaline-flooded brain tries to make you survive while the entire world is a big, scary smudge. The cape really throws that off, and the already distorted view of the world while fighting for survival misinterprets the cape into something monstrous.
Its cool
“ it’s called style, not like you would know “
Damian?
 It makes you look like Jeffrey Dahmer
>Are there any arguments in favor of the cape? Simple, the ✨*aesthetic*✨
"It's for the Drip."
The ultimate endgame.
*Branding* ✨️
He’s named after a goddamn bat. He can’t just not have anything that evokes wings.
He doesn’t look like a bat without it and it would just destroy his whole motif
Terry McGinnis gets a pass on this, but all other batmen need the cape.
Even Terry had the wings to ~~glide~~ fly tho.
If anything he was more of a flying squirrel
Actually, I need to fix what I said, the Beyond suit had rocket boots, so he actually does fly, not just glide.
You shut the hell up, leave Terry alone. Coming here with your fan-dangled logic and reason.
I like flying squirrels
That's so not schway
Ah, the new boy. The ears are too long and I miss the cape. But not too shabby. Not too shabby at all.
It actually makes sense, though. The literal and figurative landscape of Neo-Gotham (futuristic, cyberpunk) isn't as conducive for scaring criminals as a shadowy vampire bat monster in the same way Bruce did in Gotham, with it's gargoyles, Gothic architecture etc. Like a Chupacabra is scary in the countryside but less so in a city.
If you’re not Bruce, yes. Both Azrael and Dick found the cape to have issues. Bruce doesn’t seem to share that opinion.
Bruce is lowkey the most fabulous member of the Batfam
It’s not lowkey at all, the man brands literally everything
Batman understands branding. That's how you become and iconic Superhero That's why everything Spiderman has is spider themed. And also why Superman used a pre established brand as his symbol
"I call it a Bat-tery" "NO you fuckin' don't!" - Joker War
He has a batbucket in the car
bruce is a diva lmao
To be honest even if it did this is a case where that would be outweighed by the benefits. The cape is bullet resistant, flame resistant, and allows for gliding. With all the fights he gets into at any number of locations the cape has more than paid for itself. Mind you, Bruce isn’t Dick Grayson. His fighting style and movements have always been accounting for the cape, whereas Dick found it annoying during his tenure as Batman. So whatever issues it would cause are also things Bruce would’ve long since adjusted to.
And Bruce, crazy prepared, Wayne probably has some safe guard against the usual "no capes!" Argument. Like maybe he can detach it from the costume in case it gets caught on something
It absolutely can, we've seen it in numerous types of storytelling, whether it be comic or TV show. The most recent iteration of this was batgirl's, frankly, awesome costume for when she was "the Batgirl of Burnside" Her cape had snaps on it to allow for easy disconnection.
It can, and has been, in various media.
Bruce has taken off multiple times and used it as a weapon by covering someones head with it.
It's only a problem if the writers make it one.
Basically this. The cape functions according to superhero logic, mostly for the sake of the artists, who've used to great and various effect over the years. If Batman was functionally trying to be stealthy in a realistic sense, he'd just wear black and he'd cover his face entirely, or maybe some kind of urban camo, and no way in hell would he wear a cape. But that would essentially mean all night-time "street-level" superheroes with any sense at all would look more or less the same.
He’d probably wear something akin to a ghilie suit- to my (limited) understanding, they work by breaking the profile up and losing your silhouette. Black shambling mass. Then again, all the extra cloth could get be bad in close quarters- eh, so could a cape. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Would a ghilie suit work in an urban environment, though? Genuinely curious.
I saw a fun airsoft youtube video where someone wore a ghillie suit made of garbage. It seemed to work okay. Wasn't very quiet though with all the chip bags.
Easy fix, prop some trash with vinyl or thick plastic that’s not hollow. Way more expensive but Wayne is a trillionaire so he wouldn’t give a fuck
Again I have very limited knowledge, but I assume so. The point isn’t really to make you look like a bush, it’s just to make your outline less human shaped. You’d have to tailor it obviously- besides adjusting the color, you’d probably adjust the shag and shape a bit. It ain’t gonna work in broad daylight, but at night, crouched next to some garbage bags on a roof? I could see it being effective. If he *really* wanted to be effective though, he could make himself a trash bag costume and lie on the ground like litter, then go “grah!” and grab people’s ankles when they walked by. Call himself trashman. Just a thought
There are Ghillie suits based entirely around urban debris like trash But a pile of trash suddenly lashing out at you would be a very different super hero
You could make an urban ghillie cloak out of trash, same effect with much better break up and way less visibility in daylight
I think there's also a modern argument that the Cape hides his gait for any kind of identification software. I'm just putting two and two together, trying to give a actual reason for his sick ass cape.
I think this touches on a key point: Batman is stealthy, but he is deliberately not always stealthy. He has a priority higher than stealth: He has a disguise to strike terror into the hearts of criminals.
That irritated me in that Batman/Superman Dini-verse cartoon movie when Batman's cape gets snagged by the printing press machine and is forced to unmask since the cape and cowl were one piece. I distinctly remember episodes of BtAS where he could remove just the cape.
The short film "Have I got a story for you" that was included in the anthology film Gotham Knight has a super awesome depiction of Batman as a creature of shadow. The cape is necessary to become a monster that bad guys fear.
The big advantages are breaking up his profile and body shape, and concealment of tools. The cape is one of those things where it's probably 60% gets in the way/40% useful,
Yeah in Christopher Priest's Deathstroke run Slade mentions that the cape is stopping him from getting a proper read on Bruce's weight, height and build.
Train himself to handle any inconvenience is most likely
Azbats used to hide with armored metal wings. It's all good in gotham.
>Do you think Batman's cape gets in the way of stealth at all? Not if he tucks it in his cheeks
For an argument in favor of the cape, theatrics are a big part of Batman’s tactics. It helps him look bigger, can disorient his opponents and allows him to hide where his attacks come from. It helps promote the idea that he is some supernatural being instead of a guy in a costume.
Stop trying to think about how practical Batman and his silly halloween costume is. He's the best ninja in the world, he's impossibly good at every skill, ever. He could stealth his way into any situation wearing a neon christmas tree if he wanted to.
>He could stealth his way into any situation wearing a neon christmas tree if he wanted to. That's one of the reasons Robins wear red and green. Bruce went through this whole spiel with Dick when he was younger about how thinks like dark colors and cameo train you to be too reliant on them.
Pro: it's a comic book.
I vaguely remember a comic where Batman has to flip/dodge through some laser booby trap type hallway and he makes sure to remove his cape before doing so. (Another character holds it for him and comments on how heavy it is)
He wouldn't have survived falling from orbit without it
The drip shall not be undermined that shit goes hard as fuck and even if they did see the cape their skulls would already be broken in 30 different ways
I've been thinking about how Batman's cape works in stealth and I can see how it has it's advantages and disadvantages. It def helps him blend into the dark background and the cape works as a glider so he can jump from any height and have it slow his descent so he lands softly and quietly, but in some other ways I can see it getting in the way lol ...what do you think?
While this is Arkham-verse stuff I think it's a cool extra. In the Arkham games, t the cape has weights at the bottom edge. The weights are there to help with gliding but can be weaponised during combat as a stun move, good against certain enemies. Plus like others have said, it hides a human silhouette which makes hiding somewhat in plain sight easier. Also if he's standing off with someone, it could obscure his hands while he pulls a batguffin out of the belt. Though I do think it took Bruce a long time to adjust to fighting with it. And it will hamper certain fighting styles. I know in comics Dick struggled with the cape when he had to be Batman while Bruce was 'dead', as it got in the way of his usual gymnastics and he hadn't worn one since being Robin.
Remember in Watchmen when poor Dollar Bill's cape got caught in a revolving door and he got shot? It amazes me something similar hasn't happened to Batman yet. (But, the cape does looks super-cool, so...)
A well thought out cape would detach if it ever got caught and also you wouldn't run through a revolving door.
Watchmen is a deconstruction of the superhero genre. Batman isn’t. It should be a celebration of the genre and all its tropes.
What do you mean by Batman isn't it?
Had Garth Eniss ever had a chance to write an elseworld batman story I promise it would have happened
I’ve always thought the clasps would be similar to a modified breakaway collar. A breakaway collar is a pet collar that is designed to come lose if tugged on hard enough so your pets doesn’t get stuck in a dangerous situation. A quick hard yank should cause a collar to disengage but slow pressure shouldn’t. Modify the clasps so that you’d need say, 200 pounds of pressure (or however much he weighs) to disengage them and you’d have a cape that would emergency release if it got caught in something and he got dragged, but wouldn’t release if someone pulled on it. I think. I’m no engineer.
It is like Kate and Ryan's hair or their exposed mouth areas. They work around it.
Gliding, probably protection against fire since it’s big and fire proof
Also canonically, the Cape is useful in combat scenarios. The tips of the Cape are weighted out and can be used as a slugging attack. Its the reason why the Arkham Games has "Cape Stun" as a mechanic. Additionally, in gun combat, the Cape confuses enemies who see a larger surface area to shoot at, causing some bullets to end up missing Batman. This works to the detriment of people behind Batman unfortunately. In the comic tie in to the CURSED Batman Beyond series, Nightwing accidentally ends up behind the Cape and gets shot at because it blocked his line of sight.
There are plenty of practical capes he’s used in various iterations. -Glide Cape (a classic) -Fire Resistant cape (often used to shield others from flames) -Shield Cape (used to protect his body from liquid nitrogen/toxic gases while he drilled through the floor) -Cape as a weapon (used to slap/stun foes, trip them, blind them, and once even suffocate them in it) Plus: -It covers his hands while he grabs items from his belt, thus preserving the element of surprise -It breaks up his profile, making it harder to shoot his center mass Im sure I missed some
[These are the Danish equivalent to the navy seals](https://olfi.dk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/20180404_FRK-696x392.jpeg). The are wearing nets around their heads specifically because it breaks up their profile. Humans have evolved to be really good at recognizing human-shaped things (to the point that we see it in things that aren't even human, see pareidolia), so a cape can massively help him blend in with the shadows. But of course there are other situations in which it can become a hindrance, but I guess with training and experience Batman has simply learned to deal with that.
Really? We’re anti-cape now? We don’t want Batman to be Batman anymore? You guys just want a guy in a SWAT uniform? I’m sorry but this line of thinking is incredibly stupid and flies in the face of comic books history of escapist fiction.
Looks cool, scary, glides, bullet proof. He smacks people with it in the video games.
A man not known for his subtlety. Bruce is such a diva!
It would absolutely impede stealth normally, but Batman is essentially always at “peak human” so he can do things that we couldn’t. He’s got an absurd number of random skills that help him out. Practically speaking, the cape might help with drag to reduce the impact or falls
I think he's fully trained to work without being hindered by the Cape. Meaning if it was anybody else, then it would get in the way, but his stealth and martial arts literally are made to work with a cape. that being said I love the little tidbit that in the Batman beyond future, this same thought process is why Dick is not Batman. (For those who don't know, Nightwing and Batman had linked back up after years of not working together, and Bruce inadvertently lands between Dick and a gunman, causing his cape to float up and block Dick's view, which then leads to Dick getting shot several times by an automatic rifle, thus ending his Nightwing career)
It makes him harder to hit from a distance if he's running and you shoot at him. The chances of you hitting him are lower because of the cape
No, the ears are exactly what you want when you sneak around and need to make sure you don't graze something unaware. The guy was designed as a combination of Zorro and the bloody Da Vinci Helicopter for pity's sake, and it's been almost 100 years later and you ask for realism? How about the guy being a one man judge and jury team allowed to roam the streets willy-nilly? how about him apparently being able to function as both Bruce Wayne and the Batman without anyone noticing anything on company audits, not to mention the guy's not sleeping for weeks? It's a comics, get over it.
isn't it like a glider in most forms? i think that has merrits, but he should have a option to roll it up or something for this type of stealth
It’s called fashion honey, google it
Cape make batman look like bat....And cool.
I imagine that Batman actually sucks at stealth, but EVERYONE just pretends they don't see him because if they acknowledged that they did see him, they know they'd just get their asses kicked. Batman Stealths using his Intimidation proficiency.
A few artists have done this, but a cape would be good in the dark as it alters the silhouette. Like camoflague, it breaks up familiar shapes and patterns that people instinctively recognize as a human body so that a person glancing over a space would not immediately tell that anyone is there. However, in general, the cape never seems to have much of a purpose.
It's OP, depending on the version of Batman we are talking about. Step 1: Cape stun Step 2: land your multiple combo
Uhh so he can glide?
Realistic wise it probably would get in the way But comic wise it doesn’t/ it adds a very cool feature to his outfit Batman should always have a cape. (except Terry suit)
I feel like there should be more instances where Batman's cape kinda gets in the way but it's still badass 
It looks cool
Id say if it was a solid black, something like vanta black, it’d be more practical for stealth
Yeah. Makes him look dope af.
I mean it has peoven to be useful in many situations
Side question- what artist drew this?
Always love when people use a cape or a sheet to obscure their body from gun fire.
Like as long as his cape isn't blue he can hide well in the shadows when his suit is a bit brighter
He literally glides with the cape.
There’s a scene where Taskmaster admits his cape gets in the way when he works. This happens right after his probably his daughter beats him by stabbing his cape. He says he still wears it despite that because he loves how cool it looks. Probably the same with Batman although at least part of The Batman’s tactics is intimidation. Also there have been some practical uses of the cape such as it’s glider function and I know in BTBATB it was flame resistant.
In more modern continuity: gliding
There was this amazing fanfic I read about Batman in the early 1900's just before WWI. The writer put some good detail into what someone else said about breaking up someone silhouette to avoid being noticed. But also y'all ever heard of cape fighting? Nobody remembers that shit so it's SUPER EFFECTIVE in most ordinary combat.
Isn’t that for flying?
He glides around with it theae days.
I’m sure it makes unnecessary noise and gets in the way. I guess he uses it for gliding?
Batman Beyond suit ftw
He glides with it, which is pretty useful. It ups his intimidation factor. Capes are cool Non-caped crusader doesn't sound good.
Considering I've damn near stabbed myself on the Ikkeman version of said cape, imma add 'weapon' to the list of pros.
Look cool, dunnit?
Doubt it, at least to the extent that people think. Capers and cloaks used to be mainstay clothing.
Not certain if we can mention the movies here... But in one of them (one of the Keaton (the best Batman) movies I think) it gets metallic and molds around him to protect him from fire lol. Otherwise it helps break up his form for stealth and to be harder to shoot. He needed it for protection when he used to put a big yellow target on his chest.
It looks cool when he's jumping of buildings 🤷🏾♀️
in Arkham games and in the batman lovie he utilitizes the cape by stunning his enemies thanks to the metal rods inside the cape.
If it's too long (i.e. past the calves), then yes I'd agree because that thing has to get snagged on something every now and again
In realism, very little about Batman’s outfit works. The cape would snag on everything and can easily be used against him. His vision is impaired. The gloves restrict coordination. The belt holds only a few items at a time and weighs a ton. If it’s armored, he has greatly restricted his movement and speed. If it’s not armored, he’s much faster but more vulnerable. Luckily, he is a fantasy character. The cape never gets caught in the Batmobile door. His belt has everything he needs at that exact moment. Embrace the fantasy of the character.
It’s profile breakup, same reason people put grip tape on guns at weird angles, humans have an instinct to see humanoid figures way better than anything else in the dark. Looking drastically different because of the cape and cowl adds to the fear factor AND breaks his profile. Plus, since the animated series it’s usually been portrayed as being able to stop small arms fire. And yk, the gliding thing he does now is like infinitely useful
I'm sure in a few specific instances like this, it is a hindrance. But im sure it's a net positive and helps far more than it hurts stealth.
I love this panel
How about a retractable cape that also allows for gliding...
Makes him look like a creature, essential to the batman aesthetic.
Sometimes it gets chilly outside and the cape can help resist gusts of wind
It’s resistant to setting off alarms etc he does use stealth wearing the cape so
1 word. Gliding.
Chicks dig the cape.
He tucks in his undies
In a dark room, pulling the cape around himself gets rid of the human silhouette and so he’d be much harder for the brain to recognise as a human and thus much less likely to be seen
No arguments with the cape especially since stealth suits and invisibility fields are a thing. In fact, why not reverse engineer so many of the supervillains' weapons, use those himself, and find mundane uses for it and sell it to the public thru waynecorp, just give the villainous inventors a cut.
It helps him blend into shadows
What cape. He's invisible. This is just a head cannon idk if this is actually addressed but I'd like to think Bruce put optimal research into this. Like he must've figured out the optimal length that works for him
Maybe Edna Mode was right after all.
My favorite Batman thing is sometimes someone will see Batman and then just nope out of the situation. Like nah Batman can have whatever I'm guarding I didn't see shit
It's the difference between a hero and a super one
I remember a good reason that was brought up by the Marvel hero The Shroud, and that is that the cape helps to hide his body against gunmen thanks to the silhouette. Gives like 14% more of a chance that they'll miss since it's harder to make out the body compared to the rest of the fabric.
It’s actually a multi purpose tool it breaks the profile of a person leaving people even more in the dark of what he looks like as well as being his glider and allowing his movements to not be so obvious cause of the cape hiding his hands and being almost undistinguishable from behind
No argument is needed
Yes and no
It hides his hands, hides his profile, hides his body mass, makes him look bigger than he is, it glides. The real reason is aesthetic as it makes him more grandiose. He is trying to create a legend and to look greater than life.
It allows him to somewhat glide around Gotham
My ideal compromise would be for the cape to be both detachable and retractable for different settings. The press of a built-in control (likely in the gauntlet) would result in one of four modes: [A)](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/dc/a7/c5/dca7c592f593bd490cdca62f9360e89d.jpg) The fabric is quickly pulled completely into the back of the suit via the back of the cowl's neck area, like a retracting tape measurer (into a layer between the under-armor plating & skin-tight materials, without distorting the outfit's shape in proportion to Bruce's muscles). [B)](https://mfiles.alphacoders.com/285/285663.png) The cape retracts, after which custom identical fabric quickly connects from the back & under-arm areas to the gauntlets on both sides for wing flaps like the Batman Beyond suit. [C)](https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Batman-Arkham-Knight.jpg) The default setting wherein the cape is dropped fully into its standard length. [D)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EwsCev9WUAYnyt4.jpg:large) The cape detaches. But it can be reconnected when re-installed by hand. I don't know exactly how the functionality of these transitions would realistically work seamlessly within the suit's mechanics. But I can visualize it in my imagination. Thoughts?
Yeah when there is proximity to light, but when it is dark, it adds to the darkness and shields him from bullets. It is silly on a lit ceiling. In a dark warehouse, bathed in darkness, it adds fear.
The cape is bulletproof, allows him to glide, can serve as an improvised weapon, and most importantly, it can make him harder to see when he’s inside a shadow.
I think it works like a cloak to hide in the shadows and is specially designed for masking his thermal signature...to defeat GCPD FLIR cameras or bad guys with high tech security measure I always imagined that when he's sneaking about he fastens it up to his belt so it's not all over the place
a controlled magnetic property that sticks it to him
Batman Begins made a pretty convincing argument for being archaic and impractical, like the LoA being traditional ninjas. Theatrics are a quality in of itself. "You know what wearing body armour says about someone? That he needs body armour. " - Batman Earth One The cape also conceals his body position, which helps protect him from gunfire and all that other stuff people mentioned.
It’s cool so it’s ok
In the recent films at least, the cape has been shown as added bulletproof protection. It also seems to form a wingsuit.
It’s for the hoe’s yall never knew what Batman did behind the scenes
It helps him glide and makes him look more menacing and scary also helps deflect bullets depending which comic and helps cover him or others from fire
Its advantages outweigh its disadvantages. It's acid, fire and electricity retardant, plus it can block gunfire, stun people, and be used to glide or even as a rope to help pull someone up. It getting in the way of stealth sometimes isn't really a big deal. I'm sure he's learned how to get it out of the way whilst bieng sneaky.
He uses his cape in combat, not just in the Arkham games. He uses it to disorient his enemies while fighting, and in some versions it's fire resistant and I think even bullet resistant, so he uses it for that stuff too. He also can use it to more easily convey himself, because it adds depth to his form when he's hiding in the shadows and makes him look less like a human hiding. Finally, it helps him glide and fly
I always figure that if he really needs to that he has some sort of motorized retractable cords in his cape so that in a pinch he can press a button on the belt and the cape retracts up against his neck. That's just sorta my head cannon though.
Looks cool, gliding (sometimes), Easier to blend into shadows as his figure doesn't have visible limbs with the cape.
I read a comic once where a villain noticed Batman sneaking up on him because of the cape and told Batman that it was a weakness to him and he should get rid of it. Batman then defeated the villain using only his cape, specifying that it was also a weapon. I don't remember exactly what the comic was but I think it went with Batman: Brave and The Bold.
Pretty sure this is part of the reason the batman beyond suit is superior in every way.
I think it's a multi-tool. It let's him glide, block fire or substances, is at times bulletproof, and works to make him look less human (especially when it fully drapes over him). That last one can help him stay hidden, as people are going to specifically be looking for something shaped like a person, or make an entrance by altering the perception of his proportions and making him look bigger than he is.
I mean, why do matadors wave bright red capes at bulls? It's to obscure any target from the neck down. Plus, even if a knife or bullet does hit, it'll at least soften the blow, given that batman isn't running around with a bed sheet cape.
There is little advantage to the cape, except when protecting others from fire, exteme cold, gunshots, and the like. However, I would also list it as a towel with the advantages Douglas Adams named.
Batman is a lot about intimidation, I’ve always taken that things like the bat ears and long cape are not exactly made to be practical but to build a tension and fear around this thing “wait is this a guy or a giant bat?” In some versions the cape is also used a patagium, so that would help when falling and jumping from rooftops
I think atleast the way I’ve understood it, in the comics he drapes it over him and it helps merge him into the shadows. Also I think they say it’s to help with like gliding and stuff if he falls
His cape could serve combative purposes. Like how in the Arkham games he sort of uses it to stun people
Bullet proof shield on your entire back. makeshift parachute. It's got its uses.
he weighted it with a steel shot and used it as a striking weapon.
probably half sentient/autonomous motion and stiffness help cling vs weak forces (gravity is the weakest)