Film Theory: Batman Is STEALING From You!

When MatPat does a better job teaching you about the basics of economics than your high school does in a single video.

The only thing I found good about Batman & Robin was when Batman and Robin were bidding...the funny part of it was that Robin was probabaly gonna use Bruce's money.

5:40 "He's the true hero." Except for the fact that he was trying to blackmail both Bruce and Lucius by being paid $10 mil a year, the same money being invested to the company.

There is a couple problems with the Theory. 1) He OWNS the company when the takes the Batmobile and the other equipment in the first movie because it all happens BEFORE the company goes public. So there are no shareholders to consider. 2) He mentions the Charities are BUYing the stock, so their is NO insider gifting. The shares which he didn't yet control were put up for public trade and he BOUGHT them from the stock market. It's a very typical tactic in Hostile Take Overs when a person or group is trying to take over a majority holding in a company but don't want anyone to know because that might lead to a bidding war on the stock as people hear about the high demand for the stock. 3) Bruce doesn't burn down his house that's just a news story to cover what really happen. Also the news story came out on the same day as the stock going public so it hardly has time to effect things. Also Bruce is NOT the CEO of Wayne enterprises he just went from Owner to Majority shareholder. The day to day and now public face of the company is L. Fox. Unlike Musk who is the CEO of his companies. 4) It is possible to own 100% of stock in a company so Bruce could through various shell companies own 100% of the shares in his company thus no defrauding of retirement funds and such happens. We don't really know as we don't get to see the books. 5) Wayne Enterprise has never been just a money faucet for Batman. He often uses it to fund projects which create jobs and provides to charitable causes. It's even shown in an episode of The Batman series were Nightwing talks to Robin about why he left, as he thought Batman went to far one night roughing up this criminal in front of his family as the guy had run from the crime scene back to his house. Afterwards they find a wallet that belongs to that same guy from all those years ago with a Wayne Enterprise employee badge in it. They return the wallet and the guy who then tells them the story of how that fateful night scared him straight and how Bruce Wayne was one of the only people willing to give an x-con like him a chance at a job. He talks about how he's thankful to have turned his life around and that when ever he passes Bruce at work that Bruce always takes the time out to ask how he and his family are doing. So yeah using his company and position to help get people that most companies would give a hard pass to a second chance is hardly the move of some greedy Billionaire just look to increase their own profit margin. So many people get caught up in the Batman persona and talk about Bruce as being a mask to hide his true face but really it's a bit more complex than that. The out going charitable Bruce is who he really is deep down. The play boy Bruce that he dawns is a Mask to give excuse for his absences and other unexplainable events. While Batman is who has become to battle against crime. But there are tons of examples of the kindness of Batman as he often tries to talk his foes down. Look at much of the Dr. Freeze episodes from the animated series, and he even uses Wayne enterprises to fund looking for a cure to treat Freeze's wife.

I wonder how much money Batman has saves through damage prevention and stopping criminal activity, it would be interesting to see a comparison of the cost of Batman vs the financial impact of his vigilante work

I will say this. Kyle [edit] Coleman Reese was hardly defending the shareholders. He found out what happened and immediately tried to blackmail Lucius and Bruce to keep quiet.

I like how mat glosses over the accountant only finding out this information to blackmail Bruce and the company lol

"I might be crazy enough to fight Batman, but the IRS? No sir'ee!" - Joker, from Batman The Animated Series

This is why Bruce Wayne from the Animated Series is the best. He’s not only one of the best Batman’s out there, but he’s always looking out for ways to help the people of Gotham using his wealth and influence. For example, in the Ridder origin story episode, Bruce is working on a merger between Wayne Industries and another company. The other guy just wants the money, but Bruce wants the merger to happen so they can create more jobs to lower unemployment, something that is a high factor for rising crime. TL;DR: Animated Bruce is the GOAT.

This is why I enjoyed the off hand explanation that the Justice League cartoon had. Batman used Wayne Enterprise to fund the League, as well as them getting money from various governments, with this he could publicly fund his vigilante escapades while doing it legally. His company probably even made money from this due to people responding to the company's "good-will", hard to not be impressed with a company that "donates" so much to keep everyone safe, and tax write offs lots of those, have to image it would be considered similar to donating to charity. He could also make money by using subsidiary companies to do the construction so the "donation" that technically was billions would really only cost the company material and labor, muuuuuch less.

You kind of lost me on the “Batman beats up poor people” argument when Begins has him subdue a corrupt cop and prevents Gotham from being overrun with fear toxin. Kind of like, yea, when I see henchmen working for this kind of guy is loses me. Same for guys who see Joker burning a giant pile of money, I’m sure they’re not thinking of trying to feed their families but instead side with Joker’s ideologies enough to work for that. “Don’t worry Tommy, once Dr. Craine floods the streets of Gotham with his evil chemicals and makes it into a whole madhouse, Daddy will have enough money to get you that PS3 you wanted for Christmas so you don’t have to fall into a life of crime.”

The main problem with the Falcon (and the thing he doesn't want to address with the banker who apparently doesn't already know) is that before he was killed in The Snap and restored in The Blip, he was a fugitive from the law, having taken Cap's side in the dispute over the Sokovia Accords. Apparently the government decided to latch onto some of that We Saved The World goodwill and drop the charges and hush up the whole "international fugitive" thing. But any stipend he got from the Avengers (as well as any benefits like life insurance) would have disappeared when he quit the team and went on the run. Btw, in the comics, the Avengers do receive a weekly stipend (it was $1000 per week in the 1960s, no idea what it is now, but presumably it was adjusted for inflation). It's paid by the Maria Stark Foundation, which is a nonprofit set up and endowed by Tony Stark. No government money involved.

Fair point re: Wayne Enterprises going public. That's exactly why it only happened because of underhanded maneuvering that Bruce Wayne had to scramble a bit to overcome. Wayne didn't want the company to become publicly traded, and he had enough money outside of Wayne Enterprises to buy up "most of" the shares that were offered to the public. I'd imagine he'd gradually buy up the rest and take the company private again if it's at all possible.

"We're criminals, Alfred. We've always been criminals." - Bruce

The interesting fact is that, in the same comic book arc mentioned in wich joker steals bruce's money, he also completaly destroys a years long planing project of bruce to, using his money and his company, make fundamental strategic changes in Gotham that would end up improving the city in such a major way that it would basicly no longer even need a batman. Because bruce for a long time has known that the job he does as batman, even if important in many ways, is not enough and doesn't hold a candle to the good he can do by using his money and company to actually make structural changes to the status quo of this over corrupted city

He could also say that he is just conducting research and development and therefore can write off not only the materials but also his time for all of the Batman activities

I like how they just ignored the fact that the guy “who is defending” the shareholders like he didn’t just threaten and ask for hush money from Lucius and Bruce instead of giving that information for the shareholders, I guess being selfish is worth getting praised if it’s going against a vigilante.

How was Reese the hero when he tried to blackmail Lucius for $10M a year to keep a secret?

There's also the problem of how he tries to hide his identity with his mask. It only covers half his face. Someone might still recognize him. Also, he better do all his vigilante work at night and stay in the shadows if he does it during the daytime. Staying long enough in the sun could make a sun tan mark on his face.

Considering that one of the plots of Batman comics books has Ra's al Ghul figured out Batman identity by figuring that only one of richest person in Gotham must be Batman so he follows the money trails that led him to Bruce Wayne leading to batman making sure to be more careful of how he do his finances. So obviously the comics is already aware of this facts.