Every single person in society needs companions for their mental well-being. Even the loners, anti-social, and introverts have a few people in their lives that they call and consider their friends. Sadly, Batman’s self sworn war against crime comes with a heavy toll. Because of his duty as a guardian, he is not allowed to have a lot of friends.
Batman is well known to be one of the most amazing and hard-working heroes of DC comics, a perfect example of a man dedicated to his cause. Batman’s deep sense of justice and his responsibility to implement that justice is the keen aspects of his behavioral traits that are never going to change. After all, these are the very things that make him who he is.
A Sacrifice For The Greater Good
Severing all existing bonds and leading a life of loneliness is a big but necessary price to pay for the dedicated cause to bring justice to the criminals to seek to harm others. However, for someone who has to maintain two personas in order to protect the one close to them, maintaining a healthy friendship, or a relationship of any kind, romantic or otherwise to the very same people they are trying to keep from harm, seems kinds impossible like seen in Batman’s case. Even though he is the first name that pops into mind when thinking of a social person, that is something that he has to do rather than wanting to do it.
Batman’s Curse
As revealed in recent Batman and detective comics, it’s clear that he has an accursed history when it comes to his connections. Everyone who Batman befriends or opens up to ends up turning on him. Fighting off Hush, aka his childhood friend, Tommy Elliot, Ghost-Maker, his pre-Batman rival and one-time confidant, and Two-Face, aka adult Bruce Wayne’s once political and personal ally, Harvey Dent, Batman has had a rollercoaster of a past making friends. Batman’s Dark alter ego and his sense of justice often seem to outweigh the needs of his mortal half who is in some desperate need of friends.
Hush and Ghost Maker serve as the perfect examples, showcasing how some of Bruce’s earliest and special bonds that he didn’t abandon when he transcended while turning into The Dark Knight, went on to become some of his greatest enemies.
This permanently altered Bruce’s mind-frame that ultimately led him to believe that no matter how hard he tried to keep his connections or how much faith he put in them, he’ll always end up disappointing him. Batman might never change the way he feels about his work ethic or his mission which prohibits him from having close friends as he always ends up losing them, however, there will always people superman and others from the league that would be there for him when he needs support.
