How Much Does It Cost To Be Batman?
July 17, 2012 in Editorial, Top
We all think about it several times a day (it’s not just us, right?…right?) How much would it cost to become Batman? In anticipation of the impending release of The Dark Knight Rises, Centives decided to find out.
Batman Begins establishes in painstaking detail what it takes to become a caped crusader. Bruce Wayne first decides that he needs to find out what life is like for the poor, and escapes as a stowaway on a ship. Cost: $0.
After stealing and ending up in jail, Bruce Wayne is then solicited by the League of Shadows. They know that he’s a billionaire and so they probably charged Bruce Wayne to train him in the way of the ninja (after all, serving the cause of true justice by doing things like destroying Gotham City isn’t exactly something you make money from – you have to find sources of revenue somewhere.) An elite personal martial arts instructor costs $60 an hour. As Batman you’ll want to train for, say, four hours a day, six days a week. Assuming that it takes about a year of training the bill comes out to $74,880.
Bruce Wayne then returns to Gotham City – but he does so in a private jet. You’re also going to have to charter a plane since you can’t sneak back into the United States on a freight ship – border control would likely catch you. And you can’t just fly first class on a commercial jet since China’s immigration officials will want to know how you got into the country without a visa. Bluestar Jets promises to find you a private plane for as little as $1,550 an hour. A nonstop flight from Beijing to New York takes about 13 hours so you’re out another $20,150.
Now we come to the equipment stage. Lucius Fox outlines exactly what it takes:
- Kevlar Utility Harness ($337.39)
- Gas-powered magnetic grappling gun (you’ll have to do with a simple grappling hook $26.95 – although you could try launching it out of a gas-powered t-shirt cannon for $1,750.00)
- Nomex survival suit for advanced infantry. Kevlar bi-weave, reinforced joints, tear resistant and bullet proof. (Lucius Fox tells us that it costs $300,000)
- Memory cloth. (Look you won’t find some fabric that will allow you to fly. Your best bet is a hand glider and the cheapest is $3,390)
- The Tumbler. (The closest analogue we could find is a Humvee. You won’t be tearing around roof tops in this $140,000 vehicle, but slap a bat sticker on it, make sure you stay on dark roads, and nobody will know the difference. It comes in black for an additional $1,500.)
And for the rest Bruce Wayne has to improvise. He orders 10,000 graphite helmets. These go for $244 each, although we’re sure that for such a large order you could negotiate the price down to $200. Total comes out to $2 million. He stuffs a sound amplifier into the bat-ears, and these cost $29.95.
This is perhaps a good time to mention the cost of a Butler. We don’t know how much Bruce Wayne pays Alfred, but you can get an executive personal assistant to dress your wounds, cook you meals, clean the bat droppings, and engage in witty banter for $30 an hour. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and you’ll be paying them $262,800.
You’ll then need some batarangs. 10 hunting boomerangs should be good enough ($281.30). Batman also carries some explosives on him, and you can get five riot grenades for $875.
Finally you’ll needs some black spray paint to bring it all together. 20 cans should do it, and the total comes out to $121.60.
You’re still missing a transmitter that can attract hundreds of screeching bats to provide cover for your escape – but rather than splurge on something like that, just carry a set of civilian clothes with you, change out of your costume, and casually walk out, blending in with the locals.
The total bill? $2.8 million to show the criminal scum that the city doesn’t belong to them. However, if you decide that you’re willing to take the risk and order just one graphite helmet rather than 10,000, you can strike terror in the hearts of criminals for just $806,386.19.
Read our entire coverage of The Batman over here, and find out how much the Bruce Wayne is worth. You can find this and other articles in our Editorials although for a selection of the best check out our Greatest Hits. And be sure to stay in touch:
that’s true
Well, here’s an alternative:
Let’s say that as soon as Bruce’s mom and dad are dead, he vows to avenge them immediately, and starts training right away. He could probably pull off junior MMA, at least three foreign languages, biology, chemistry, robotics, boxing, gymnastics, advanced computing nada whole bunch of reading about other forms of fighting from, let’s say fourth grade to freshman year of high school, enrolling at a Boarding school, we’ll say $50000 from point A to point B. From Freshman to Senior, he takes all of those classes AGAIN, so just ad $20000 to make sure he knows what he’s doing. Finally, in college, he might take a flying class, acting, and a few more martial arts, not accounting for business(Wayne Ent. needs a CEO) will need, say $15000. Then, let’s assume that Alfred is more of a family friend, and just serves as a guardian. That wouldn’t cost anything, so on we go to world tour. He might go to Asia, and learn something about fighting from the monks, which don’t need money in the first place. Maybe his trip home costs as much as the one there, disguising himself as someone else, so middle class isn’t that bad. That’ll land you with about $300. He then might buy an Urban Security Jacket (a lightweight top that will protect you from a pretty tall order of damage). This, along with a nomex suit over that and football pants, would cost about $950. Combat boots, MMA gloves and a utility belt are around $100 all together, and he can improvise a cowl from the hood on the jacket. A cape could be made out of some old metal railing and a parachute to make a sensibly cheap and effective glider(about &250 in itself). Now for weapons. He could most likely make Batarangs from some spare metal he found lying around. Sonic grenades can be a good distraction, so he’d get those at a cheap $50. Tear gas grenades make for a good escape, but that also means you’d have to get a gas mask. Throw in another $300. You can get co2 gun and micro pocket grappling hooks(say, about ten) for around $1200. You could also throw in some tranq darts to use with the same gun, 20 for $150. Rope is around $20. Alright, now youll need away to get around. A Lamborghini spyder will come to around $15000, all batman like features included. A cool motorcycle would be around $4000. Finally, a private helicopter stealth bomber hybrid might come in to $400000. Now you’ll need a place to put it all, and the military sells missile silos for, maybe $10000. A good computer, and a large moniter will sell at $1000. You could probably make a cage for the suit, and I don’t think a lazy Susan for the batmobile is necessary. You do the math, I’m tired… of crime I this city…
Think you forgot few zeroes from the vehicle costs.. (And definitely from Missile Silo.)
fuck batman. i’ll pay 200$ for steroids/ 8 bucks for green painting spray. and before you know it i’m an incredible hulk.
shit man thats messed up. BATMAN IS BEAST
it needs a big list of the batman producer.. there are so much things to pay for!!
How Much Does It Cost To Be me?
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999…
i want to be Batman but i don’t have enough money
so,who can help me?
You gotta remember…. “Batman didn’t build that. Somebody else built that.”
That’s funny!!
wow, your numbers are so far off its ridiculous.
batmobile = humvee?
and you assume that all of these gadgets are mass produced and for sale at some store, no new R&D needed?
you school must not be teaching you very well
twit. who made you the Bat professional “your numbers are so far off its ridiculous” lol.. sound like an authority on all things Bat. haha.
go back in your bedroom. you wont get a date spewing this.
Wow you actually took these numbers as gospel? Your school must not be teaching you humor at all.
Who’s better: Batman or Superman, and why?…
Just a reminder that I’m still waiting for you to produce something resembling intelligent thought to support your many ludicrous claims. These guys found that contrary to your wild assertion, being Batman costs a mere $2.8 million — chump change to …
Umm I think you are forgetting that his gadgets were sitting in some warehouse and therefore wouldn’t have to be brought. See the first movie.
Totally undershot the jet price… $1550/hr may get you a VLJ (Very Light Jet) with a range of 2000nm at the most. To fly from China to NY nonstop you’re going to need a Heavy jet, like a Gulfstream 550 or Bombardier Global Express, and that is going to cost you at least $10,000 per hour.
I think some of this is forgetting one very important aspect.. R&D costs.. (The Tumbler may have cost 300K to build, but I’m sure the R&D costs are closer to the million+ range. And we have to remember, that the costs are building costs (you own the factory). Bruce Wayne isn’t buying retail folks.. (so different price structures).
If you stick to real name accounts like I do, you’ll never have mishaps like this, Bruce. Also, *my* suit costs a lot more than yours.
The Tumbler is way to cheap. It reminds me much more of the German/Dutch military vehicle “Fennek” with costs of €4.5 million per unit, that’ll be $5.5m.
They’ve said that the cost of building a Tumbler would be about $250,000 🙂
I would have thought a tumbler, being a once off vehicle, heavily modified & armed would represent a huge cost. For example a US Army Stryker, comparable in terms of capability, cost $3.8m. The program alone cost several billion to develop the vehicle. So unless Bruce Wayne was developing an armoured vehicle for the US Army and then basically modified the design for his own purpose then the cost for the Batmobile would easily exceed $1b.
Bat plane easily 7 figures for a single unit and again 10 figures for development. Unlikely Bruce could use a design for a military contract seeing how military has gone for the F-35. Maintenance on that bastard, $5-10k for every hours flight time.
Oh and you forgot about all the physical therapy batman needs for all of those hits and tumbles he takes. Sure his a ninja but surely his in huge pain. Hell you might as well calculate the cost of constant heroin use. Maybe an in suit injection system that just keeps pumping full of opiates. See being mega rich and motivated batman could easily use heroin everyday and it wouldn’t be a problem for him.
To be completely fair, the Tumble IS an abandoned military weapons platform mildly adapted for nightly Bat-activities. And it appears to have been a one-off until it was seen dispatching criminals from the streets of Gotham, according to early trailers (I have intentionally NOT seen trailers or news articles for months now, so that may have changed).
In short, at least for the first iteration, the Batmobile of the Nolan universe appears to have been 100% bought and paid for by the time Bruce Wayne borrowed it.
you forgot it cost Martha and I our lives.
Sh!t, wrong account, ignore that last one.
Yup, give or take half a million, that’s pretty accurate.
How much DO you pay Alfred?
Do you think I could win him over with railroad bonds?