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What do you think would have happened to Bruce Wayne if his parents were poor when they died?

I think that he would have gone the complete opposite route and become a street thug. He would have spent his entire childhood in and out of the system. There is no way in my mind that he could have become BATMAN without butt loads of cash.

Makes sense.

NOT REALLY, HE WOULD HAVE BECOME SOMETHING LIKE THE PUNISHER

He would have grown up in an orphanage; then, 2 possibilities
-mind problems ( he has actually got some with bats) & out of the system (as hatemachine told it)

- Quote " He grew angry and vengeful, he became Magneto..." (X-men, B. Singer, 2000) => He would have become an outlaw looking for a vengeance against society

I definitely think that Wayne is powered by his hunger for vengeance...against life

If he still managed to became batman. His cape would be made of bin liner and his grapple thing would be made of tissues tied together with an empty coke can on the end lol..oh and he would have a 30's type bat bike .Thus he would most likeley die against some street thug

If Bruce's parents were poor, i don't think they would have been murdered in the first place.

Very true.....

I didn't think they weren't robbed and killed because they were rich, it was just a random mugging on the return from an evening out, poor people go out too and could have also been mugged.

Dunno, if I was a mugger, I don't think I would mug someone who was visibly poor, I would want to mug rich people to get more money...

It's dark it's late, not many Rich people flaunt their wealth, they could be dressed as anyone else was.

Well actually Bruce's parents were showing off their wealth. Like Bruce's mother was actually wearing pearls whe she was murdered.

eh...it was the Jack..he robs EVERYONE!!
jack isnt biased

The pearls could have been fake, do you think they were robbed by robin Hood?

I think it makes no differents if they were poor or not (ok, the attributes wouldn't be there)
he would still fight against evil like he does now and help justice

They are many elseworlds in the comic on which they modificate bruce wayne's life, even they changed batman for superman and superman for batman. Batman will always be Batman if you know how to present him. Still I preffer the original story.

in the comics bruce got his high intelligence from private schools , so if his parents were poor he wouldnt have been able to nurish his intelligence and wouldnt have been batman, hed prolly be some drunk and end up shooting himself in the head at some dirty old nasty jerk off booth in those porn huts in the city

I gotta say the most likely possibilities are, in my opinion:

He becomes a drunk and kills himself
Becomes street thug
Or a like-Batman vigilante (Just with out the money, car, and gadgets. He would also have a street fighting style)

exactly because they were rich and looked riched they were mugged and then killed. So if they were poor they would not likely be killed in a mugging.

well that would suck for him trying to fight crime in a home made custum prolly using boomarangs to hold on to walls instead of his trusty gizmo's

i think that having big bucks only made the job easier for him.That wasn't his Motivational force.

Fact: the socioeconomic bracket most likely to be victimized by crime is the lower class. It doesn't matter that they have less wealth; they have less protection, and they are more likely to live and work in closer proximity to criminals.
Don't bother arguing tis point. I'm an up and coming criminologist, just like our favorite traumatized orphan once was.

Also, there are different continuities for the Batman's life. I'm not talking about Elseworlds, I'm talking about Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis continuity, including "Batman: Year Two." Also, the book "Batman: the Ultimate Evil."
Pre-crisis, the Wayne's were killed because someone had a beef with Dr. Thomas Wayne and hired Joe Chill to make it look like a mugging gone bad. He shot Thomas twice and Martha dies of shock. The Batman caught up with Joe Chill eventually, finding the crook was still a crook, but had no memory of the killing due to a car accident that induced amnesia. Hardcore fans know how Chill ended soon after.
Post-Crisis, I'm not exactly sure why it happened, but it is referred to as an act of random violence in which Thomas and Martha were shot once each. In "Batman: Year Two," the Batman comes across Joe Chill and is forced to team up with him to fight a vigilante called the Reaper. Little Bruce apparently took Chill's gun after his parents died and hid it. In this story, he brings it out and trains with it, planning to kill Joe Chill when the time is right. In the end, the Reaper shoots Chill before the Batman can decide what he would do.
In "Batman: the Ultimate Evil" (at least the novelized version), Alfred brings a buried document to the Batman that shows a connection between child sex-trade rings and Martha Wayne. She was a social worker who pursued justice for exploited children, trying to take this operations down. Bruce says that he always thought that night was about his father, and now it seems as though his mother was the target for assassination. The Batman, of course, continued his mother's work and even went as far as to personally depose the leader of a nation in which child prostitution/slavery was legalized. Deposed him good, the Batman did.

Logan, are you actually studying criminology?What are you gonna do with it exactly if you dont mind me asking?I hope you're not planning on become a costumed vigilante!I only ask coz I'm about to start my training in the Metropolitan Police in London and am therefore interested in such subjects myslef.Ive already studied psychology myself too.

Personally, I think that had Bruce's family been poor, he would have risen up to become Bat-Bum... Protector of the Lower Class, and Vindicator of the Bourgeoisie.

LOL!hehe!

Fruitfly-man; a one day wonder than got into too much debt

Yes, I am a criminology and criminal justice major. As to the second question, how could you even ask me that? Of course I'm going to become a costumed vigilante! What else does one do with a criminology degree?

You're going to be a cop? That's awesome! Even if it's only in England.

I considered being a cop for a while. Due to medical problems and the realization that my personality is not so suited to blind obedience and restraining myself with criminals, I have mostly given up on it. Also, I've got some cognitive difficulties that make me prone to being less observant and memory lapses. That doesn't make for a good cop. I don't know yet what I want to do for a career. Masked vigilante was on the top of my list, but there are many obstacles to getting into that line of work.

You gotta let me know what kind of equipment you Brits get to carry around. You may not have guessed this from my strong prediliction for the world of the Batman, but my main interest in being a cop was all about the utility belt.

Damn right its about the utility belt! Whats this 'only in England' mean : )? I'm in London which in recent AND current years is a haven for violent crime, drug/people trafficking(please spell check), petty theft, organised crime(which most of it is linked to). In London we all gotta wear bullet-proof vests now(well I will when I start, prob wont even start the 18 week training camp until July though) and The usual nightstick which I've been practicing twirling around and throwing Daredevil style! They don't seem to ricochet as his billy clubs do though! .The whole belt includes loads of stuff. I know what you mean about the restraint thing. I've been chucked out of many a pub/club for stepping in on behalf of others in altercations, but the doormen just chuck everyone out don't they! In 'the Met'(Metropolitan police(London)) we get more gear than anyone else in the UK coz London has the most Gun crime and violent crime(closely followed by Manchester). I could be a costumed vigilante on the side, it'd be the perfect cover-up - hide in plain sight. Fight crime by day and by night! sh*t, that rhymes!I'm a pretty good athlete(boxing,soccer,athletics) so I could be a mediocre, non-powered vigilante!he!he!VERY MEDIOCRE THAT IS. I can see me running to the edge of a rooftop about to make a jump, then reaching the end and saying 'sh*t, no way can I make that!'

As for if Bruce's parents were poor. He'd still be Gotham's main protector. With is Drive and determination he'd have acquired all his skills anyway(Matt Murdock from the slums of Hell's Kitchen did). He'd probably have acquire his own fortune through his obviously natural business savvy and intellect and his obssessiveness. Like myself, Batmans greatest weapon is his obsession.

Kal-El, all you need is three friends to join you and you could be the "Mediocre Four."

You know, Nightwing is a cop by day. He uses batons. What kind of baton are you using? It can't be a cane that fires a grapple, and I doubt it looks like Daredevil's in any other way. Is it the club-shaped kind or a rod with a handle on it?
You say you'll be wearing bullet-proof vests (a great idea), but will you be carrying a gun? I thought English cops didn't carry those, but that might have changed in recent years. School me on that, won'tcha?
I have a steel, telescoping baton that many cops over here in the States use. I'm not trained or anything, but I am paranoid.
Good luck to you in your righteous endeavors.

cheers bud! Mediocre 4!Good one!: )

Yeah, I thought about Nightwing when I first wanted to be a cop.My 'in-costume' self could help out with my 'in uniform' self.That would prob be too obvious though, like when DD used to compile evidence for Murdock(whos blindness gave him the perfect cover).As for non ballistic weaponary we have a choice of the nightstick(more like a club), the telescopic one like you have, or the truncheon (which has a handle).As for guns, they're for scaredy cats, but they would be useful given how many there are on London's streets. We don't get them unless we do extra training or if we're in the 'firearms unit'(our SWAT). I think guns will be given to beat-cops soon coz too many thugs have 'em now(even though they're so hard to buy).

You're not paranoid, I've got a self crafted, 5foot cast-iron staff with rubber grips and silver ends that I keep by my bed. It's beautifully made though(if I don't say so myslef).

You should join the Mediocre 4, we'll get some radio active gunk from somewhere and see what happens(since we haven't got a spaceship to get some cosmic radiation).

Just thought of a lower class sidekick for Bat-Bum: Rubbish!

Yeah i think Batman would have made it like Daredevil not sure what profession he would choose a Cop or a lawyer not sure.

Yeah in London it is getting dangerious becasue my girlfriends brothers a cop in London and he actually has to check under his car to see if there is a bomb evertime he wants to go out

Stay on topic .
People get mugged, rich or poor, so enough already.
The point is whether or not he would be Batman.
Someone posted that 'private schools gave him intelligence' - we all know that education & training is what help craft a person's natural intellect, but i doubt any prep school was responsible for the primary tutelage for Mr. Wayne in crime fighting.
He would simply have went the poor man's route to an education - it's called the library.
Physical training would have been the same, maybe joining the military or becoming a cop. If he felt that he needed to do more, he would have still become Batman, just more low tech, like Punisher.

Well the deal is it was Alfred (the butler) who made sure the Bruce never went dark. He was a father to him. He raised him but no comic book calls him a father figure (i would no i am an expert) i can answer the question if u answer this, Is alfred still with Bruce even though the waynes are poor? cause if not its like changing alot of Bruce's life even without money, alfred could guide him to becoming a force of good

Batman's greatest weapon is his mind and knowledge of right and wrong. not everything is black and white, there is gray for example, catwoman.
(Read Hush Volume Two you will see.)

hatemachine is right, people from lower sectors of society do develop differently.

he probally would be like the punisher or darevil