Despite spending much of his life terrorizing the criminal underworld or stuck in deathtraps while exchanging puns with a dude dressed as a question mark, Batman has found the time to take up a number of political jobs. With that in mind – and given candidates’ recent attempts to invoke nerd culture in their campaigns – I figured it’d be fun to take a close look at Bruce Wayne’s various ventures into institutional politics.
Regardless of what you may think of the Dark Knight’s politics, Bruce Wayne is often presented as socially engaged:
Batman #408
That said, Gotham City’s favorite billionaire didn’t seem to take things very seriously when he ran for councilman, in 1987:
Detective Comics #573
As far as comics about politics go, this isn’t exactly a sharp satire in the mold of Weapons of Mass Diplomacy (or even Ex Machina), but I just love the way Bruce wears that smile like a mask, while discreetly throwing the alcohol away… Also, in his defense, he wasn’t interested in winning anyway. In fact, Bruce’s whole bid for City Council was only a ploy to lure the hat-obsessed villain Mad Hatter by metaphorically throwing a hat into the political ring (the same reason Jim Webb ran for president, I assume).
Before that, there was the time Bruce Wayne became Mayor of Gotham City (always a dangerous career move). I’m not even talking about the hilarious 1960s’ TV episodes where Batman ran against the Penguin (needless to say, he literally put up a fight!), but about the comic in which Gotham’s elected mayor went on vacation for a week and appointed his replacement through a raffle… By sheer chance, Bruce’s name was drawn, so he became temporarily in charge of City Hall. You know, democracy.
Bruce didn’t do much while in power though, since he kept obsessing over the fact that, in the exact same week, a criminal had decided to start impersonating the Caped Crusader:
Detective Comics #179
In a classic political move, Bruce hypnotized his secretary into believing that he (the secretary) was Mayor Bruce Wayne, thus providing an alibi while the real Batman went after the impersonator. In the end, the Dark Knight caught the bad guy and prevented a profitable kidnapping, although I still think he should’ve used those hypnotizing powers to renegotiate the city’s public debt.
At a more national level, Bruce became senator for a few days back in the sixties. And while he only participated in one vote, he sure did it with typical passion:
The Brave and the Bold #85
(Yep, it was an Anti-Crime Bill.)
Probably impressed by this display of red-blooded fervor, the following year Washington appointed Bruce Wayne as ambassador to an ill-defined South American country, in ‘The Striped Pants War!’ (The Brave and the Bold #96). Bruce was sent to sign a security treaty after the previous ambassador had been abducted by a terrorist group sinisterly called Compañeros de la Muerte. Luckily, the Caped Crusader happened to show up in the country at the same time – what a fortunate coincidence!
Because it was written by Bob Haney, this story was a go-for-broke thrill ride that included Batman bullfighting for his life and a badass Alfred saving the day. Also, at one point Sgt. Rock got crushed under a Spanish Inquisition torture device, leading to the great line ‘Remember, old soldiers never die – they just re-enlist!’
Still, this wasn’t even the most ludicrous diplomatic mission in the DC Universe:
Batman #428
Then again, in the year when Donald Trump took such a long-lasting lead in the polls, the politics of the DCU are looking more and more reasonable in comparison.
All in all, these are not the most insane political comics ever (if nothing else because last year the world gave us Joe Sacco’s Bumf), but there is something inherently amusing about watching Bruce Wayne apply his unorthodox approaches to crime-fighting in the political arena… Of course, sooner or later someone had to take the premise to its logical extreme. And so, in one of the coolest comics of the last 10 years, Batman finally took over the White House:
