Batman Is An Examinations of Mental Illness

Every hero has their rogues gallery. Superman has Lex Luthor and the Legion of Doom. Wonder Woman has Cheetah and the denizens of Greek mythological monsters. The Flash has, well, The Rogues. And Batman has the escapees of Arkham Asylum. Which is what separates him so much from his fellow DC super heroes. While the rest of the Justice League fights demigods, galactic despots and super powered crooks, Batman fights mental patients. Not just some mental patients, but an entire hospital full of mental patients, each with bizarre pathologies that cause them to commit crimes in a variety of different ways.

Multiple Personality Disorder

It seems several of Batman’s foes suffer from this particular disorder. But my favorite of these MPD sufferer’s is Scarface and The Ventriloquist. Scarface is perhaps the most ruthless criminal in Gotham City. He is also a ventriloquist’s dummy. Arnold Weskler, a shy and unassuming fellow, had a traumatic childhood, which caused him to develop an aggressive and violent personality. Thus was born Scarface, who manifests himself through a puppet that Weskler carved and carries, using his ventriloquism to give the character voice. Like most MPD individuals neither personality realizes they are sharing one body, which is particularly noticeable in the comics and cartoon show with the puppet Scarface dealing out abuse and violence to Weskler.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

While usually this disorder is treated as almost comical by television and films, in the world of Batman an individual with OCD can become a violent killer. Two such Gotham criminals who are clear examples of people with OCD are The Riddler and The Clock King. Both characters have obsessions that drive their every action. The Riddler could be a criminal mastermind, ruling all of Gotham city from the shadows with his vast intelligence. But his obsession with puzzles causes him to seek out the police and Batman to try and solve his puzzles.

Post Traumatic Stress

This is the most interesting mental disorder in Batman’s world, because it applies to Batman himself. Batman only exists due to the fact that Bruce Wayne is suffering from the worst case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. No matter what he does, he is still haunted by the memory of his parents dying. A trauma that he relives constantly. The entire Batman crimefighting enterprise, including all the gadgets and allies, stems from Bruce Wayne trying to bury this horrible memory of his parents’ death.

Phobias

This is kind of a general description because it tends to cover all different types of fear. But it is important because in the Batman comics there is a character who is devoted to exploiting this fear: The Scarecrow. Before he became a masked super villain, Dr. Jonathan Crane was a psychiatrist specializing in the studies of fear. Developing various types of fear gases he continues his studies by terrorizing the citizens of Gotham. Also this list of disorders could apply to Batman himself as he uses fear (dressing up as a bat) to help in his fight against crime.

Kleptomania & Pyromania

These two I decided to put together even though the characters that fit them couldn’t be more different. Catwoman and Firefly. Now some may argue that Catwoman is not a kleptomaniac, just a highly skilled thief. But if you read the comics you can see that it is more than just a way to score money for Selina Kyle. Certainly she has hoarded enough valuables to comfortably retire. Why continue? Well, the argument could be made she does it for the thrill. But that seems unlikely since she could still get a thrill from assisting Batman in his crime fighting endeavors. But she continues to steal. The only obvious explanation is that for Catwoman it is a compulsion. Same with the villain Firefly. He is a criminal for hire and could probably perform his job in controlled and minimal ways. But since he is a pyromaniac, everything he does involves large explosive displays with huge flames, all to satisfy some sick compulsion deep inside of him.

"One of us, One of us..."

The world we live in is filled with sick individuals. Some go through life never giving a hint of what is deep down inside of them, and some where their illness on their sleeve. It should be no surprise then that there would be a fictional world populated with all manner of mentally unstable individuals. But it seems odd that while all the villains are mentally damaged, so too is the hero who battles them. Batman is certainly just as mentally damaged as the Joker, but because he fights on the side of the angels, he is not regulated to being locked up in Arkham with the rest of the criminally insane.