Does Batman take steroids?

[thalaw2]

I watched part of the film "Bigger, Stronger, Faster".  It had a good segment on comic superheros and the use of "drugs" or performance enhancers to become superhuman.  We all know Captain America took a "drug" to achieve the peak and Batman is also supposedly at the peak of human perfection.  So...how did Batman do it?  Is he juiced?  Does he sleep in an altitude chamber? 

How good are comics at preaching drug use prevention? 


thoughts...

[Vertex]

well captain america is a yes and a no...

The drug transformed him from a 4F into superhuman however after he took the drug there was a treatment applied that partially nullified the drug. Instead of being superhuman he was "demoted" to just being peak human.. and if you've steadily read Captain America over the years, you'd notice two things.
1. Cap and Batman do INSANE workouts that make most supers around them gape in awe.
2. In cap's title, they've sorta made a point of showing that anyone else who took the drug... ended up insane because they didn' t get the cancelling treatment, which I think is partially a statement on drugs and their effects on people to let kids know...... they're nothing to mess with.

[thalaw2]

Then how about heroes who have take drugs and are still...heroes?  Does getting bitten by a radioactive spider really count as accidental?  Many Olympians say they took drugs by accident or without intention and were disqualified....

[thalaw2]

Just a thought about Cap.  If fans read about him taking a drug to stop him from going insane after taking the first drug...is that positive? 

[zuludelta]

That classic comics superheroes like Marvel's Captain America (who took the super soldier serum, a potent mix of steroids and proteins), DC's Elongated Man and Hourman (who attain their powers by ingesting "gingold herbal extract" and "Miraclo" respectively) are "drug-fueled" is reflective, in part, of the "better living through chemistry" mindset of the mid-20th century era in which they were created. Drug companies like Bayer, Pfizer, and GlaxoWellcome were all about the "miracle cures" between the 1930s and 1960s, and the overly optimistic vision of "a pill for every ill" certainly informed the comics of the day.

Then again, ritualistic "drug-taking" has always been a part of ethnogenic folktales and folklore, from the shamanistic peyote rituals of the Meso-americans to the partaking of psychoactive fungi and mushrooms by the early Judeo-Christians (which, if one is to believe certain historical/archaeological accounts, later developed into the Eucharist/Holy Communion ritual as celebrated in differing forms by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglican, Presbyterian, and various other Judeo-Christian churces), so it's not that surprising to see it crop up in superhero comics as well, seeing as how they share certain features (not an indictment of one or the other, just stating an observation, mind you, so I hope nobody takes offense -- for whatever reason -- from the preceding sentence).

How good are comics at preaching drug use prevention?

Well, I think a more important question to ask is whether it's the job of comics to preach "drug use prevention." My personal view on superhero comics' primary role is that of entertainment, veiled drug use or no. Most attempts at drug education that I've read in comics (from the classic Amazing Spider-Man #s 96-98 anti-drug story by Stan Lee, to the popular Green Arrow anti-heroin story Snowbirds Don't Fly, to the 1990s Marvel anti-marijuana inserts featuring Spider-Man and Mysterio), no matter how well-intentioned, are generally filled with misinformation (whether intentional or a result of the writer's unfamiliarity with the subject of psychopharmacology) and propaganda style writing meant to scare impressionable readers into avoiding drugs, instead of offering validated and proven facts about the deleterious effects of inappropriate and irresponsible drug use. Scaring kids and teens into doing the right thing, particularly if the scare tactic involves exaggerating or fabricating facts outright, rarely works in the long run, and runs the risk of a counterreaction that results in the opposite of the intended effect.   

[danhagen]

Adam West no, Michael Keaton yes.

[thalaw2]

Great response Zulu! 

For Batman to reach the peak of human perfection he needs to take some kind of supplement or do something to keep up his red cell count and help his muscles recover.  Fact is many Olympic level atheletes take some kind of drug to help them reach the peak of perfection in their sport.  We also see that professional atheletes also take something to get an edge above and beyond all the training they do.  I'm just sayin that it seems more likely than not that Batman would have to be juicing? 

We can even look at the evolution of Batman in comics and film and see that his body has become more muscular?  How is this explained?  New artists?  Are we to believe that artists in the past couldn't draw muscular figures?  If we compare the Adam West costume to the Christian Bale costume we see clearly that the costume has a more muscular appearance.  Is that increase solely from the choice in actors or is there more behind it?

[Zippo]

I heard a while ago somebody worked out the sort of training routine Batman would have to undergo to achieve all he does. It's apparently utterly insane but theoretically possible, or something like that.

[BWPS]

As far as Captain America is concerned, I feel that if drugs don't hurt you, they aren't bad are they? He took a legal drug to help the Allies win WWII, sounds legal and heroic. If the drug didn't turn him evil and crazy, there wasn't anything wrong with taking the SSS. All drugs have some positive effects, otherwise people wouldn't take them. Some are dangerous and illegal. Hour-Man got pretty messed up on the Miraclo, if I remember correctly, so there's more of drugs being portrayed negatively, which has always been a message comic books try to get across. Not doing radiation (which is usually way worse), on the other hand, is just lame.

As far as Batman is concerned: I think he would if he felt like it.

[DrMike2000]

The facetious answer is "Yes, Alfred slips them in his food."

To me the question is "Should Batman take steroids?"

Say the Jokers tied some kids up and hung them off the edge of a building with a candle under the rope. Bats beats him and his thugs up, and semi-exhausted and bruised goes to pull the kids to safety. He just isnt quite strong enough...
Should he have taken steroids to improve his performance, or is it OK the kids died so that he can keep himself "pure"?

In "a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel" its stands to reason that there are performance enhancers without negative side effects. Even if there are long term side effects, how much of an issue is that to someone driven to throw themselves in the line of fire every night? Chances are Bats isnt going to live to 60, Dark Knight aside.

Labelling all drugs as "drugs" and saying they're all bad is simplistic and asinine in our world, doing so in a superhero context is even worse.

[bearded]

i'll take the other point of view.  i like to think that batman can duplicate the effects of any performance enhancer through will power and self control, like meditation and trance techniques.  he keeps going, keeps pushing himself because he has to, and because he can.