Now I'm sure there's many better-read Batman fans out there who could tell me about some storyline or miniseries in which Wayne Industries and its corporate life are actually central to the plot and not merely ornamentation to the Batman's heroic aspirations.

I will risk overgeneralization, and state that in Batman media meant for the widest possible consumption—e.g. hit TV series and films and video games—there's not usually meant to be much attention given to exactly how Bruce Wayne and his business empire make their money. We're generally supposed to assume that he's that outrageously unrealistic creation of U.S. popular entertainment, the Good Capitalist™. We are invited to accept the premise that Bruce Wayne is the ideal boss who pays well and treats his workers with compassion and mostly stays out of their way, because his real job is Batmanning.

That's a comic book businessman. That's also exactly how Sam Altman and Elon Musk and Jensen Huang and all the other corporate executives are routinely written about. For centuries now, U.S. media and journalism have been idolizing the Man of Business.

Ayn Rand didn't invent John Galt—she was not an inventive writer, not in the slightest—but instead grabbed for an archetype that already existed, that was already being created and puffed out en masse. Citizen Kane exists as a commentary on this self-aggrandizing culture of business titans who strive to present themselves as the great innovators and architects of society.

You'd think journalists would notice, at some point, that it's all smoke and mirrors.