Liam 
It’s canonical that Batman is just a weird guy in a suit. Cloth ears, mask, cape, no special powers at all. So what’s to stop competitor Batmans? When commissioner Gordon lights the Bat-signal who’s to know how many Batmans would rock up and then who authenticates the ‘real’ one?
Does Bruce Wayne spend significant time putting down competitor Batmans like a mafioso protecting his own shakedown territory?
Put it another way: Batman seems to exist as an inexplicable monopoly over being a weird guy in a suit [good]. And there is obviously very low barriers to entry for weird guys and girls in suits [bad] in the premise. So what’s going on?
Deborah Pickett@liamvhogan I feel that if any comic has addressed this question, it is The Tick.
Biggles 20X6!@liamvhogan ping @thewetmale we have have the trifecta again
eggs
Hangover - We Are Back Baby
JP@liamvhogan that's why Batman has so many gadgets and vehicles: only the real Batman could afford the capital outlay in R&D and manufacturing. The outward display of disproportionate wealth is how he authenticates himself.
@daedalus I think this is getting closer, that wealth concentration creates a very high barrier to entry for new Batmans. But that doesn’t seem to hold true for villains, who display the same capital-intensive and labour-demanding (of hired goons) activity?
@liamvhogan look around you. Goons are cheap and plentiful. Hell, there are lots of people who will happily volunteer for free if they get a chance to do violence to people they perceive as "other", especially when they feel shielded from consequences by the wealth of their patron.
Also: Batman exercises restraint (no guns, no direct killing, a unified and somewhat restrained aesthetic). Think of the rich people you know who have neither taste nor restraint. Of course they're villains.
@liamvhogan *galaxy brain* of course, one could argue that Batman is also shielded from consequences by his wealth, and his taste and degree of restraint is questionable at best, making him a villain as well.
@daedalus @liamvhogan It feels like you’re saying that they’re all sociopaths and that Batman is presented in a better light because it’s his people writing the account?
@futzle @liamvhogan *gestures broadly at reality* where is the lie?
neoluddite@liamvhogan it explains why there have been so many different batmans over the years.
You can't have Adam West batman any more, he got bat-clubbed over the bat-head with a bat-iron pipe back in 1988 by Michael Keaton, who put his bat-feet in bat-concrete and made him bat-sleep with the bat-fishes
Christopher Owen@liamvhogan I think this is easily solved with a smart token on the batchain
@liamvhogan I guess Adam West is who’s holding the camera.
JillL@liamvhogan There should be an open tender for vigilante services.
Anꞇóin Ó B.Easiest solution is just having Bane snapping all of them like Kitkats and letting any of them that continue turning up monologuing about the superstitions and cowardice of criminals afterwards as _real enough_ Batsman.
Emma Davidson@liamvhogan the real Batman posts a photo to Mastodon holding an A4 page with the date and time of his #AMA with Commissioner Gordon printed on it.
The real question is what font Batman would choose.
Bit Regurgitator@emmadavidson @liamvhogan ...century Gothic?
@emmadavidson what a question. Gotham.
Mike [SEC=OFFICIAL]@emmadavidson @liamvhogan making post-event validation posts on social media? Batman apparently uses the Banksy model for authentication of his works leading to the obvious question, is Bruce Wayne actually Bansky?
In this essay--