WHAT WOULD BATMAN DO with the INFINITY GAUNTLET!!!??!!!

While brainstorming yesterday about Deadpool and the Infinity Gauntlet, I reminded myself of a meme. This meme to be exact:

The Infinity Gauntlet (while loaded with the Infinity Stones) grants the wearer God-like powers. Not like Asgardian Gods or other comic book Gods, I'm talking about THE GOD. The Stones (individually) allow the user complete control over Space, Time, Mind, Reality, Soul, and Power. When they're all together, each stone or gem helps influence the others.

Basically it grants the wearer anything they could possibly imagine instantaneously. So what would Batman do with absolute power? Let's see...

Deep down to his core, Batman believes in his crusade against crime. Throughout his career, whether it's considered canon or not, Batman has proved that he fights for the greater good. For instance, in Batman: Venom, in order to compete with the gangsters in Gotham that are taking a new drug that gives them superhuman strength, speed, and durability; Batman starts to take the same drug. The story deals with his addiction to this drug and how he overcomes it's influence to win the day. He also fights a fucking shark.

In Batman: Vampire, which takes place in an alternate universe, in order to deal with the increasing population of vampires and defeat Dracula, Batman is infected and slowly becomes a vampire himself. Read my post about this book for more info!

In yet another alternate reality (Batman: In Darkest Knight), Batman becomes chosen as a Green Lantern instead of Hal Jordan. As a Green Lantern he is expected to police a specific section of the galaxy. Batman, however, focuses almost entirely on Gotham instead of every where else he might be needed. Even if this isn't considered canon, it does showcase Batman's devotion to his cause.

So what would he do if he had the power to alter space, time, reality, people's souls, or people's minds while also holding absolute power over all of them.

I think he'd fix Gotham, but not in the way that you think. There's a time paradox here that Batman would be well aware of. I mean, you would think that the first thing he would do was go back and stop his parents from being murdered, right? But would he? If his parents don't die in front of him, then he never becomes Batman, never starts his crusade against crime, and therefore never holds the Infinity Gauntlet. So his existence as Batman becomes obsolete.

So I think he'd be a little more creative than just blinking his parents back to life. Instead, I think Batman would keep the timeline the way it is, with all the criminals in Gotham and everything. This way he could mold the present day reality into what he wants. A Batman on every corner if you will.

In another alternate reality story (and one of my absolute all-time favorites) Kingdom Come, it's years in the future and Batman has "retired". His alter ego has been revealed so he no longer needs all the secrecy, and because of the years of abuse he's put on his body, Bruce Wayne's back is broken and he can only get around because of a brace. He spends all of his time in the Batcave, controlling Batbots that keeps the peace in Gotham. But the citizens still live in fear, because that's his M.O.

Even with absolute power, Batman believes in fear. Even if the people love him for what he does, they're still terrified of him and always will be. Think about it for a second. You're walking home from work or a club or whatever, it's late and very dark. You decide to take a short cut, because the guy behind you seems to have been following you for the last 2 blocks. That short cut leads you right into 2 dudes with knives. When you turn to run, the guy that was following you is there also holding a knife. Then Batman arrives. He kicks the shit out of all of them, leaving you standing there not entirely sure of what has just happened. Now, after the initial fear of the situation has died down, and the adrenaline is pumping, I'll give you this: if you're a reader of this blog and this every happened to you, you would probably think it was the coolest thing ever. After all of that has died away, and Batman was standing in front of you and you were unsure of why you are deserving of his attention. I'm sorry, but I don't care who you are, you would 100% poop your pants.

So here's the thing. If given absolute power, I think Batman would focus on building Gotham into the city he always believed his parents wanted to see, but would also feel that world was at risk because of all the super powered beings out there. So he'd take away all of the powers, leaving only himself as the defender of the planet. With absolute power you wouldn't need anything else.

Bottom line, Batman with the Infinity Gauntlet, while cool to think about, would be a very boring story to read. He's too precise and calculating. Any situation put in front of him, he would have used the stones to foresee it and be ready to deal. If I were to write this story, it would end with Batman being so overwhelmed with power that he sacrifices his own life in order to destroy the Infinity Gauntlet and all of the Stones so that NO ONE could ever be that powerful.

Thanks for reading! What do you think Batman would do with the Infinity Gauntlet? Leave a comment and let me know.

Tonight I will be recording an episode of The Good Shit Podcast with special guest Chris Bellucci! Also, today is the first day of NY Comic Con, Jimmy and I will be recording mini episodes throughout the day Saturday while we're there, so be sure to check out our Facebook page and Soundcloud.com for pictures and tales from New York Comic Con 2016!