Science & Technology

Batman would be 'ill-equipped' say scientists

By T.K. Randall
June 25, 2016 ·  56 comments

Could Batman really glide from the rooftops ? Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Pop Culture Geek He might be able to defeat the villains of Gotham with ease in the movies, but according to a recent study by physics students in the UK, the Caped Crusader's physical attributes would make him woefully ill-equipped to glide from buildings in the real world.

The problem stems from the fact that he would simply hit the ground with too much force.

"Looking at the case for gliding from a fairly tall building of 150m, Batman can glide to a distance of about 350m, which is reasonable; the problem with the glide lies in his velocity as he reaches ground level," the team wrote in a research paper on the subject."The velocity rises rapidly to a maximum of a little over 110 kilometres an hour before steadying to a constant speed of around 80. At these high speeds any impact would likely be fatal if not severely damaging. Clearly gliding using a batcape is not a safe way to travel, unless a method to rapidly slow down is used, such as a parachute."

"This inability to perform even the simplest of superhero feats suggest Batman would struggle to get off the ground, let alone save Gotham from the likes of the Joker and Bane."

The researchers also conducted a similar analysis of other superheroes including Superman who they determined would need a skin density of 296 g/cm^3 to stop a handgun bullet.

They concluded that the Man of Steel was the best equipped to succeed out of all comic book superheroes whereas contenders such as Wolverine, Iron Man and Thor didn't make the cut.

Source: The Guardian | Comments (56)

Tags: Batman, Superman