Could Bruce Wayne have had Aspergers?

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He has always been one of my favorite Superheroes since I was Six when I saw Tim Burton's Batman that is one of my favorite comic book movies with Batman Returns Batman Begins & The Dark knight, The Reason I think he has Aspergers is How he is a loner and his interest with Bat's computers Technology and crime fighting and how he can only do one thing at time from The Dark knight and how he had Sleep problems and how he always goes out at night which I think he had a Sensory problem

Bruce Wayne's a pretty social person, though. He goes to masquerade balls, hangs out with Commissioner Gordon and his police friends, gets involved with different females, doesn't stim, isn't awkward with conversations. His special interest does get in the way of his social life, just like all superheroes. Can you imagine the following conversation?

Superhero: Honey, I have to go save 400 people trapped in a runaway train on Rte. 95.
Wife: Um, before you do that, you promised to help Junior with his homework.

I do think there are lots of similarities with us and the X-Men. Some have instantly recognizable traits, some don't. Some don't mind being different and unique and special, some do. Some can pass for "regular", some can't.

Boy, it seems like these days every fictional or cartoon character has Asperger's or some other disorder, even though they have never been officially diagnosed with it. As a cartoonist it really bugs me for some reason. Maybe because they're NOT REAL?

I don't know. He seems to be too much of a social person to have AS. I think if he had no social life at all, I'd probably be inclined to think he did. I'm quite a lot like that with my special interest, but I have no interest in a social life.

Hmmm... just because he's a little more sociable doesn't rule that factor out.
Plus he seems to mourn over his mother and father and seemingly carries that with him.
Also he would have to be dedicated to the fighting skills he learnt.

I've heard that Asimov may have had AS, and from what I read in his biography, he did seem to have been quite sociable. He was good at public speaking, too. So maybe you're right in that being sociable does not rule it out.

Although Asimov was sociable, I've read critics say that the characters in his writing are too flat, not to mention that a lot of them ponder The Laws of Humanics to try to figure out how the human brain and human society work. I wonder if maybe he wrote his characters wanted to understand people better because he himself found people a bit odd. Bruce Wayne seems to understand people well.

I've heard that about Asimov! I identify with the X-Men myself. The Batman movies are awesome! Tim Burton is suppose to be an aspie. Maybe he saw something in the character.

Of course, he's going to have beautiful women around or pursuing him and people sucking up to him because of who he is and because of his money plus add to the fact that he is perceived as broad, dark, tall and good looking. They don't really know the real him, he's just wearing a facade, a mask. He would have also had a lot of experience in attending parties and correct etiquette in how to conduct himself.

Too be honest Batman (who is my absolute favourite superhero) is probably just as crazy as the villains he locks away. He witnessed his parents murder and it traumatized him for the rest of his life and he dresses up as a giant bat and fights criminals and some people (in the DC universe) would call that crazy. But you know the bat shape costume does have a reason such as it's suppose to help Bruce Wayne strike fear into those who prey on the fearful. Of course it wouldn't work on criminals like The Joker or Bane. In my opinion Bruce Wayne is probably diagnosed with his own type of insanity that makes him do the things he does, but it's used for good and nobody innocent would be hurt.

No, absolutely not unless Magneto, Storm and Rorschach have it as well. Batman does not strike me at all as someone who could potentially have aspergers. He's sociable, has a very traumatic past and is very good at maintaining the subterfuge of his alias, Bruce Wayne. This is just how I feel.

Usually, the character is written as emotionally crippled, obsessive genius. Some of that might seem a bit AS, but there's more to the character.

Batman's greatest "power" is his ability to size people up, know what they're thinking, and know how to make them do what he wants. For example, in an episode of Justice League, Batman is captured by a gang of super-villains. Despite the fact that he is a prisoner for most of the episode, he manages to destroy the gang with both hands tied behind his back!

He ultimately defeats the gang simply by talking to the members as they take turns guarding him, planting the seeds of violence and fueling resentment and mistrust among them. By the end the villains are at each other's throats. Batman escapes in the chaos, calls in his JL buddies, and they simply clean up the mess.

The type of manipulation and control Batman uses on the villains could only be achieved by someone with excellent theory of mind and an uncanny ability to read people. Those definitely are not typical aspie traits....

But I think what REALLY MAKES BATMAN TICK can be seen in this vid, adapted from the comic Batman: Black & White....
Perpetual Mourning (click)

Empathy for the victim is truly what fuels Batman. He's obsessed with making a world where no 8 year old boy will ever have to witness the slaughter of his parents and innocent young women are not beaten to death in filthy back alleys...

Empathy is not famous for being a primary driver of Aspie behavior.

In the end, Batman's issues are psychological not neurological. He's not an aspie, just a broken neurotic genius with borderline personality disorder.

That's my take anyway.

If you only see the movies, you might not get the borderline personality thing....

But if you read the comics at all. you can see the BPD in the volatile relationships Batman has with "the robins."

Speaking of Robin, if any Bat Family character has AS, I'm betting it's Damian Wayne. From the little I've seen of him in the comics, he's tactless, hypercritical, and generally doesn't not relate well with others....

In the Gates of Gotham mini series Cassandra Cain (Black Bat) and Tim Drake (Red Robin) only half jokingly discuss killing Damian (because he's such a little jerk) but decide it would not be worth the trouble...

Asperger's? Other than his single minded obsession with fighting crime, I'd say no. I agree with those who say he's way too social. On top of that, Batman can read people like a book, whereas I think I speak for most Aspies here when I say that dishonest people find it easy to pull the wool over our eyes. And even when no deception is perpetrated, our read of others is often off. I would rather say he's a very broken individual, starting from witnessing the murder of his parents when he was young. But it's that "brokenness" about him that fires his crusade to fight crime.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

If your interested in seeing superheroes with Asperger's Syndrome, my book, "Unsung Heroes", is coming out in the first half of 2013. All of the superheroes in this book have A.S., and they all have super powers.