Dark Knight teardown reveals how much it costs to be Batman

It’s a good thing that Bruce Wayne is so filthy rich because otherwise, his vigilante heroics would send him to the poor house. The Centives economics blog, run by econ students at Lehigh University, has been trying to figure out what it might cost for a real-life Wayne to run around in a giant bat costume every year, and has concluded that he probably pays $2.8 million annually, including $2 million for graphite helmets, $262,800 for Alfred’s salary and $74,880 a year for personal training, among other things. Although one has to wonder, given Batman’s effectiveness at fighting crime relative to the Gotham police force, why the city isn’t providing him with subsidies of some kind of help offset his personal expenses.

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