The Martial Arts of Batman

what martial arts does Batman know if

you are a martial arts Enthusiast or a

Batman fan or both then we're going to

have some fun with this one

let's talk about it

now I need to preface this episode by

saying I absolutely love Batman growing

up him and Superman are my favorite and

yes it's possible to love both now with

that being said I'm going to start this

episode by throwing a little bit of

shade at the Dark Knight when the topic

of martial arts of Batman comes up I

usually see one of two general answers

what kind of martial arts does Batman

know Batman has mastered all martial

arts or Batman knows 127 martial arts

okay first of all 127 martial arts is a

really random number and no it's not the

total number of Arts that are out there

there are either way more than that or

way less depending on where you draw

that line but no Batman does not know

all martial arts that's lame and quite

honestly boring Batman is far more

interesting when he makes choices and

deliberate tactical decisions his

fighting style would not be any

different than that it's far more

intriguing to wonder which fighting

systems he'd invest his time into or

when he would cherry pick from other

systems to make his own Thunder method

so in this episode we're going to

analyze which fighting styles Batman has

learned and we're going to do this in

the context of the live action films

there are way too many Comics movies

cartoons and games to look at unless we

made this a four hour episode also we're

sticking to the live action film since

we can see real people performing real

movements our breakdown will focus on

the Burton verse and Schumacher verse

which technically are in the same

continuity then we're going to look at

the Nolan vs Batman followed by the Ben

Affleck DCU Batman and concluding with

the Pattinson the Batman and as a bonus

at the end I'm going to give you my

opinion on which Batman I think I could

take and which one of these I think

would Reign Champion Supreme of them all

all right

so the Michael Keaton Batman is an

interesting one to start with first

we're not treated to any true origin or

training like we see in the Dark Knight

trilogy and he doesn't really refer to

any art or finding style so where do we

go first

well first I think we should establish

the art or rather discipline that they

all share Ninjutsu now whether that

means that it's an art that identifies

as Ninjutsu or we're talking about the

cultural tactical strategy that the

ninja embodied I think that we can all

pretty much agree that for all intents

and purposes Batman is a ninja he's

stealthy goes after and retrieves

targets is deadly in combat and employs

smoke bombs shurikens blow darts and

grappling hooks now this Motif goes

across pretty much all of her into the

Dark Knight so we're going to add this

as a universal art to the list of

disciplines

after that we're going to take a look at

Dave Lee the man performing all the

action under the cowl now there were a

few something members from Michael

Keaton but Dave Lee did all his fight

scenes and his fighting history is

tremendous he has experience in

escrima Shotokan Wing Chun shell and

kung fu xiaopi kung fu white crane Kung

Fu leper Kung Fu Snake Kung Fu Taekwondo

boy Thai Jiu Jitsu Judo hop kundo

Southern Dragon Style kung fu Aikido Tai

Chi Salat and kickboxing

so which of these is the Michael Keaton

Batman actually know and I don't think

it's fair to just copy and paste you

know the stunt man's experience at the

Batman but according to Lee himself in

various interviews he viewed Batman as a

character that would be well versed in

fighting tactics but also efficiency he

viewed Batman as someone that when he

hits you he could put you down he

engages with multiple people and he

doesn't want to spend time tied up with

one attacker so he employs a super

efficient hits you and keep on moving

philosophy as for the fighting style

itself Lee said that he crafted the

streamlined fighting style that was a

bit of an amalgamation of his own

experiences but he relied a lot on his

Malaysian art of hop kundo now watching

some of the fight scenes however you can

see a lot of linear block encounter

moves that are customary to many karate

systems along with some solid kicks so

we can kind of see a bit of a Shotokan

and Taekwondo shine you through as well

it has also been suggested to Fan theory

that Batman has some experience in the

screamer and as evidence in this

Alleyway fight scene Batman seems to be

able to anticipate the trajectory of

bladed weapons in close combat so I like

that we're going to add that to the list

so the Michael Keaton Batman seems to be

a mix of many fighting styles with

strong ties to hapundo taekwondo karate

escrima and of course Ninjutsu now the

Joel Schumacher Batman while existing in

the same universe and technically were

supposed to be the same person as

Michael Keaton they skew in a slightly

different martial path

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[Music]

so for Batman Forever we have Val Kilmer

stepping into the role of the Dark

Knight now his fights were performed by

Alex Daniels although I was not able to

really find much of his background in

regards to martial arts experience so

we're going to have to go by performance

instead

Kilmer's Batman is more acrobatic and

fluid than Keaton's was Keaton's fights

with multiple attackers was more

one-on-one you know knock this guy down

now turn to face this guy killer on the

other hand manipulates one while

striking another and we can see a little

more choreography went into this film

and into these shots which might have

been the result of a slightly more

flexible batsuit but we see several

joint locks flips throws takedowns and

sometimes while striking another

opponent now this heavily suggests that

Batman has some sort of Jiu Jitsu or

hopkudo mix throw this in with some

basic karate and that pretty much seems

to match

interestingly though in real life Val

Kilmer is a Wing Chun practitioner now

this of course doesn't mean that Batman

automatically knows from Chung however

there is a deleted scene from Batman

Forever where Bruce Wayne has a wooden

dummy in his training room and we see

Dick Grayson angry and beaten on it

incorrectly with poor technique of

course but though the presence of this

wind dummy would suggest that perhaps

this Batman may practice the art so the

judges are going to allow it though to

be honest neither Dick Grayson or Bruce

really seem to understand how to

properly use the wooden dummy

foreign

[Music]

George Clooney's outing in the outfit

just like the film itself it doesn't

really add a whole lot fights are much

more rudimentary with Bland or

choreography there aren't a lot there

aren't a lot to really pull from in

terms of moves more than we've already

covered now with that being said George

Clooney's fighting doubles were Brad

Martin a taekwondo Master and the

legendary Chris casamasa 93 black belt

and Red Dragon Karate and best known for

his role as scorpion in a 1995 film

Mortal Kombat that red dragon was

founded by his father Lewis and it's an

American mixture of many different

martial arts and karate systems put

together so for this specific four film

continuity of Batman we'll say his

training is a mixture of hop kundo

Taekwondo shonto con karate Red Dragon

Karate Jiu Jitsu escrima Wing Chun and

of course Ninjutsu oh and I guess Hockey

foreign

[Music]

now this one is a little bit easier to

determine first of all we have three

films produced as one cohesive unit so

we have a consistent tone and

performance between them additionally

there's been a lot more behind the

scenes coverage of this and how the

fighting styles were developed first and

foremost like we established previously

Ninjutsu is a major part of this

fighting tactics and these films Place

great emphasis on that training now as

far as the hand the hand combat goes

it's likely a blend of different Arts

just like the other Batman however the

KC fighting method is the standout

system here the KC fighting method or

kfm was founded in 1980 by Spanish

martial artist justo diegas now the

system's co-founder Andy Norman split

off and created his own system of

Defense lab KC is a brutal close quarter

combat system that utilizes blunt short

range strikes particularly the knees and

the elbows they felt that this would be

more useful and make sense for Batman

close range devastating strikes fluid

enough to turn to face additional

attackers now the camera placement the

first so it's a little bit too close to

make out much of the action but with the

second and third film we can see much

more of Casey's Flavor now while

Christian Bale did many of the sense

himself the majority of the fight work

was performed by stuntman Buster reefs

huh

tiger

jiu jitsu

answer

[Music]

okay and now for bat flick this one is

interesting because there have been

several breakdown videos on his fighting

style and Batman v Superman's Warehouse

scene alone there is a ton of stuff to

look at other than Ninjutsu which we've

already established as universal it is

suggested that Batman has a depth chart

that includes boxing Krav Maga Judo and

Taekwondo and Muay Thai now this comes

from a mixture of online sources but I

think that's a fair starting place

however I have a few minor disagreements

I will agree with the boxing Judo and

Muay Thai boxing just makes sense it's

one of the most foundational striking

Arts there is and it's evident in a lot

of his footwork and how well he can read

and slip a punch however his counter

punches they don't look like boxing

strikes they have much more range and

extensions to them and they're more

angular looking more like something out

of Muay Thai or something you see in the

MMA ring and that's not entirely

inappropriate in an interview Ben

Affleck himself said that he was

inspired by Conor McGregor as he

prepared for this film role to quote he

said he's a little bit more brawler you

get it feeling like physical visceral

Slugger thing the fights are more like

Smash Mouth kind of UFC influence like

Conor McGregor style and I agree with

that his Batman is a brawler his

fighting is gritty and brutal there's a

heavy tactical flare to it which would

fall in line with the Krav Maga but to

me personally the strikes counter and

stand-up grappling seems to have more of

a Salat flavor to them now Salat is also

extremely smooth flowing between

attackers hitting close and long range

high and low now Ben Affleck does adopt

a few long deep stances often which is

often seen in Japanese karate but you

can also find low stances in Salat as

well then we have the weapons he also

seems to be very familiar with firearms

and weaponry not just deflecting and

disarming but using them as well so upon

looking up his fighting devil we have

Richard Centron who is an instructor

under martial arts Legend Dan inosanto

and jikundo and eskrima he also has

extensive experience in Muay Thai Jiu

Jitsu and Salat and upon a second look

we can see some elements of jikuno in

there as well so the bat flight version

of The Dark Knight I would say is a

mixture of boxing Jiu Jitsu Muay Thai

jikuno eskrima some Krav Maga but in my

personal opinion I think a little bit

more Salat

[Music]

and finally we come to the Matt Reeves

Batman portrayed by Robert Pattinson now

there is one standout fact in this film

this time around the star of the film

did the fights himself

that's right Robert Pattinson performed

his own fight scenes his stunt double

Rob Alonso performed many of the more

dangerous actions in the film but Alonzo

himself has confirmed that it was

patinson doing the combat Robert

Pattinson has been training in the

martial arts since he was six years old

and he underwent a pretty intense

training regiment to prepare for his

prowl in the cowl he went under the

tutelage of Regan Machado A3 black belt

and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu now Machado

trained Pattinson for about three months

prior to filming and this is what he

said of the actor I focused on teaching

the knowledge first it's a lot of

repetitions of movements but Rob learned

it very fast he's the most focused

person he's very quiet and serious and

it took some time for him to open up but

pretty soon he did I've never met a guy

so nice so humble and respectful and

that wasn't all either stunt double

Alonso also trained patents and then Zoe

Kravitz in various combat Arts to

prepare for the film in another

interview he also said the goal of fight

training with Rob Pattinson was to allow

the Jeopardy to come in much closer than

he's used to in order to eliminate

anticipatory movement in the height in

his close press reactivity what this is

a primary goal we trained in the

Filipino martial arts Salat Muay Thai

kundo boxing and kickboxing this is not

a step too far past Ben Affleck's

version of the bat you know these Arts

make sense for the context in which they

are used and as a result we get an

efficient agile Batman fueled by

Vengeance so this is quite a mix of

influences and if you were to pull out

all these movies together and add all

the Arts of the Dark Knights and their

fight doubles you might actually add up

to 127. it's all sand corrected now

which one of these Cape Crusaders would

come out on top if pitted against each

other

that's a hot question and I'm I'm sure

my answer is going to different than a

lot of you out there but I've seen a lot

of people online debate this and a

surprising amount of fans seem to

believe that the George Clooney Batman

would come out on top based on being

able to take out Bane easily and his

physics defying acrobatic skills but

let's be honest this vein wasn't exactly

Gotham's Reckoning

personally for me I'm gonna have to

place my chips on bat flick now while

his movies are my least favorite of the

Batman films you pit him against him

he's a Burton and Schumacher Batman's

and I think he blows right through them

Kilmer and Clooney are just two showing

flashy and Keaton is too precisely

calculated bath like is just raw power

and pure combat discipline he's also a

grizzled veteran compared to all of them

his version of the Batman has had a lot

of experience even to the point of

reaching retirement both Christian Bale

and Robert Pattinson's counterparts are

young in comparison Pence and the Batman

is supposed to be in his second year as

the bat and Christian Bale well his

Batman was really only active for about

one year before going into hiding and

coming back basically handicapped eight

years later I have to give it to Affleck

for the win but Bale will be a close

second but his hesitancy to kill which

bafflek has no qualms about just falls

short of the Berserker mode executed by

malvat

now which Batman do I think I could take

if I have to be fair

I'm pretty sure I could take the one

that we saw in The Dark Knight

no not this one this one hockey pads I

like my chances against him

so that's our look at the martial arts

of Batman I would love to see all of you

continue this discussion Down Below in

the comments do you agree with me or are

there Arts you think I missed now the

next discussion would be how realistic

is it for him to fight in those bastards

anyway how do costumes in general affect

the martial arts performance click right

here and let's get into it

cool