Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys / Batman

Batman in nearly any incarnation: The Batcave is furnished with the latest science and computer equipment; plus the secret passages leading to it from Wayne Manor... and yet, no one seems to know about, much less have participated in, the planning and labor that went into all this stuff! Sure, Alfred may dust and tinker on gadgets, but being the Wayne caretaker surely doesn't give him time for Research and Development while Master Bruce is batting about.

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• Batman comics:
  • Writer Denny O'Neil may have been the first comics scripter to work this into a storyline. During his initial encounter with Ra's al Ghul (Batman #232, 1971), Bruce Wayne is surprised by Ra's in the Batcave. He attempts to bluff it off until Ra's reminds him that someone had to buy the materials for the Batman's various gadgets... and that "someone" could be traced. Wayne concedes the point and removes his cowl to address Ra's man-to-man.
  • The comics have also established that since Bruce Wayne owns Wayne Enterprises, he depends on Lucius Fox to make the money to pay for his operations while diverting useful materials from his business as needed.
  • Played with in a storyline where a foreign conglomerate had managed, through various financial tricks and wizardry, to buy out the independent companies which comprised Wayne Enterprise's R&D division right out from under Lucius and Bruce's noses. Actually, it was revealed that Jason Todd orchestrated the whole thing. Along with the rather serious implications for Wayne Enterprises as a business, Bruce later reflects on the implications for Batman. He mentions several unique items used by Batman, saying that eventually those items will be made available in the public sector, while he will have no further access to new gadgets other than those he can create himself in his spare time. After Alfred remarks that he thinks that Batman has more than enough toys to last him for quite awhile, Bruce brings up the additional worry that someone will notice that Batman has been and is still using Wayne Enterprises proprietary technology and begin to put two and two together.
  • In one of the Batman novels, it was stated that the Batcave was built by (well-paid) foreign workers, secretly assembled and transported to Gotham, who only worked outside the cave at night, never saw Bruce Wayne, and were flown home again, all without them having any idea where in the world they had been working.
  • The anthology series Batman: Black and White includes a story, "Heroes", set in 1937; Nazi spies track down the man who designs Batman's gadgets and attempt to coerce him into working for the Reich.
  • Since Bruce Wayne's return from the events of Final Crisis, Bruce has publicly gone on record saying that Wayne Enterprises has been funding Batman's war on crime through his gear and has created a new organization: Batman Incorporated.
  • One could just as easily apply this question to many of Batman's villains, most notably the Penguin and The Joker. The Penguin is widely known for his use of trick umbrellas, while the Joker has used everything from acid-squirting flowers to electrified joybuzzers to razor-sharp playing cards.
  • In Batman Family, we were introduced to the Technician, an inventor who specialises in supplying high-tech gizmos to Gotham City's supervillains, including things such as a giant clockwork monkey.
• The Dark Knight Trilogy addresses this directly by have all but a few of those wonderful toys manufactured by Wayne Enterprises themselves, effectively making Batman already in possession of them. Lucius Fox even lampshades it at one point.
  Lucius: The way I see it, Mr. Wayne, all this stuff is yours anyway.
  • Batman Begins: The various unique gadgets are "dead end" offshoots of WayneTech R&D, donated by Lucius Fox, one of the few board members to remain loyal to Bruce during his overseas trip. The lower-end gear (such as the costume and armor) are ordered piece by piece from ordinary companies, then assembled by Bruce and Alfred.
    Alfred: They'll have to be large orders, to avoid suspicion.
    Bruce: How large?
    Alfred: Say... ten thousand?
    [beat]
    Bruce: Well, at least we'll have spares.
    • Begins also somewhat explains the Batcave. A natural cave under the southeast wing of Wayne manor, the hidden passage to it from within the manor was pre-existing and explained by being used as part of the Underground Railroad. After the Manor burns down, Bruce and Alfred discuss taking the opportunity inherent in rebuilding it to shore up the foundations under the southeast wing, implying that some construction on the Batcave was done perfectly above-board.
  • Subverted in The Dark Knight when an accountant that works for Wayne actually does notice that company property is missing and discovers the blueprints to the Tumbler. However, Fox manages to convince him to stay quiet about it.
    Lucius: Let Me Get This Straight...: You think that your client, one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world, is secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands. And your plan is to blackmail this person? Good luck.
  • In The Dark Knight Rises, Bane breaks into Wayne Enterprises and steals everything except The Bat. And then it turns out the whole first half of the movie was a plot to get his hands on Wayne Enterprises' experimental reactor so he could turn it into a nuclear bomb. Of course, given his resources, he could've just smuggled his own conventional nuke in, but the whole purpose of using the reactor was revenge.
• Batman: The Animated Series:
  • The show introduces the character of Earl Cooper, the Batmobile's designer/mechanic who performs the necessary repairs that are beyond Batman's time or ability. The Penguin is able to find Cooper after he orders a series of dead-giveaway parts that could only be for the Batmobile, in his own name. Batman responds by having his "... backers" set up "dummy corporations" for Cooper to order from so that no one will track him down again. This is probably just a euphemism for hiding more crimefighting behind Wayne Enterprises expenditures.
  • In "Under the Hood" it's made pretty certain that most of his stuff is attained through WayneTech's various R&D and subcompanies, thus allowing him to get power bombs, chemicals and gadget even before the military gets their hands on them.
• Batman Film Series:
  • The Trope Namer is The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman (1989). In one scene Batman rescues reporter Vicki Vale from the Joker's clutches using a zipline gun, and the Joker asks his men "Where does he get those wonderful toys?" Used again later on when Batman uses the Batwing to steal all his poison-filled balloons, causing the Joker to scream why nobody told him he had one of those things... only to later shoot it down with a four foot long revolver.
  • The Riddler has a whole freaking island fortress in Batman Forever. Assuming he had the foresight to commission this building project before he lost his scientist job, it still begs the "who built it" question. The novelization actually shows part of the construction of Claw Island. It's an abandoned World War II submarine base repurposed to serve as a manufacturing facility for The Box.
• In Batman: Arkham Asylum, one of Riddler's patient session recordings has him ranting about Batman, and how he could possibly finance his operation. He quite wrongly assumes that he steals from villains he stops, and uses this to back his argument that Batman is the worst criminal of all. There is a minor explanation given in a chat with Oracle as to how Batman got a backup Batcave onto Arkham Island, but its security is notoriously lax.
  • And the variety of the Joker's toys are given something of a lampshade in Batman: Arkham Knight; when Batman enters the Evidence room in the GCPD, the Joker hallucination can be found looking at his own display case, lamenting that he can't use any of his gadgets because "do you know how long it takes to make exploding chattering teeth?!"
  • One of the Arkhamverse comics reveals that the Batmobile was designed by a German auto company, and the order is placed in Bruce Wayne's own name. The company owner just assumes that Batman is defrauding Wayne Enterprises.
  • Some Enemy Chatter can be overheard through the games where the goons openly wonder how Batman has access to such high-tech gear. One militiaman in Batman: Arkham Knight is persuaded that Batman is some kind of government-funded agent, since that's the only way he could get all his stuff, with his friend chiming in that Bruce Wayne is probably rich enough to do so as well, only for the first to dismiss the idea as ridiculous.
  • Arkham Knight in turn applies this to the villains. The Knight and Scarecrow attack Gotham with a "3 billion dollar army", complete with soldiers, guns, mines, and tank drones, most of which are actually explained. The Knight is indicated to have been recruiting people (largely mercenaries and disgraced former soldiers) for the army for some time, the guns are explicitly said to have come from the Penguin, and Simon Stagg had already developed the technology for the Cloud Burst, and so was simply convinced to use it for their terrorist attack. Besides the guns, the Penguin could in theory have supplied the mines and body armor as well. One mook outright asks about the $3 billion, and is told Batman's Rogues Gallery supplied their fortunes for the funding, with Lex Luthor as a probable contributor as well. That still leaves the question of where the freaking tanks came from.
• Again with the Joker in LEGO Batman 2, after Batman defeats him in the beginning. Subverted somewhat as the wonderful toy in question (the Batwing) was not used to defeat him as soon as they entered the parking lot.
  Joker: Where DOES he get these unbreakable toys?!
• The Batman:
  • D.A.V.E, an A.I composed of various criminal personalities, managed to figure out Batman's identity. One of the factors he mentioned that he used to narrow down the population was the wealth and resource capacity needed to create all the equipment the Batman used. Further data he uses is age, gender, and people who'd have a motivation. This is the same method used by Bane in Knightfall.
  • One episode featured a politician who used his wealth to build a giant ship to forcibly take over Gotham. Someone remarked that only someone as rich as him could get all those toys. One then wonders how that remarker didn't connect Batman to Bruce Wayne after making that statement.
• Lampshaded in Batman: The Brave and the Bold by The Music Meister:
  Music Meister: His utility belt holds everything, can't find that at the mall!
• Egghead from Adam West's Batman (1966) used this as a clue when he tried to determine Batman's secret identity; he believes Batman must be rich because crime fighting is a very expensive hobby.
• Teen Titans: Robin was able to get a Batmobile shipped to San Francisco by hiding the expense in the Batarang budget. Apparently it's bigger than you'd think.
• The LEGO Batman Movie:
  • The movie, in all its incarnation-referencing glory, has a version of this trope. The Joker, after taking over Wayne Manor with his new army, discovers every single one of his vehicles and uses them against him and his team.
    The Joker: And guess what else I found? All your wonderful toys!
  • Played for Laughs around the same time when the Eye of Sauron tells the Joker he's found the Batcave under Wayne Manor.
    The Joker: Are you telling me Bruce Wayne is Batman...'s roommate?
    Sauron: Uh...yeah.