Batman is one of DC's greatest heroes and he's got a reputation for winning. Bruce Wayne doesn't have any superpowers, besides his billions of dollars and the resources of a small nation, but he has amazing skills, ones which have allowed to move in the highest circles of the superhero world. While he's known for his ability to beat nearly anyone given enough prep time, Batman has taken some pretty heavy losses over the years.
The appeal of Batman is that he's only human and that means that he messes up like other humans. At the end of the day, Bruce Wayne is just a man. Batman has suffered devastating failures over the years that would have ended the careers of lesser heroes – but not the Dark Knight.
10 Losing Control Of His Fortune Hurts His Ability To Fight Crime
In "Joker War," Joker was able to steal Bruce Wayne's fortune and revealed to the city that he was embezzling from his own company. This is true to an extent, since he does use that money for Batman related expenses, but that's nothing he can admit. This caused the IRS to look into his finances and for Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox to take drastic measures.
Bruce Wayne is no longer in control of his fortune and has no place on the Wayne board of directors. He can no longer plunder Wayne Enterprises for money and materiel because the IRS is watching him like a hawk. This hurts his ability to fight crime immensely.
9 Brother Eye Evolving Past Him Almost Doomed The Universe
Batman can be a bit of a control freak. It's not usually malicious, but he feels like he makes the best choices when it comes to making the tough decisions. Creating the Brother Eye satellite system was his way of watching over the superpowered population of the world and heading off threats before they got out of hand.
This backfired horribly as Brother Eye gained sentience and secretly threw in with Alexander Luthor, helping Max Lord's Checkmate and creating armies of OMACs to attack the heroes. Batman's desire for control backfired on him.
8 His Failure To Save Harvey Dent Has Wore Heavily On Him
Harvey Dent was one of Batman's closest allies until a terrible acid attack disfigured him. This disfigurement led to him becoming Two-Face. For years, Batman has been trying to get his former friend the help he needed.
Batman has suffered devastating failures over the years that would have ended the careers of lesser heroes – but not the Dark Knight. Harvey Dent is a good man and Batman would do anything to make sure that man comes back.
7 His Failure To Successfully Hold The Batman Who Laughs Prisoner Almost Destroyed The Multiverse
The Batman Who Laughs made a big splash, but Batman was able to find a way to hold him back for a time. Unfortunately for everyone, the Batman Who Laughs was able to escape and led directly to the near destruction of the entire multiverse. The Batman Who Laughs is as tough an opponent as the actual Batman.
Batman's failure to hold his alternate reality self at bay was inevitable, but it's still something that wears heavily on Batman. The entire multiverse came extremely close to destruction, all because Batman couldn't keep someone prisoner.
6 Ra's Al Ghul Getting A Hold Of His Anti-Justice League Plans Almost Led To The Death Of His Friends
Batman is a pragmatic sort of person, so he's made plans to defeat each member of the Justice League in case they turn evil. Batman's security is usually very good, but Ra's al Ghul was able to get his hands on the plans in "Tower of Babel" and just about destroyed the League. While the team was eventually able to persevere, Batman's pragmatism almost cost the Justice League their lives.
It's made all the worse by the fact that Batman didn't tell the Justice League about these plans, something that hurt how much they trusted him. The whole thing was a huge blot on his legacy with the team.
5 His Failure To Find The Joker In "The Killing Joke" Led To The Brutal Treatment Of Barbara Gordon
Barbara Gordon has always been one of the most skilled members of the Bat-Family, but Batman blames himself for the worst night of her life. In "The Killing Joke," Joker had escaped Arkham yet again. Batman was trying to find him when he shows up Jim Gordon's door and shoots Barbara in the stomach, resulting her paralysis. In Batman's mind, Barbara never would have been put into the situation she was in if he had been faster.
4 The Death Of Jack Drake Was Partly Because Batman Couldn't Figure Out Who Sue Dibny's Killer Was
Tim Drake is one of the best Robins, but being Batman's sidekick isn't always a good thing. Tim found this out in Identity Crisis when his father was killed by Captain Boomerang, targeted by Jean Loring in her twisted quest to get the Atom to come back to her. Batman had been working on solving Sue Dibny's murder and if he had been faster solving it, Jack would have lived.
On top of that, if Batman had been faster getting to Drake's home, he and Tim could have stopped the whole thing. Batman failed to protect Tim from the same thing that happened to him when he was a child.
3 He Lost Gotham To Bane
Tom King's Batman run saw Bane institute a long term plan that ended with him in control of Gotham with an army of the toughest villains in the city as his muscle. He was successful in out-thinking Batman every step of the way, beating the Dark Knight at his own game. While Batman would eventually overcome his foe, the loss of his city is one of his most epic failures.
Batman's entire identity is based around his protection of Gotham City. For him to completely lose control of it – leaving its citizens to the mercies of his greatest enemies – was a huge blow to him.
2 Bane Broke His Back
Bane's first attack against Batman set the stage for everything that came after between the two, cementing his place as one of Batman's greatest foes. Bane's physical dominance is supplemented by a keen strategic mind, which is how he was able to tire Batman out. Bane broke open Arkham Asylum, forcing Batman to run around the city trying to get the villains back in custody.
Bane struck against Batman when he was at his lowest ebb, weakened from the constant fighting, and was able to completely dominate the Dark Knight, breaking his back. This remains one of Batman's greatest defeats.
1 Jason Todd's Death At The Hands Of The Joker Changed Batman Forever
There are few Batman comics more iconic than the death of Jason Todd. Jason was the most difficult Robin and his brutal murder by the Joker changed Batman for a long time. Even now, all these years later and after Jason Todd's resurrection, Jason's death is still Batman's defining failure.
The Joker has done a lot of terrible things to Batman over the years, but Jason's death affected Bruce the most. Batman doesn't mind anything that happens to him, but the fact that a young man he took under his wing was killed by worst enemy haunts him. The pain has never faded and he will never get over it.
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