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I understand that Batman doesn't kill, but when he goes with Justice League, he could make some kind of armor to fight against the strongest enemies. He has the money and the engineers plus access to alien tech.
Why doesn't he make an armored suit to fight against his enemies?
Is it "badass" to fight enemies who have photon cannons with just kevlar... or just stupid?
Batman does wear armor. His costume over the continuities has always been some variation of Kevlar, Nomex or other bullet-proof, fireproof, frost resistant, cloth or light plate armor worn under his costume or woven into the costume itself.
He has pointed out that the bat symbol on his chest is to make his chest an easier and more inviting target to shooters than his head and is the most heavily armored part of his body. In addition, some continuities included his cape as part of his armor, allowing him to extend a bulletproof and usually fire-resistant bit of protection to others.
The question should be why doesn’t Batman wear powered armor?
The answer is considering the power and strength levels of the members of the Justice League including, Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Martian Manhunter, Captain Atom to name just a few of the heavy hitters, there would be no point for him to wear a suit of armor that would make his strength a pale shadow of these mighty giants. His contribution to the Justice League is of a different caliber.
In light of the company he keeps in the Justice League, people have wondered why he does not wear a suit of more advanced powered armor to allow him to have an easier time in combat fighting his enemies, giving him superhuman strength and resistance to injury and extending his ability to carry more diverse weapons and tools?
Batman has been seen in a variety of iterations where he has worn a battle armor. Frank Miller, whose most famous armor-wearing Batman in Dark Knight, showed a Batman who was much older, whose physical capabilities had fallen and he was preparing himself to fight against the world’s mightiest hero. He knew he had no chance, but he needed to distract Superman long enough for him to use his matchless intellect to win the day.
Azrael was another iteration of Batman who used a suit of powered armor as part of a reign of terror on the underworld. While the suit was highly effective, Azrael did not understand the minds of the people he was fighting and ultimately failed in his tenure as Batman.
The most famous armor wearing Batman is the future Batman, Terry McGinnis, genetic son of and trained by the aged Bruce Wayne. The battle armor Batman created was initially to continue his crime-fighting career as he aged but eventually even with the suit, his heart was unable to keep up with his combat-laden future. The enemies were more powerful, more numerous and he was simply unable to keep up the pace. Terry on a quest for vengeance, comes to the attention of Bruce Wayne and with the support of Wayne, Terry took on the role of Batman. Without the physical training that Wayne had, Terry is dependent on the suit and the voice of Bruce whispering in his ear remotely.
Modern Batman doesn’t wear powered armor because he doesn’t need to. His primary contribution to the Justice League and to crimefighting itself has less to do with his weapons, tools or the addition of a suit of battle-armor and more to do with his peerless intellect, amazing powers of deduction, natural intuition and honed sense of the psychology of the criminal mind.
His matchless intellect is his superpower. His incredible drive, intensity and dedication are his calling cards. Anything else is just a tool for him.
Batman’s brilliance created protocols to destroy or immobilize every member of the Justice League and found those protocols to be deadly effective when they were stolen and used to great effectiveness by his opposite number, Prometheus. If this is what he does to his friends, what do you suppose he plans for his enemies?
It is his mind that allows him to be at the right place at the right time when a crazed, but highly intelligent Riddler or Joker plot some scheme their demented psyches demand they torment Batman with.
It is his mind that allows him to combat the ageless enemies, The Sensei, Ra’s Al Ghul or Vandal Savage who with their extended lifespans have amassed incredible skills and abilities that have almost no equal on Earth.
It is his genius, that gives him the ability to not only hold his own amongst the pantheon of godlike beings of the Justice League, but to direct those beings in ways of using their powers they themselves have never considered.
What Batman brings to crime fighting is his HUMANITY. His frailty, his understanding and memory of the human condition. The sense of being in the presence of giants and wanting to remind those giants that HE not THEY are the future of humanity.
Batman is a normal human who can't carry a metric ton heavy armor. He doesn't have portable fusion reactor to power portable rocket boosters (if he has one) to move such heavy armor.
If you exclude strength, Batman's usual armor is far more advanced than Ironman's armor. With it, he can jump off an aeroplane safely.. And yes, without any power needs. It's flexibility allows him to fight enemies with advanced martial art moves. Of course, his usual armor can't stand in front of Thor's hammer, but it'd be his flexible armor which would allow him to escape the hit by special moves.
Batman's speciality is not engaging enemies in battle field. He is a genius and great spy. Think, how he would be able to spy silently with Ironman's armor.
From time to time Batman has used a fully-armored exoskeleton, but he doesn't always do so. One notable example is in the Dark Knight Returns:
Why doesn't he make armor? ~> No, he has made armor. Is this really an answer?
When it gets down to it really it's about motivation and method. Ironman must wear his armor to live it's a part of him and he uses it to fight ... well actually I'm not sure what he fights normally. I know there are other guys in armor and other superpowered people but I don't think he fights actual crime with it. He doesn't fight to keep your average person safe he fights to keep the world and America safe. His method is protective and weaponized. His motivation is personal.
Batman on the other hand is always motivated to end crime especially in Gotham. He needs to get into it and feel that he is actually fighting it physically. His method is stealth, fear and detective work (brilliance) His motivation is to make sure a no one has to lose someone they love due to crime.
A few answers have hinted at this, but I can't believe no one else has made a bigger point of it:
He's a ninja.
Batman's various suits do provide a certain amount of bullet-proof, fire-proof protection, but his main trick isn't about taking a lot of hits, it's about not getting hit.
Tony Stark is, basically, an intellectual. I'm sure he played croquet or something in boarding school, but basically he's entirely non-physical. He has (at least at the beginning) no training, no combat experience. He's not even in very good shape. Thus, he built a suit that was all about shielding him from damage, not about agility or even really strength. (How many punches has Iron Man thrown in the entire MCU?) His suit gives him strength enough that a punch can do some serious damage, but the Iron Man suit is primarily a weapons platform and a protective shield, not something that augments his physical combat skills.
Bruce Wayne, on the other hand, is ALL ABOUT physicality. He's been trained by some of the greatest assassins and fighters in history, and while his suit does convey a number of advantages, he would still be incredibly potent without it. His skills are his own, not conveyed by his tools, unlike Tony Stark who is utterly useless in a fight without his armor.
Therefore, Bruce Wayne's "armor" is more about aiding his stealth, conveying a few extra benefits (like brass knuckles and fire protection), and otherwise just getting out of his way. He needs to be agile, able to jump and leap and swing and spin. The skin-tight costumes make sense of him, because they function like the form-fitting uniforms of gymnasts or pole-vaulters. A suit of armor, even powered armor, is usually very clumsy and brutish when it comes to fine motion control, not to mention noisy and heavy enough to break most gargoyles. Can you imagine Iron Man trying to Bat-claw his way up into the rafters without being seen? It would be laughable.
Unless he's got a specific reason (like fighting Superman), Batman not only has no need for power armor, he doesn't want it. It would significantly reduce his effectiveness, while conveying benefits that he has no use for. He'd probably prefer to simply fight in street clothes and a hockey mask, which at least wouldn't slow him down.
Batman is a ninja, his primary tools are stealth and agility. Tony Stark's armor wobbles when he walks, makes noises whenever he moves, and glows in the dark. Batman wouldn't even want it if it was offered to him.
It comes down to their influences and heroes.
Tony Stark's hero was King Arthur, so he built himself a suit of Armour: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomquest
Batman's hero was Zorro, so he created a costume based around that style of swashbuckler: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mark_of_Zorro_%281940_film%29#Batman_connection
Batman has a specific method of handling things, and it is unlikely that he will choose to abandon them. The only instances in which I could find he used power armor is against Superman in The Dark Knight Returns, against Inque, when he had to rescue an immobilized Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond, and in the Kingdom Come and Batman versus Predator comics. He trained in martial arts, stealth, and detective work for a reason; to use it.
Batman first appeared in Detective Comics (DC) in 1939, Batman is supose to be the ultimate detective, stelth is key in gathering clues and it is hard to sneak around in an armor suit. Also his suit is somewhat armor in post 80s comics his suit is made out of kevilar a bulit proof cloth.
There's also an episode of Batman Beyond where the aged Bruce Wayne needs to come to Terry's (new Batman mentioned above) rescue when he's immobilized by Inque... there are only three Inque episodes and I believe this is the middle one.
He's wearing a big trenchcoat and when Inque attacks him, he activates what is essentially Iron-Batman armor. Whereas Terry's is an advanced cloth weave including powered servos to enhance his strength and other tech, old Bruce's suit here was fully metal, and he uses it to distract Inque long enough for Terry to escape. Its a cool suit, cool episode.
