A Lesson in Data-Driven Reality from The Batman

The Zombie Trap

One of the shows I’ve let my child watch is a series I grew up with — The Batman. Now, I probably shouldn’t let a three-year-old watch even the kid-friendly version, but nostalgia can be persuasive.

The Batman!

While watching this show, we saw one particular episode that packed a lot of wisdom in it.

The episode centers on a zombie apocalypse

Batman and Robin visit Doctor Hugo Strange in prison, where he reveals his sinister plan: he’s planted a bomb that will turn everyone into zombies. Before meeting Strange, Batman warns Robin to be careful—Strange is deceptive and brilliant, so they need to think carefully about everything he says.

Strange tells them about the bomb, claiming he has the only antidote. But instead of giving it to them, he drops it at their feet, where it explodes. “Now you have the antidote and are immune,” he laughs, “but everyone else will be destroyed.”

A bell rings. Suddenly, Batman and Robin see the prison guards transforming into zombies. They fight their way out and escape into the city, driving through Gotham in the Batmobile. Everywhere they look: zombies.

Batman, Robin and Dr. Strange

Batman tells Robin to check the air—that must be how Strange released the toxin. But Robin’s test comes back negative. The air is clear. Strange indeed.

They retreat to the Bat Cave, thinking they’ll be safe underground. Batman calls Alfred to warn him. But when Alfred arrives, he’s a zombie too. They have to subdue him. Batman realizes they need an antidote.

They fight back through Arkham Asylum to confront Strange, who tells them the antidote is stashed in a bank. But as they prepare to leave, Batgirl appears from behind and captures Robin. When Batman turns around, both Robin and Batgirl are zombies, attacking him together.

Batman fights them off and heads to the bank. There, he encounters Chief Gordon and other police officers—all zombies now—trying to stop him. Batman takes a hair sample from Gordon before escaping, analyzing it while Batgirl and Robin chase him.

In a remote cave, Batman examines the results. Gordon’s DNA looks perfectly normal. The air outside is perfectly normal. What happened here?

The data checks out—so what’s happening?

Batman decides to deploy the antidote he stole from the bank at strategic locations throughout the city—the bridge, various buildings—so it can disperse through the air and save the population. But as he’s about to detonate it, Batgirl, Robin, and Chief Gordon with his zombie horde attack him.

During the fight, zombie Robin says something that makes Batman stop and think. He focuses on reality, on the data: The air was clear. Gordon’s sample was normal. He’d warned Robin that Strange was a brilliant mad scientist.

Then it hits him: What if I’m the one who’s poisoned?

Batman realizing the trap

Batman decides to trust in the data and trust in his friends. He lets Batgirl and Robin capture him. They spray his nose, and he wakes up.

The truth reveals itself: Batman had been under the trance all along. When they first visited Strange, what he dropped wasn’t an antidote—it was the poison. A poison that made whoever inhaled it perceive everyone else as zombies.

The Lesson in the Data

It’s a fascinating story, but the depth of the episode is powerful and worth examining.

What we learn from this parable is that: You need to trust the data. You need to learn what the data is. You need to understand what the data is. Because if not, you have no idea if you yourself are under the trance.

This principle applies to so many different facets of life. The first thing that comes to mind is data about our physical reality—questions we take for granted.

For instance, is the Earth spinning or not? There’s no observable measurement in our daily experience that says the Earth is spinning, yet we’ve been told by scientists that it is. Another one is—is our world under spiritual attack? We can say no, but we can examine every facet of our society—from the church to government and health—to see the data pointing to a parasitic influence on a spiritual level.

This is just one example of how we can be in a trance or trap without realizing it, and it applies to so many other areas as well.

Data is important. I’ve written about data and statistics in previous articles such as “Weaponized Logic” and “Causation vs. Correlation.” These are things we need to know about, concepts we need to understand, because these are real facets of our world and we should understand how they play a part in shaping our reality.

So as always, thank you for walking through this episode with me. It’s a great show if you get a chance—all my anime fans, please enjoy it. But pay attention to the truth. Pay attention to the reality of the world, as that is where true vision lies.

As always, thanks for the time and the attention. Have a great and wonderful day.

—Ashe,

Franklin O’Kanu

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