Vigilante or Artist?

Gotham city has always fascinated me. It is a singularity in the comic book world. Most comic book heroes involve some person who is either born with or given superhuman abilities and then uses those to fight against evil which is also superhuman in some manner. Most comic books are the story of those who are above us somehow, untouchable. The people involved  are the set pieces, and they deal with superheroes and supervillains as we deal with floods and tornados.  There is no point in getting angry with immutable forces of nature.  One can only clean up after as well as possible and move on.
Batman is the exception to this rule. I think of Superman and I think it is impossible fantasy, but the only thing preventing a character like Batman from existing in reality is someone with the money and force of will and psychotic obsession with justice.  What is more amazing than Batman's existence in that universe is the way that the entire city of Gotham responds to these heroes and villains. They are by and large not super human.  They are just wearing ridiculous outfits and using clever gadgets.  They could be stopped.  It is as though the citizens collectively decide one day that these costumed vigilantes and criminals represent some form of art and they simply allow these fights to be carried out. How else can it be categorized other than performance art? The ordinary police deal with ordinary crimes and these costumed people fight only with one another.  There is always the threat of massive violence or catastrophe that never happens, if you read the comics. Maybe that's why everyone just allows them to continue. It's their entertainment, kind of like a soap opera. There are always threats but as long as nothing dramatically bad happens everyone just kind of goes along with it. Crime and justice as performance art, and maybe a tourist attraction as well?  Heck, I'd go.