Batman on the metro doubled who stood for a pregnant woman

A man dressed as Batman more than doubled the odds that Milan metro commuters would give up their seats for a pregnant woman, according to a field study published in npj Mental Health Research in November 2025. Researchers at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore ran 138 observations. A female researcher wearing a prosthetic pregnancy belly boarded a crowded train, sometimes alone, sometimes as a costumed Batman entered through a separate door at the same moment. Alone, about 37% of seated passengers stood for her. With Batman aboard, that figure climbed to 67%. The costume skipped the full face mask, on the reasonable theory that a masked man on a rush-hour train might read less as hero and more as emergency. The strangest finding came later. Asked why they had stood, 44% of the helpers said they had not consciously noticed Batman at all. Lead author Francesco Pagnini's team read it as involuntary mindfulness, a small jolt that pulled people out of autopilot and back into the room.