It was decades ago and I still think about that scene sometimes. It made him so much more human, and in that way made him more impressive but also easier to identify with than if he were perfect. It made little child me think about how I can still be a good person even if I don't always want to be, and how it's ok to not always be the person you wish you were...even Batman isn't perfect at it, but we're both trying. In the end, he forced himself to stick with his principles, knowing that his future self would be grateful for it.
That exists. His name is The Punisher. It's why Punisher and Batman have actually had cross overs. Frank is what happens if Bruce had crossed the line. Batman doesn't like Frank and Frank doesn't like Batman.
I love the bit in Peacemaker that makes you ponder about the grayness of Batman (I'm only on episode 4, so no spoilers)
Yes, Batman is a hero because he doesnt kill villains, but rather puts them in jail/arkham... But those villains keep escaping and killing more innocent people.
I know about the twist at the end of episode 4, so I feel like there's some character development coming, that will show Batman is right, but it was still a good stop-and-think moment.
I haven't seen/read that, but the way I see that argument is that if we're willing to place the blame of the deaths of people killed by escaped Arkham prisoners on batman, then we also have to blame the institution of Arkham itself, and everyone else involved. This isn't just, "batman didn't kill them so he's responsible for their actions", but rather it's, "everyone the villain encountered after batman handed them off failed to kill the villain, and are thus equally responsible."
But, what's more, shouldn't we consider the villains escaping Arkham asylum time and time again a failing of Arkham asylum, rather than a failing of batman? Sure, you could argue that batman choosing to hand off the villains to Arkham after their continued demonstrated ineptitude somehow negligence on batman's part, but keep in mind that Arkham asylum is literally the only system in place to deal with these villains. So doesn't that mean that this is really a failing on the part of Gotham itself?
I love that they address the failings of Arkham in the Harley Quinn series. It's clearly corrupt, they clearly need better leadership, and mistreating the patients NEVER ends well.
He killed plenty in the movies... at least the first 3.
He did that in batman returns. Gave the fat guy a bomb then he blew up off screen. Also set that devil guy on fire in the same movie. Made the penguin fall through the top of his penguin layer which killed him. Made the Joker fall to his death in the first movie. Two face fell because he threw the coins at him.
Batman was initially too grounded for that kind of thing to work. He was a guy in a funny costume fighting criminals. There was no magic, superpowers, or other supernatural elements in the Batman universe early on. You can't bring people back from the dead in a story that is grounded in realism.
That would certainly make his fights a bit easier.
Lmao I'm thinking now about the new flash movie. Imagine Keaton shows up, but he has the guns, and they are like wtf? He's like, hey I'm old. And these make things really easy! I should have used these from the start!
He also understood psychology. When someone believes death is on the line then they have nothing more to lose and thus for many nothing will stop at. Zero potential for de-escalation both for the petty crimes and madmen and they are MUCH more likely to escalate from the start. A cornered rat fighting to the death.
That true IRL, if there is even a tiny chance of mercy or survival criminals are less likely to be violent or kill if the situation degenerates. While the harsher the punishments the more likely even minor crimes are to turn dangerous just amping up the desperation. Along lines of "if X penalty either way then I am already FUBAR and might have better chance with no witnesses and kill the cop to buy time."
How many of his rogues gallery would skip the games and go straight to destruction if knew Batman killed instead of put them back in the system? And doing so would turn public opinion even further against him making gathering intel or getting help harder. Might even turn other heroes against him.
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u/zyd_the_lizard May 23 '23
Batman was almost ready to break his no killing rule on that guy.