Comics in which Batman kills

[The Laughing Fish]

It's a small YT channel, so what are you gonna do? But if he did lift from this thread(which I don't know if he did or not), he should credit Silver Nemesis. I know I basically copy/pasted this thread over to SHH a few years ago, but I asked permission from Silver Nemesis beforehand, and I clearly credited him at the top of the thread, as well. Although, that thread devolved into people bickering about how BvS sucks, and how all the examples don't count for whatever reason. There's a certain member over there that is way too thickheaded about Batman killing. He's in this weird denial phase, where he denies most of the comic references and the Nolan movies, but uses it against certain comics or movies he hates. He's....weird.

He's a delusional hypocrite. Simple as that.

[thecolorsblend]

It's a small YT channel, so what are you gonna do? But if he did lift from this thread(which I don't know if he did or not), he should credit Silver Nemesis. I know I basically copy/pasted this thread over to SHH a few years ago, but I asked permission from Silver Nemesis beforehand, and I clearly credited him at the top of the thread, as well. Although, that thread devolved into people bickering about how BvS sucks, and how all the examples don't count for whatever reason. There's a certain member over there that is way too thickheaded about Batman killing. He's in this weird denial phase, where he denies most of the comic references and the Nolan movies, but uses it against certain comics or movies he hates. He's....weird.

No offense intended. But SHH is one of those forums I never understood. Or could tolerate for very long.

In fact, there aren't very many geek-oriented forums worthy of praise, come to think of it. But there's a certain competing forum out there that we all know (some of us only too well) which puts SHH to shame.

Shame, Travesty.

This nameless Batman forum which I'm not naming puts SHH to shame.

[The Laughing Fish]

I'm very disappointed in this website. Despite the fact this thread exists, Batman-Online's Twitter page shared a rather disingenuous video to "prove its point" over why Batman doesn't kill in an effort to criticise BvS; specifically appearing to mock Zack Snyder for his creative decision. While ignoring the many times Batman had killed in live action, let alone the comics. What's worse is the site's tweet had the audacity to write the word "Truth".

https://twitter.com/batmanonlinecom/status/1049062378267205634

Tell me something, do you think the YouTuber who made this video is being truthful if he refuses to answer questions over whether or not he had the same distaste when Batman killed in other media? Or conveniently dismisses fans as cultists? Judging by the interaction in these links here, I'd say no.

https://twitter.com/Stemot1978/status/1047935423237038080
https://twitter.com/HiTopFilms/status/1047929169160654848

Nothing more infuriating than misinformed videos getting monetised than people spreading it, and thinking it's gospel. Shameful.

[thecolorsblend]

I'm very disappointed in this website. Despite the fact this thread exists, Batman-Online's Twitter page shared a rather disingenuous video to "prove its point" over why Batman doesn't kill in an effort to criticise BvS; specifically appearing to mock Zack Snyder for his creative decision. While ignoring the many times Batman had killed in live action, let alone the comics. What's worse is the site's tweet had the audacity to write the word "Truth".

https://twitter.com/batmanonlinecom/status/1049062378267205634

Tell me something, do you think the YouTuber who made this video is being truthful if he refuses to answer questions over whether or not he had the same distaste when Batman killed in other media? Or conveniently dismisses fans as cultists? Judging by the interaction in these links here, I'd say no.

https://twitter.com/Stemot1978/status/1047935423237038080
https://twitter.com/HiTopFilms/status/1047929169160654848

Nothing more infuriating than misinformed videos getting monetised than people spreading it, and thinking it's gospel. Shameful.

The general consensus around here seems to be that it's not exactly heresy for Batman to take a life. Ditto with our general pro-Snyder viewpoints.

But to be fair to Ral, he's under no obligation to agree with any of us. It's good to be king, right? If his conception of Batman veers toward a more merciful take on the character, well, I'm in no position to tell him he's wrong.

[The Laughing Fish]

The general consensus around here seems to be that it's not exactly heresy for Batman to take a life. Ditto with our general pro-Snyder viewpoints.

But to be fair to Ral, he's under no obligation to agree with any of us. It's good to be king, right? If his conception of Batman veers toward a more merciful take on the character, well, I'm in no position to tell him he's wrong.

I'm not saying anyone has to like BvS. The point I'm making is if people are going to throw that movie under the bus because Batman killing as one of their main reasons, they might as well do the same for the rest of the films in live action. A video like that only enforces double standards.

[The Dark Knight]

I won't push this issue too hard, because while I don't have a problem with Batman occasionally using lethal force, I do share color's sentiment. However, if people have no problem with this...



...they shouldn't have a problem with this:

[The Laughing Fish]

Food for thought to whoever shared that pretentious Batman doesn't kill video on Batman-Online's Twitter page: I just found out that HiTop Films also made a video explaining why B89 is a "bad Batman" movie. 

Anyway, I stumbled across spoilers for Batman #57 last week:
https://insidepulse.com/2018/10/18/dc-comics-universe-batman-57-spoilers-batman-vs-kgbeast-in-brutal-fight-over-shooting-of-nightwing/

KGBeast will probably survive, but it's another example of how Batman isn't always mercyful.

[The Laughing Fish]

Here are a few more examples of Batman killing, including other members of the Batman family who have blood on their hands too.

In Batman/Green Arrow: The Poison Tomorrow, Batman punches one of Poison Ivy's goons driving a truck carrying baby food tainted with the plague. This frantic course of action makes the other goon sitting next to the driver to try and regain control of the wheel, but fails, and the truck skids off the bridge and crashes. As Batman survives and crawls out of the explosive wreckage, you can read the narration saying he doubts the goons' chances of survival.





When DC's three biggest heroes united to hunt for Ra's al Ghul's nuclear warheads in Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity, Diana is stabbed by one of Ra's al Ghul's loyal servants, and Batman retaliates by striking the villain with a Batarang, which causes her to fall to her death.



Okay, that's enough of Batman. Now, who else joins him and Robin in the same company who have killed? Would you believe it, it's Barbara Gordon...and Alfred Pennyworth.

During the final pages of the Elseworlds story Batman: Thrillkiller, Barbara adopts the Robin costume and returns to crime-fighting just in time to rescue Batman, who was held captive by Bianca Steeplechase (aka the story's female version of the Joker). Barbara gets her revenge on Bianca for murdering her lover Dick Grayson (aka the original Robin, naturally), by charging at her head-on into the bay...



...and leaves her behind with her foot tied up, letting her drown to death.



In the final moments of Batman: Earth One Vol. 1, Alfred comes to Bruce's rescue when the Penguin is about to finish him off.



The shotgun blast sends the Penguin flying out of the window of his office, and his dead, bloodied body lands into the ground.

[Bapeck]

Since this has become relevant again with the media taking Zack Snyder's quotes out of context and many notable creatives taking issue with Snyder based on the deliberately misleading articles I'd like to add my own contribution. I'll give Bruce the benefit of the doubt and assume he simply dodged out of the way of the rock and didn't throw it since apart from his hand gesture nothing could support this in my mind. With that said him dodging allowed the rock to hit the guy and when he blew up Bruce didn't even flinch. So this idea that Bruce values all human life so highly including a criminals seems misinformed. Also he admits to killing in the next image.

[The Laughing Fish]

^That first example came from No Man's Land, where we see Batman returning to Gotham City and saves Alfred. I must admit, when I first saw this image, I initially thought he deflected the rock with his hand and threw at the crook behind him because of the way he folded his arm as he ducked under. At best, the incident was a result of collateral damage.

While we're on the subject, I saw this tweet by a novelist called Andrew Shvarts on his thoughts over Batman's moral code:

Batman's refusal to kill (and magical ability to never do so) is a narrative cheat to allow readers the thrill of brutal vigilantism while avoiding any moral recrimination or complexity

Source: https://twitter.com/Shvartacus/status/1133410269034475527

Ignoring the fact this thread has many examples of Batman killing in the comics, I think Shvarts is onto something here. While I prefer Batman stories to choose whether or not Batman kills and stick with it unless it has reasonable character development behind it, a lot of people really don't want to be faced with a story where Batman's conduct and morality comes into question. This is despite the fact that Batman's conduct is highly dangerous and life-threatening enough even without killing people directly, as Shvarts alludes to.

Tons of these fans praise Batman for being a "grounded" character, but then they expect him to find a way out of situations that are anything but realistic. Even worse is their hypocrisies when they deny Batman kills someone whenever it's convenient. No wonder paying lip service to certain ideals resonates so much to people. As long as the hero says something that sounds righteous and doesn't really sound like he's painting himself in a bad light no matter what he does, it helps them enjoy the story better. It's simply not intellectually honest.

But even putting that aside, from a realistic point of view, Batman can't afford to avoid using lethal force. Whether it's in self-defense, or saving mass-murderers from the greater good. It's simply not practical. Sure, it's a nice sentiment for Batman to have by saying "But if I do that, if I allow myself to go down into that place, I'll never come back" in the animated Under the Red Hood movie, but if you think about it too much from a logical point of view instead of an emotional one, it doesn't add up. I enjoy the story otherwise as comic book fiction, but it's hardly as enthralling as a character arc you'd see in Batman's journey in, say, BvS.

People, both fans and writers, need to be more consistent with what they want with the character.