Ready, Aim, Fire!

[The Dark Knight]

The Joker stands still with his arms outstretched, and the Batwing swoops down and shoots some of Joker's men with the gatling guns. Perfect aim. Batman then reaches for an aiming device, a red circle appears centered on The Joker, and he unloads with gatling guns and missiles. He misses, explosions on each side of The Joker.

Now?..

Did Batman intentionally miss to intimidate The Joker from standing down, or did he try and kill him but his aiming equipment was faulty?

Also, have it in your mind that he did manage to shoot Joker's goons with the machine guns quite fine without the aiming device.

What do you think happened?

[batass4880]

The plane was probably getting too close for the guns and rockets to match the target (Joker) and the aim in his scope was constantly changing as the jet was getting closer and closer. I also think the Joker knew that, thus was taunting him.

[The Dark Knight]

Surely someone like Batman could adjust his sights to compensate for that?

[batass4880]

Surely someone like Batman could adjust his sights to compensate for that?

True. I honestly can't think of any other reason why that happened but I don't think he was subconsciously playing chicken with the Joker like he did in TDK and he definitely wanted him dead.

[DocLathropBrown]

There's no rationale for it, it's just meant to be a throwback to the Joker's luck in the comic books. He seems to escape death in the luckiest ways in the comics, Burton and Hamm/Skarron were just paying homage to that. As evidence of that:

The Joker opens his eyes, shocked and amused by his luck after the barrage is over.

Even Batman has a "WTF?" look on his face right after he pulls the target display away. Burton's intention is nice, but what makes it work is the reactions of both Bats and the Joker to it. The Joker looks amazed, but isn't going to question his hilariously good fortune, and Batman is just dumbfounded.

I laugh at the scene every time.

[The Dark Knight]

There's no rationale for it, it's just meant to be a throwback to the Joker's luck in the comic books. He seems to escape death in the luckiest ways in the comics, Burton and Hamm/Skarron were just paying homage to that. As evidence of that:

The Joker opens his eyes, shocked and amused by his luck after the barrage is over.

Even Batman has a "WTF?" look on his face right after he pulls the target display away. Burton's intention is nice, but what makes it work is the reactions of both Bats and the Joker to it. The Joker looks amazed, but isn't going to question his hilariously good fortune, and Batman is just dumbfounded.

I laugh at the scene every time.

Good post. I know the concept behind it, but what do you think caused it, and what was Batman's intent? 

[Paul (ral)]

To me the Joker has always been "the devil incarnate".

So it was "luck of the devil". 

[Grissom]

Agreed, it was the luck of the devil.

[DocLathropBrown]

The fact that you can make up any rationale and they could all be applicable makes me not bother thinking of one. It's not one of the Buronistic pieces of subtext that invariably has one answer for us to detect, so I think it's best not to think up a piece of fan conjecture and take it as gospel. I mean, you could say anything. The calibration of the Batwing's machinery was off, etc...

Either way, it makes Batman look like a putz. Why would he use the devices without making sure they worked properly first? Likewise, we know he wants to kill the Joker by this point, why would he "fire around" the Joker? Fan conjecture in this case is really far reaching and, as I said, any answer you try to come to just makes Batman look like a fool. It's best to recognize it for what it is: things just didn't go right, as evidenced by Bats and Joker's reactions, they don't know why the Batwing missed, either.

I mean, there is subtext and subtleties in the Burton films that have their answers. "I bought it in Japan" is a nod to Bruce's travels around the world, presumably studying to become Batman. THAT's answerable. Bruce's "revenge becomes your whole life" explaination in Batman Forever explains the murderous rampage Bruce goes on from 3rd act of B89 until the 3rd act of BR. Vicki's experience with Bruce faking death in her apartment and the look of realization on her face when she sees the newspaper about the Wayne murders, leading to her discovering Batman's identity? That's answerable from all the little pieces Burton and the actors gave us.

The Batwing weapons missing their target? Only your undertaker knows for sure.

[Joker81]

I thought it was very simple.....Batman is as blind as a Bat........
Thats why he missed!!