Ready, Aim, Fire!

[THE BAT-MAN]

Truely one of my favorite confrontation scenes in film history.  I hope I can shed some light on the subject.

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?

First, I think that it is evident that Batman did not intentionally miss to intimidate The Joker from standing down because when he started to fire his targetting screen was locked on the Joker, meaning that he was trying to kill him.

Second, He did have his aiming device on when he was firing at Joker's goons.

Here is a plausible reason as to what could have happened.  I believe that Jokers goons were easily killed off because (A) The Range was good and (B) there was a group of them making the targetting easier.  However, The Joker was a smaller target, the batwing was getting closer making his target to close for a range shot.  This is why if you watch carefully you can see the machine gun bullets go down a straight line toward the Joker but by the time the bullets reach the Joker as well as the bat rockets,  batman's batwing is out of range and out of reach I personally do not believe that batman's targetting equipment was faulty.  This rings true to simple air combat dynamics  I've played many air combat games and its true if you get to close your target becomes out of range or out of reach this also depends where your target is positioned.  I know its just a movie but, the same thing happens in other movies like Star Wars.

Becuase this is a movie I believe that Burton and Company wanted to give the audience one of the best thrilling suspense showdown confrontations in film history and you know what?  They did.

Just a little tidbit here alot of people wonder how the Joker could possibly shoot down the batwing?  Well, in the comic book adaptation of the movie Joker's long pistol has exploding shells.  When Joker fires his long pistol an exploding shell hits the bridge of batman's cockpit thereby destroying batman's control circuits and causing the batwing to go down out of control. In order to get a better understanding of this scene look at the comic book adaptation.  I hoped that I helped you dive deeper into this scene.

[batass4880]

Just a little tidbit here alot of people wonder how the Joker could possibly shoot down the batwing?  Well, in the comic book adaptation of the movie Joker's long pistol has exploding shells.  When Joker fires his long pistol an exploding shell hits the bridge of batman's cockpit thereby destroying batman's control circuits and causing the batwing to go down out of control. In order to get a better understanding of this scene look at the comic book adaptation.  I hoped that I helped you dive deeper into this scene.

The only logical explanation I could think of was that he shot the fuel tank.

[phantom stranger]

Back in the early 90's I read the novelization of the movie.

I believe it stated that Batman was aiming at the cake, decorations, etc. on purpose because he wanted to eliminate any hidden weapons, like a missile launcher.

Or it could be that my memory is playing tricks on me and that was just something I came up with on my own. I don't know where the book is right now or else I'd look it up.

[DocLathropBrown]

No, you're quite correct. Craig Gardner states that Batman fires his weapons to destroy the other stuff to ensure the Joker would have no surprises left. Garner never states that Batman was aiming for the Joker, though. And the Joker is dancing around on the street below as opposed to standing still.

[Dark Knight Detective]

Isn't it quite obvious that Batman wasn't aiming for the Joker? I'm sure if that were the truth, Batman would've blown the Joker to Kingdom Come (no pun intended). I mean, just look at how Batman aimed at the tents for example. Those shots were aimed perfectly. My guess is that Batman wanted to kill the Joker w/ his own hands.

[THE BAT-MAN]

The only logical explanation I could think of was that he shot the fuel tank.

The fuel tank is not located in the front of the batwing.  When the Joker fired it hit the bridge of the cockpit do you not remember when batman was hit his entire cockpit began to combust.  If the Joker had shot the fuel tank it would not cause batman to lose control of his batwing, intead it would either explode or leak considering batman would have enough fuel to control his landing.  Anyway I understand what you mean.

[phantom stranger]

No, you're quite correct. Craig Gardner states that Batman fires his weapons to destroy the other stuff to ensure the Joker would have no surprises left. Garner never states that Batman was aiming for the Joker, though. And the Joker is dancing around on the street below as opposed to standing still.

Oh ok, thanks for clearing that up.

I always wonder how much of the novelizations are based on the original script/story and how much are just made-up by the novelist. I think the only one I've ever read was the '89 one although I read some of the '92 one.

[DocLathropBrown]

Isn't it quite obvious that Batman wasn't aiming for the Joker? I'm sure if that were the truth, Batman would've blown the Joker to Kingdom Come (no pun intended). I mean, just look at how Batman aimed at the tents for example. Those shots were aimed perfectly. My guess is that Batman wanted to kill the Joker w/ his own hands.

What possible purpose would the scene where we see Batman zero in on the Joker serve, then?

Basic filmmaking principals, my friends. You don't insert a scene that is obvious in it's intent if you want the audience to understand the OPPOSITE.

The shot of the target reticules locking in on the Joker is meant to tell us that Batman is aiming (locking the targeting computer) to kill him. not shoot around him. Had that been Burton's intent, they would have had a shot of a readout of switch or SOMETHING that indicated Batman was setting the Batwing to ignore it's target lock and fire aimlessly.

Fan conjecture in this matter is rediculous. There's no plausable rationale for what happened, Burton intended this as a throwaway gag, nothing more. There's no explaination other than Burton said so. It is quite clear and, more importantly, obvious that the Joker just survived by luck/magic/fate/whatever. Why else insert the surprised reactions from both hero and villain but to make evident that absurdity?

Again, basic filmmaking. Not only did we get the "zeroing in" shot for the reasons I stated above, but the shock/surprise reactions of Batman and the Joker are meant to tell us that there IS no explaination for it other than for a laugh. In a way, both characters broke the fourth wall to react in the same way we did, to allow Burton to get away with giving us a joke that defies logic, but is an homage to the comic books nonethless.

Like I said, any fan conjecture makes Batman look like an idiot. It either softens Batman and makes him act completely out of character for the third act by having him spare the Joker's life (in a ludacris, unexplained way, no less) by firing around him, or turns Batman into an idiot for going out in the Batwing without making sure his devices were working properly, which, from what everything else in the Batwing sequence tells us (all the gadgets work before prior to this scene), they do work properly.

It's a throwaway joke, nothing more. There is no explaination for it. Not even an intelligent fan theory fits in.

[The Dark Knight]

My opinion on the matter is that Batman?s intent was to kill The Joker, because why else would he have his sights aimed directly at his chest? As for missing his target, well?I don?t know. Maybe he got nervous facing down his parent's killer. But we do know for sure is that those weapons worked just fine and they did not miss when aimed at something.

[THE BAT-MAN]

It's a throwaway joke, nothing more. There is no explaination for it. Not even an intelligent fan theory fits in.

Thats your opinion.