LogFAQs > #922253255

Zeus posted...

Bazrael never made much sense from a logical standpoint given that the mantle was handed off to a guy who Batman had barely just met and who had a troubled history. That said, he had a totally badass costume and he was cool enough to win even Bullock over.

Well, the entire point of that storyline is that Bruce wasn't necessarily thinking straight, because Bane had deliberately run him into the ground before breaking him, so Bruce wasn't really making the best decisions (he didn't really recover until about halfway through Knightquest).

Dick actually called him out on it afterward, though - he basically echoed the same "Why did you make him Batman when I was literally right here, and I'm the closest thing to a son and heir you've ever had?", and Batman's answer was basically that Dick had left, and was forging his own identity and making his own life, and that was more important to Bruce than effectively punishing Dick (in Bruce's eyes) by pulling him back and forcing him to take on Bruce's burdens. Basically, exactly the sort of mindset a father WOULD have towards his son.

His only other alternative at the time was Tim (who was still way too young), whereas Jean-Paul was literally right there, AND had extensive combat training, AND was looking for a chance at redemption.

It's also kind of implied that Jean-Paul probably would have made a worthwhile Batman replacement for a temporary period of time if he didn't still have almost an entire lifetime of assassin brainwashing training hardwired directly into his brain. That's what pushed him over the edge. Jean-Paul himself wasn't necessarily a bad person.

(Not that Bruce learned his lesson from that, considering the next time he met someone who had spent almost their entire life being brainwashed and conditioned to be the perfect assassin by a cult, he made her Batgirl almost immediately.)


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