Current Events > Batman is a villain.

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Batman is a villain. I've seen this said before, but I don't mean it in the way that "what if Bruce Wayne secretly gives money to criminals." No. Batman, in his current state with all of his actions seen by us viewers and readers, is acting as a supervillain.

Let's start with the obvious issue. Supervillains kill people, Batman doesn't, ipso facto he can't be. But the fact that he doesn't MAKES him villainous. He leaves all of these super criminals in a nice, healthy, recoverable state when he stops them. Whenever he takes down anyone, he always sends them to prison whence they ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS escape. He knows they're going to escape, we know it, everyone knows it. So he sees these mass murders and he keeps them safe from the police and from other criminals until they're ready to kill again. Batman is responsible for all of these deaths because he makes sure that the other super villains can strike again.

Why would he do this? We see that he does stop them, we see that he saves people, and we get insights into his mind that he wants to stop them. He needs to. Another major feature of comic book villains is their hang-ups, their obsessions. The Riddler, for example, needs people to try to solve his riddles. If suddenly, all the smart people were dead, the Riddler would have no one to play with anymore, and he would be in hell. Batman needs to have challenging opponents to take down. Batman needs there to be a constant threat by major villains on Gotham, and so he ensures that there will always be someone plotting destruction by never actually eliminating them.

(As a side note, i feel the need to mention his general insanity and bat-obsession, but that's obvious, arguable, and kind of a minor issue)
Finally, this leads to an interesting conclusion. Batman's main foe and most murderous tool is The Joker. But if Joker is the foe of a villain, what does that make him? Many times in many mediums, Joker has said that all he wants is for Batman to kill him, that's all. And if Batman's means of villainy is a refusal to kill, what the Joker is trying to do is convert Batman into a hero. If Batman crosses the line and chooses to start killing bad guys, he would be the hero that he thinks he is. The Joker is a man who commits unspeakable evil in order to do ultimate good - he wants Gotham to have a hero. And Batman is a man who commits heroic deeds to cause unspeakable evil. They are inverse and opposite one another.

So there it is, Batman is a villain who thinks he's a hero. And Joker is a villain who's deepest wish is for a true hero.

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I would call him a villain just an ineffective hero.

One the state should have killed Joker a long time ago.
However something that might help your point. He has saved the Joker before. Even proven he was innocent once.

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Why does Batman catch flack for not killing but Flash and Superman doesn't?

Orlando_Jordan posted...

So he sees these mass murders and he keeps them safe from the police and from other criminals until they're ready to kill again.

Nah, fam


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To their credit this concept has come up several times in Batman stories.
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TheoryzC posted...

Nah, fam

Batman did explicitly keep the Joker from being killed in one instance. Joker killed a rich guy's kid, rich guy put a massive price on Joker's head and advertised it so hard even Bloomberg was like "bruh". Batman kidnaps the rich guy, introduces him to a chairbound Joker in an isolated room, and tells rich guy to do it himself instead of letting him "buy a murder" or somesuch nonsense.

Thing is, Bats was counting on the man to not go through with it.

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It's not Batman's fault that the legal system in Gotham is corrupt and murderers like the Joker are not put to death.

Seriously someone like Joker would have been killed by a cop or fellow prisoner. Batman isn't stopping those things from happening.

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creativerealms posted...

It's not Batman's fault that the legal system in Gotham is corrupt and murderers like the Joker are not put to death.

Seriously someone like Joker would have been killed by a cop or fellow prisoner. Batman isn't stopping those things from happening.

It is his fault that he keeps putting someone into a situation that has already resulted in more murders.

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creativerealms posted...

Seriously someone like Joker would have been killed by a cop or fellow prisoner. Batman isn't stopping those things from happening.

Yes he is , he has fought people to save the Joker.

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