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Batman’s No-Kill Rule Hides the Harsh Truth All Comics Fans Ignore
Batman is famous for having an explicit, hard rule against killing. It is brought up constantly, and often entire storylines will center around people challenging or attempting to force Batman to break this very rule, though he never does. The Dark Knight sees life as something that must be protected at all costs, and has dedicated himself to saving everybody, no matter who they are. This is a defining characteristic that touches every part of who he is, and is truly essential to portraying Batman as a character. However, a lot of people express dissatisfaction with this rule. Some claim that Batman’s refusal to kill makes him complicit with, or even worse, than the villains he fights.
This idea claims that Batman is less of a hero for choosing to preserve the lives of those he fights, especially given that the Dark Knight regularly goes up against serial killers and attempted genociders like the Joker and Ra’s al Ghul. Whether you agree with Batman’s point of view or not is one thing, but the strange thing about this is that only Batman gets called out on not killing, when the truth is that the majority of superheroes prescribe to the same code against taking lives.
Let’s Get One Thing Straight: Killing Isn’t Heroic
While Batman is most famous for his refusal to kill, it’s not like he’s the only character to follow that philosophy. Practically all of the most popular superheroes share his thoughts. Take a look at two of the other best-known heroes in Superman and Spider-Man, both of whom very staunchly refuse to kill under any circumstances. Some people claim that Superman would be willing to if there was no other way, but the only instance of him taking a life in canon (executing the pocket universe Kryptonian criminals in Superman volume two #22) is considered wildly out of character, and came in the middle of writer John Byrne’s very messy leave of the title.
Similarly, Spider-Man has often been tempted to cross this line and has stated his intent to do so, but he’s never actually done it. In fact, these two characters go out of their way to save every life they can, the same as Batman. This isn’t just true for these characters, either, but the majority of heroes in both Marvel and DC. There’s Hawkeye, the Flash, Daredevil, Black Canary, and even the monstrous Hulk (until the Devil Hulk personality), and many, many more.
The simple fact of the matter is that killing your enemies doesn’t seem very heroic. Superheroes are power fantasies meant to represent the best parts of ourselves saving the day, and so they are very often moral champions. While Batman is very vocal about his codified rule against killing, the rest of the heroes don’t talk about it as much because they don’t have to, their actions speak for it. Frankly, the idea of them not killing just implied because it seems obvious. Heroes don’t go around stealing or shoving supervillains into private prisons on the moon despite not having “rules” against it, but everyone still knows they wouldn’t do that. They find better ways because they believe in redemption and doing the right thing, the only reason Batman has a “rule” is because of how he’s presented.
Batman Is Cursed By The Realism Problem
The main reason people complain about Batman not killing and not other heroes doing the same is because of how they perceive him. The Caped Crusader has cultivated a reputation for being more grounded and realistic than many of his heroic compatriots, and so the Joker committing another travesty is seen as much worse than Brainiac glassing an entire planet because Brainiac is a more “fictional” villain than the Joker. Batman comics are often much darker than characters like Superman’s, so the story focuses more on the evil and pain caused by the villains, which in turn makes them seem far more monstrous than in other stories and forces him to justify and codify his resolve to preserve life.
It doesn’t matter that the Joker’s kill count can never begin to approach Lobo’s because Lobo is a funny, unserious villain, whereas the Joker is supposedly “realistic.” Yet even this attempt at an argument falls apart when you look at characters like Nightwing, who has taken literally the same oath as Batman against killing and fights many of the same villains, and yet never gets called anything other than a hero for doing it.
The fact of the matter is that hating on Batman for not killing his villains is ridiculous unless you share that opinion across the board. Batman is a hero through and through, and heroes aren’t going to just go around killing when they feel like it. What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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