quote:Originally posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim: Jason, I'm afraid you're mistaken. Batman has always been a killer and a vigilante who has been motivated as much by his own desire for revenge as a longing for justice. He is a deeply psychologically disturbed individual, perhaps even on the same level as some of the villains he's defeated.
You sure? The comics I've read have always been pretty clear that not killing is the one thing that seperates Batman from those he fights, the thing that stops him falling into the abyss, such as it were. Yes, he's a deeply disturbed individual who has basically sacrificed his own life in order to stop anyone else from suffering what he suffered. But that's balanced by his extended family, who help keep him (at least partially) sane.
Besides, you really think that Tim, Dick, Barbara, and Jim Gordon would ally themselves with him if he was a brutal Punisher-esc villian.
Liam's got it completely correct here: the one thing he does NOT do is kill. Joker pushed him right to the very edge by killing Jason Todd (Robin II) and Commisioner Gordon almost shot Batman to stop him from going over that edge. He did break Joker's neck, causing severe (if comic-book-temporary) parilysis.
Tim Drake became Robin because after Jason Tdd's death, Batman was slowly becoming more vioent and punishng himself for Todd's death: the idea is that Robin keeps Batman's violence in check.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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I remember a very disturbing Batman-mag, where he and Superman fought a blond girl who had become a vampire, it was really terrifying. Batman shoved a stake through her torso before she could drain Superman, who couldn't hold her off for some reason.
The same year, he fought some strange guy dressed out like the grim reaper, cutting people in half with his gigantic hand-scythe, that was the goriest mag I've ever seen. He did smack the guy over the edge of a skyscraper IIRC, and they solved the "no-killing" clause by making it so it was the reaper who let go of the ledge. Pretty lame.
-------------------- "I'm nigh-invulnerable when I'm blasting!" Mel Gibson, X-Men
Registered: Aug 1999
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The fact that he almost shoots someone with a gun is the primary reason he stopped being Batman when he got older, according to Batman: Beyond.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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I'll have to go back and look at that comic, but I'm fairly certain he shoots the Reaper in Year 2. Don't think it was fatal though. It was mostly because he was getting his butt whooped royally.
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That was the idea behind the bat emblem. At least, according to Frank Miller.
"Why do they think I walk around with a bullseye on my chest? Impossible to bullet proof my cowl". Or something like that.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Yah, the idea was that the yellow would attract their aim. I remember that scene too, where Bats takes a hit in the chest and we see the armor underneath.
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