The Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime have been engaged in a dance on the pages of comic books for years now. Now Tauriq Moosa with Big Think argues that Batman should finally break his own cardinal rule and eliminate the Joker permanently.
“The Joker is a clear example of ‘an unstoppable’ force that can be seen to harm,” Moosa writes. “The Joker proves time and again his disregard for law, any semblance of respect for other lives, and his consistent need to create chaos in a methodical way. No prison can hold him, no punishment will effect [sic] him, no treatment will cure him. All have been tried, all quiver into dust or, like Harley Quinn, are transformed into another tool for his plans.”
Moosa argues that even permanent incapacitation of the Joker (if such a thing is possible) is ineffective, since his psychological presence in Gotham City seems dangerous enough on its own.
“What’s powerful is not The Joker’s physical presence but what he can create and conjure,” he writes.
Therefore, Moosa argues that death is the only answer if Batman wants to save the most lives and prevent the most catastrophes, and even thinks that the Caped Crusader could pull it off and still keep his virtuous image intact.
“Batman could make it such that The Joker’s death appears to be an accident,” Moosa said. “This means The Dark Knight can retain his image as a nonlethal superhero, but still have the chaotic force of The Joker forever gone.”
No no no, a thousand times NO. Batman DOES NOT KILL, even by “accident”.
Originally Batman did kill people apparently. In his first appearance he throws a guy into a vat of acid. I’ve heard he once kicked a crook in the head, snapping his neck but hard to find confirmation on that one so far. Here’s a cool article about times when he has killed. http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/03/22/batman-kills-murderer/
Story wise Batman shouldn’t kill Joker but he should definitely try. Joker is a mad dog that is beyond redemption and needs to be put down. If he does go around killing bad folk though it would be harder to get the cooperation of the police. I don’t like the no killing rule though, he should be able to if it saves innocent lives.
Life is precious but sometimes……. People just need killin.
Seriously…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seBpXt8_6xs
If this were the real world, maybe, but this is a series of fantasy fiction stories. The last thing a writing team will do is to destroy its most reliable source of stories.
Besides, death is never permanent in comic books. Even if the character isn’t resurrected in his own story arc, his whole universe will be rebooted within 15 years.
I think a one off graphic novel where batman kills the joker would be cool, showing the consequences of that action. Irrationally I think Batman would be scarred by that, having crossed that line.
I honestly have to quote Warren Ellis here: “It occurs to me that an awful lot of trouble in Gotham City could have been averted a long time ago if Batman had just ripped the Joker’s nipples off.”
Seriously, you have to read the whole thing. It’s one of the funniest opinion pieces ever written in the history of humanity, and a decade later STILL can make me snort beverage out my nose and cry laughing.
http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=767
Bat-Denipplizer. Priceless.
DC Digital, has detective comics #27 (first appearance of Batman) free to download. That crook falling in the vat of acid could have been ruled an accident but then I bought the next two and in #28 Batman throws a goon off a building, killing him, just to get the cops’ attention.
Aren’t all super-villains pretty much unstoppable forces of harm?
I think Tauriq Moosa either had a little too much free time on his hands or couldn’t think of anything else interesting to write.
Sure, Batman could kill the Joker, but it just would not last. In his wake there might be 52 Multiverse Jokers, a Joker-Red, a Joker-Blue, Steel Joker, Bizarro Joker, Ultrajoker, Joker the lone criminal of his world, Legion Joker, Returning Golden Age Joker, Robotic Metal Man Joker, Amalgam Joker, Alternate Secret Identity Jokers, etc, etc. Yep, it just would not last. Do not believe me, just substitute Superman into the above.
Batman uses missles and gernades. Yet refuses to use guns. Go fig.