Yes, when you think about it logically, Batman should have just straight-up murdered his arch nemesis a long time ago. There's the not-so-strict code against killing that he has, but when it comes to the Clown Prince Of Crime, it reveals a glaring contradiction: Batman doesn't kill anyone, because he wants to be better than that, to be a shining example for the innocent people of Gotham he has sworn to protect. By leaving Joker alive and able to escape from Arkham Asylum on a regular basis, however, the Dark Knight himself is responsible for the hundreds of civilians that the insane villain has killed over the decades. It's a conundrum, sure. It's also a damning indictment of Batman's whole mission and evidence that he's totally failed at achieving it, so long as he keeps letting The Joker live to kill another day. It shouldn't make sense that Bruce Wayne lets him - or any of the other more blood thirsty members of his rogues gallery - live. Which, first of all, depends on what your view of justice is. It's the death penalty debate writ stupid, with people cogitating on whether the Texan method of lethal injection is something that should be introduced to Blackgate. That's a prison for supervillains, FYI, don't worry. All of which misses the point. Batman isn't a real person, no matter how much Christopher Nolan wishes. He's a character. A comic book character, no less, which means that our regular, trivially human concerns of morality don't apply to him. Which is a fair trade off, because it means we don't have to deal with the likes of Killer Croc popping up out of our toilets on a regular basis. This assumption also ignores the stark truth that Batman isn't so much a living, breathing, three-dimensional person, but an icon. Like Superman, he's supposed to be an example of how we could be better, what we could be. If we would only stop killing criminals.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
