10 Times Batman Was A Total Jerk‏

5. All Of The Dark Knight Returns Too, Actually

Which Frank Miller has form for with his Batman stories. One of his most celebrated works is The Dark Knight Returns, a dystopian tale of a future Gotham City that has somehow fallen into even more dire straights that it was in before, thanks to Bruce Wayne's retirement from the Batman title following the death of second Robin Jason Todd.

There's not only the usual criminal types but also some nasty mutants, plus Superman's being used as a sort of Kryptonian nuclear weapon by Ronald Reagan, who is somehow still the US president. The stage is set for the elderly Bruce Wayne to return to clean things up, which he does with relish. Like All-Star Batman, this raggedy old caped crusader seems to be in it as much for the perverse thrill of violently attacking people as it is out of guilt for the dead parents thing. In fact he doesn't just seem it, he all but admits as much in his interior monologues, like a gross Dirty Harry fascist dream.

Not only does this Batman get off on punching muggers, but we also get confirmation once and for all that the rogues gallery of supervillains that have blighted his city for years are totally Batman's fault, too. Two-Face has been rehabilitated and The Joker is in a catatonic state in Arkham Asylum, right up until the Dark Knight... returns, inspiring the clown prince of crime to come back for one less murder spree and Harvey Dent's sanity to slip back away. So he's not only an insane, violent jerk, but a jerk who turns people crazy and releases reformed criminals back onto an unsuspecting public.