15 Most Inappropriate Batman Storylines Of All Time

3. Leslie Thompkins Kills Stephanie Brown

Batman has quite the supporting cast. Besides the extended Bat-Family he also has the legitimate law enforcement that he frequently liaises with and provide a more grounded view of life in Gotham city compared to his high-flying superhero activities. Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Bullock of the local police department are the ones called up on most to act as a foil to the Caped Crusader but for a few years there they were joined by Leslie Thompkins, close friend and medical colleague of Thomas Wayne, who served as both a surrogate parental figure to Bruce Wayne and a confidant to Batman. It was pretty cool having somebody who wasn't a policeman and wasn't a man with hard boiled facial hair in the ensemble, which is what made her departure all the more terrible.

One of Thompkins' big character quirks was that she frequently pointed out how messed up it was that Bruce kept recruiting kids to help in his crusade against crime. She had a point. Snatching up vulnerable, often orphaned youths and training them to fight lowlifes (whilst wearing worryingly form-fitting costumes) is pretty messed up. Being the arrogant rich dudebro he is, though, Bats usually dismissed these worries out of hand. Eventually it got to the point that Thompkins realised there was only way to get him to listen. So when Stephanie Brown, a teen vigilante known as The Spoiler who briefly became the only female Robin on record, rolled up to her hospital in a bad way, Leslie just let her die. To prove a point. Stephanie's death was controversial as it was - cos teen girl, and also first girl Robin - and rendered totally insane when it happened because a supporting cast member wanted to win an argument with Batman. W, T, and indeed, F?