What Happened To Everyone Who Killed Batman?

2. Himself

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DC Comics

In addition to those other characters who have killed him - either permanently or on a more temporary basis - Batman has actually taken his own life on occasion.

The most notable instance of this came in Mark Millar's impressive 2003 Elseworlds tale, Superman: Red Son, with the Dark Knight sacrificing himself for the proverbial greater good.

For those not familiar with Red Son, it's set in a world where the infant Kal-El lands in the Soviet Union rather than Kansas. As such, he's raised as a weapon of Stalin and the USSR as the Cold War looms large overhead.

In a story that flips the DC Universe on its head, the Batman of this world is an orphaned vigilante who is battling the Soviets - but to do so, he has to 'play the game' and try to manipulate the relevant chess pieces into place.

Working alongside Lex Luthor and the Head of the KGB, this mysterious take on Batman had his plans to take down Superman go spectacularly wrong. And by that, Supes intended to lobotomize Batman after rumbling the Caped Crusader's planned uprising.

Rather than lobotomization, Bats decided to make himself a martyr to the cause - detonating a miniature bomb that he'd previously swallowed.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.