“Batman: a force of chaos in my world of perfect order. The dark side of the Soviet dream. Rumored to be a thousand murdered dissidents, they said he was a ghost. A walking dead man. A symbol of rebellion that would never fade as long as the system survived. Anarchy, in black” -Mark Miller, Red Son
There is no argument that Batman has become a pop culture icon. He is on both the big screen, and the tv screen. Almost every store has some sort of homage to him from movies, collectibles, clothing to even household goods. There isn’t a single person who doesn’t know his name, at least. Many people have such a level of adoration, that they border on that very line of praise and worship. The level that Batman has reached, since his first appearance in Detective Comics #27 in 1939, has surpassed many of his other peers including Captain America, Iron Man, Wonder Woman and even Superman.
About a year ago, I wrote a post on how, Christopher Nolan’s,The Dark Knight Trilogy has shaped multiple forms of media; including movies, television shows, and comics. While I was able to admit that I could see why so many people were drawn to the story that Nolan told, I also admitted that I am not the biggest Batman fan. But I’m going to be honest with everyone. I don’t like Batman at all.
This is actually a discussion that I’ve had with one of my coworkers since the first day that I started at my new job, three weeks ago. While I am not one to look at someone who likes Batman and say ‘God y’all are stupid. Why don’t you try and not be a sheep’, I have always been very open about my opposition to the Caped Crusader. Though I always, always, preface that I have a good reason to why I don’t like him.
Like any good RPG, we must gather some things before we head of on our adventure. Now, we won’t be gathering weapons, hi-potions, phoenix downs and checking our Materia. In this instance, we will be reviewing the main topics for this discussion. In the first part we will discuss the destructive touch of the Dark Knight, and then the second part will touch on the history of the hypocrisy on his two biggest rule.
Before we begin, let me go ahead and state that this post possibly contains spoilers for anyone not familiar with the Batman universe, and contains graphic and dark content.
As stated, everyone knows the story for the Dark Knight. He is the son of, Gotham socialites, Martha and Dr. Thomas Wayne. All is happy and bright in the Wayne’s world, as happy and bright as it can be in Gotham City, until Bruce was eight. The story is generally the same; depending on who writes it. Bruce’s parents take him out, sometimes to the opera or sometimes the movies; usually Zorro. So the tale as old as time goes, they leave the theater and are held at gunpoint by Joe Chill. There are small variations here or the end is just the same; with Martha and Thomas dead.
Clearly, this is something that would easily turn someone to fighting crime in the dark. The psychological and emotional damage, from his parents’ deaths, has driven most of Batman’s career choices. I have to ask the question though; were they the best choices? Is what the Caped Crusader does, really that good? Are his actions really that heroic? Or are they far more devious and villainous than we notice?
I’ve been lucky enough to have my best friend who has been binge watching all of DC’s animated works (Mostly the movies and Batman: The Animated Series). This of course has lead to many, many nights of commentary on how corrupt and twisted Batman is. One of the first questions Amanda asked was, ‘Does Bruce just have a cabinet of backup circus children?’ This was a very valid question, especially when you look at the number of sidekicks that Bruce has actually had.
The billionaire playboy has had a total of eight sidekicks including: Barbara Gordon (Batgirl and later Oracle), Cassandra Cain (Batgirl II and later Black Bat), Richard ‘Dick’ Grayson (Robin I and later Nightwing and Batman II), Jason Todd (Robin II and later Red Hood), Tim Drake (Robin III and in some continuities Joker II), Stephanie Brown (Robin III and Later Batgirl III), and his own son Damian Wayne (Robin IV). There was even Carrie Kelly, even though she isn’t canon. Please remember her cause apparently there are people out there who randomly quiz you.
This seems a bit high, doesn’t it? Especially when you compare it to Wonder Woman who had a total of two Wonder Girls (Donna Troy and Cassie Sandmarks) and Green Arrow had two Speedys (Roy Harper and Mia Dearden). Clearly, we are not including the Arrow continuity into this already chaotic mess.
Anyways, back to the Wardrobe of Wayward Wards; trademark pending. Bruce took eight young pre/teens under his wing and gave them the mantle of either Robin or Batgirl. Each of these kids were thrust into the streets of Gotham City to deal with the baddies and the crazies. Under the Bat’s shadow, each of these innocent teenagers found themselves tortured, beaten, maimed and even killed all because of their connection to their mentor.
“I thought I was the last person you’d let him take away from you.” says Jason Todd as he holds Batman at gunpoint. This scene is very powerful for anyone who is familiar with the works of A Death in the Family and The Killing Joke. The Joker has used many of the Bat’s wards as a way to get to him he kidnapped Jason Todd and beat him to death with a crowbar and he shot and possibly assaulted, Barbara Gordon all of this was just to prove a point.
It becomes a bit more, well fucked up, when you take into consideration that the reboot in Zero Hour these two comics would technically be in the same universe. So with Bruce deciding to not kill the Joker at the end of The Killing Joke, the Harlequin of Hate was able to get his hands on Jason Todd, through his mother nonetheless and destroy another Bat-Kid’s life.
In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (continuity disputed), the dark tale of the Joker’s actions against Timothy Drake. The Joker, supposedly jealous of Bruce’s ‘family’, and supposedly by the request of Harley Quinn, kidnaps Tim Drake and tortures and exposes Tim to Joker Venom to turn him into the perfect Joker child. The story gets darker as a new Joker, the previous one being accidentally killed by his ‘son’, returns to Gotham, and turns out to be non other than Tim Drake being controlled by his predecessor.
Stephanie Brown, the Robin after Tim Drake, was killed by Black Hand when she accidentally starts a gang war when she is trying to prove herself in Bruce’s eyes. The Bat-Brats are not the only ones who feel the wrath of Batman’s toxic shadow.
In the animated film , Assault on Arkham, Harley Quinn states, “Sure, he slaps me around a lot. But you’re the one who’s always hurting me! Batman is very aware of the abusive relationship between Harley Quinn and the Joker. And yet each and every time he captures her, he sends her back to Arkham with the Joker. Bruce could have easily made arrangements to have Dr. Quinzel sent somewhere else including Blackgate Prison, or even Stryker’s Island. While these aren’t inside of his jurisdiction, arrangements could have been made to keep the poor woman from having to share space with the man who beat a child out of her.
Even his so-called friends and teammates are not safe. In Justice League: Doom, based on The Tower of Babel, Mirror Master finds files on each of the Justice League members. These files contain a plan of each member if they were to so call ‘get out of hand’. These plans were not simple fixes to get rid of each member and put an instant stop to them. That would be too simple. Each of these plans is a form of psychological torture to not kill the League, but break their spirits and make them give up their wills to fight. Sounds like something Amanda Waller would come up with, right? Well it turns out Mirror Master found these in Bruce Wayne’s own Bat-Computer.
It’s always been weird to listen to Batman lecture, well anyone. But when you watch him lecture Amanda Waller on the anything she or Cadmus does, it’s a little bit hard to decide who you agree with more; her or him. And it’s a serious question of morals when you find yourself siding with anything Amanda Waller has to say.
“You have to break some eggs to make an omelet.” Amanda Waller says stoically to Batman. “That just means you’re a messy cook.” The Caped Crusader is rather quick to retort.
It’s ironic that Bruce feels the need to criticize the methods of The Wall, when it is quite easy to see that his ‘kitchen’ is far messier than hers. The man has driven away one ward, caused another to become paralyzed, and even the deaths of three others. The same man has plans to break the wills of each of his friends, and is as unapologetic as the Joker is about Jason Todd’s death.
So why do we put so much faith in this man? Why are we so quick to praise his choices when they are only morally correct in his eyes? And we are more than willing to forgive all the negligence that he has performed on the Wardrobe for Wayward Wards? Is it truly right for The World’s Greatest Detective to comment on Amanda Waller’s cooking skills, when no amount of advice from Dear Prudence could clean his kitchen?
Is The Dark Knight the Darkness In Gotham? A personal discussion on Batman “Batman: a force of chaos in my world of perfect order. The dark side of the Soviet dream.
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