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Things movies always get wrong about Batman

posted 5 years ago by TMC-4 (19552)
7 replies | jump to latest

https://www.looper.com/148953/things-movies-always-get-wrong-about-batman/

Killin' villains

The biggest sticking point for Batman fans when it comes to his portrayal in film is that in the comics, there's one diehard, steadfast rule that he abides by when it comes to dealing with his villains: Batman doesn't kill. There are a few exceptions, including the earliest stories that were more about ripping off the gun-toting pulp vigilante called the Shadow than making Batman his own character, but it's been a stated rule since 1941 — less than two years into his 80-year run.

In the movies, Bruce Wayne might actually be the most prolific murderer that Gotham City has ever seen, and that's saying something. Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film, for instance, finds Batman blowing up a chemical factory that's full of the Joker's henchmen, and even casually tossing one guy to his death using a pro wrestling-style headscissor takedown in the climactic journey up to the bell tower. Batman v Superman is full of scenes showing Batman running dudes over and crushing them to death with his rocket car. Even Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy gets into some grey areas with the whole "I'm not going to kill you… but I don't have to save you" thing when he leaves Ra's al-Ghul to die in a train crash.

The weirdest thing about this one, though? Batman's even a killer — albeit by accident — in the otherwise campy 1966 film. When the Penguin sneaks a bunch of goons into the Batcave by temporarily dehydrating them into a powdered form for easy transportation, they wind up being a lot more unstable when they're reconstituted with radioactive water from Batman's personal nuclear reactor. As a result, a single punch causes them to blink out of existence, and while that's a lot goofier than, say, blowing up a nameless henchman with a time bomb like in Batman Returns, it still counts.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

He was right to kill The Penguin after The Penguin scared The Ice Princess to her doom.😠

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

Yeah, well, the real reason that Batman doesn't kill in the comics, is that the writers want to re-use villains and maybe make them long-term supporting characters, instead of having to invent new criminals every week.

That doesn't really work in the movies, where even franchise films have their limit, and each and every movie needs a satisfying victory for the hero at the end. There's a big intrinsic difference between the serial nature of comics and the limited nature of feature films, the first requires long open-ended stories and the latter needs things to finish up in two hours. Besides, movie audiences are so used to onscreen killing that they actually expect it.

[–] Alex (1495) 5 years ago

Frank Miller's The Dark Knight returns he finally kills the Joker after he realizes that he's a murderer-by-proxy (all the innnocent lives) for letting Joker live this long.

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

And that realization took him, what, seventy years?

And the other reason that Batman was forbidden to kill anyone was that his comics were originally written for little boys. If Batman changed his mind about killing it was because audiences have changed; teens and adults are probably the primary market, and even little kids are used to seeing heroes carry guns and shoot bad guys.

[–] Alex (1495) 5 years ago

Technically 47 years since the character inception to the creation of the Dark Knight Returns, but if we count that Batman was 55 and retired at the time and probably met Joker around his 20's, so 35 years of activity.

Also, I don't disagree with you, most of Frank Miller's work was adult oriented anyways.

[–] TexasJack (12515) 5 years ago

It's probably why Nolan's trilogy is so well regarded.

[–] Alex (1495) 5 years ago

Rash Al Gul was not immortal a.k.a no lazarus pits, Bane didn't have Venom enhancers (he even wore a mask because of a disability...lame).
Nolan only got Joker right all thanks to Heath Ledger's performance and the fact Joker was never enhanced or a meta.