I'm sure you're familiar with the Frank Miller series "The Dark Knight Returns." At the end of this futuristic Batman tale, the Bat successfully beats up Superman and fakes his own death in order to get out of being procescuted for Joker's suicide.
But, Frank Miller's original ending, the plan was for him to lose to Superman and be put in a hospital. Upon regaining consciousness, Bat would unplug himself from the equiptment, killing himself.
So, would Batman kill himself? Frank Miller certainly thought so. DC executives didn't think it was a good idea. I kind of like the idea that the only foe Batman was never able to conquer would be the demons inside him. So, while it's depressing as can be to know that Batman killed himself in this film, I think it fits.
But, on the other side of the coin, Batman has remained 29 years old since his original inception by Bob Kane, and every attempt to age or kill him is just far enough in the future that we don't ever have to worry about it. So, I don't Batman will ever die, certainly not by his own hand.
reply
share
BbaySMH
16 years ago
I'm apparently the only one who actually watched the short film, because everyone seems to have not noticed Batman being injected with heroin every few hours during his entire captivity (which spans at least a month or two going by the full beard on his face by the end). At no point is it mentioned he killed himself, that was just the news report at the end. He overdosed on heroin because by the end of the film he's a junkie. Just because he's Batman doesn't mean he can click his heels together and suddenly he's clean & sober. He wouldn't have even been able to walk out of the building without shooting up again as he would be going through serious withdrawls. The reporters at the end of the film would have no way of knowing he was being held captive and being turned into a junkie (so he'd be like the guy who was locked up). To the rest of Gotham it just looked like he had a secret dope addiction and killed himself. And regardless of all death and mayhem he's dealt with his whole life, he dealt with clean & sober. Who's to say how Batman's mind would act when he's a full fledged junkie by the end of the film. Also who's to even say he did kill himself? Something tells me the Dark Knight doesn't have a lot of use with heroin meaning he'd have know idea what kind of dosage he could shoot himself up with. After looking through all the boards everyone just seems to think Batman went "Wow, I suck" and shot up himself and commited suicide. I haven't read one post mentioning the fact the guy's shooting up Batman the entire film. Duh.
reply
share
AzraelElite
16 years ago
There was a whole story line where Batman got himself addicted to "Venom." (Which was the drug that Bane used later on).
Once he realized he had a problem with it, he locked his self in the Batcave for a month, month 1/2 and detoxed.
Sooo, that would be how Batman's mind would act once he realizes he's addicted to smack. Also he never would have been chained up like that in the first place. I'm willing to bet he has ample protection around the little Batman.
reply
share