…Especially in current comic continuity? Non-current continuity still counts, though.
I know “not killing” is part of his basic ethos, but surely there have been accidents, or maybe even “exceptions.”*
And just “letting someone die” sort of counts as a “kill,” for the discussion. But only if Bats could have stopped the death, but chose not to.
I know that in the really early days of the comic, Batman carried a pistol. And in the Tim Burton Batman movie…
And, of course, Robots, Androids, and other artifical intelligences, even if sentient, are always “fair game” to western animated heros. Even if the A.I. was a sentient being. (Go ahead, check for yourself)
So…any thoughts, anyone?
Ranchoth
*Mostly in really extreme situations, and mostly pre-crisis, I’d imagine.
Hmmn. Some early Bill Finger Batman stories had him someone by refusing to save him. I also remember him coming close to killing someone when someone nearly killed Robin, but don’t recall if he actually did it. He also made sure that Joe Chill would die, but others pulled the trigger.
Not sure of the details, but Batman may have thrown Professor Radium to his death during a fight in Batman #8 (the story, BTW, was written by SF legend Alfred Bester).
Not Batman, but in a Batman story in the early 70s, Green Arrow killed a couple of drug dealers with an arrow with an actual pointed tip instead of a boxing glove.
He’s killed Ra’s al Ghul several times, but I suppose knowing that he’ll be resurrected shortly after keeps that from weighing too heavily on his mind.
In his early stories, Detective comics #27 and the next few, he killed several people. He threw a couple off of roofs and allowed one to fall into an acid tank. More explicitly, he outright killed two henchmen of an early opponent named Dr. Death (IIRC). He strangled one with a silk rope and broke the other one’s neck. He also killed some mental patients that Hugo Strange had mutated into giant form. Used the rope, choking gas, and a machine gun for that escapade. Don’t forget that he outright gunned down The Monk and Dala, though I don’t know if it counts as killing since they were vampires. In a late '70’s story, I also remember him using a bow and arrow to off another vampire.
Superman’s kllled, too. In his second appearance in 1938, he finds a military interrogator torturing some prisoners, picks the guy up and “then tosses him away as tho he were hurling a javelin!” The next page, he leaps into the air to attack a fighter plane, the plane’s prop smashes “upon Superman’s skin. The airplane falls to its doom!”
There is absolutely no indication whatsoever that the torturer or pilot survived.
And of course, there was that hooker who said he was faster than a speeding bullet, so he tore her in half like a phone book.
That’s correct. After he beats him to a pulp, there’s a line of those “talking heads,” and one of them is a guy in a green suit and sunglasses saying, “We’re not talking about letting the mutant leader go. Once he is mobile, he’ll be arraigned – to see if he’s fit to stand trial, or is the victim of mental illness.”
It’s a female Mutant he shoots, too: one of the other characters calls her “Grace.” Always wondered if this was a continuity error: considering how adamant his “no guns, no killing” position is later in the book, you’d at least think he’d be more torn up about plugging the gang member. But I don’t believe it’s mentioned again after it happens. Maybe Frank Miller (no relation, btw) got carried away in that issue, and forgot about Batman’s moral code.
It probably happens a lot in DC’s “Elseworlds” imprint. One famous scene comes to mind in Justice Leage: The Nail, in which
…the Joker (armed with Kryptonian weapons, no less) kills Robin and Batgirl, driving Batman over the edge and causing him to kill the Joker. On live TV, too.
I can’t think of any others off the top of my head. Elseworlds are a free-for-all, though, and Batman’s been in the most.
The most blatant one I recall is from Batman Returns where he straps a bomb onto a strongman’s chest, kicks him down a hole, and you see the following explosion. Then, of course, there’s the Joker and Penguin from those first two movies as well, so…
I also remember reading the storyline Son of the Demon I believe, dealing with Ras and his daughter, and some crazed military man that crushed people’s ribcages with his bare hands. Anyway, at one point, Bats punctures a vat of acid that spills on a guy’s face. Don’t really recall if the guy died, but I can’t imagine him having a great life afterwards.
And although it was someone else who actually shot him, it could be said he killed the Joker at the end of Death in the Family’s storyline. Of course, he came back, but still…it’s the thought that counts.
Res, that wasn’t Batman, but the mystery villain of the piece that killed Joker (and framed Batman). Batman himself was held by the Joker’s tech.
It’s pretty clear that Batman, unlike even Superman, has never killed or purposely let a perp die, in current continuity, although some have suceeded in offing themselves anyway.
IIRC, In “Death in the family” Batman turned up at the united nations to kill the joker. The joker had just killed Robin 2, but had diplomatic immunity as the ayatollah had made him an ambassador.
In the late 1980’s, Batman tried to kill the Soviet villain KGBeast. From this page :
The story made it clear that Batman intended to leave KGBeast to starve to death in that room. That would have counted as “letting someone die”, as the OP specified, if KGBeast hadn’t been brought back for a few later stories. At the very least, it should count as an attempted murder.
Yes, but later on when the Joker gets in a helicopter to get away, Batman jumps in to stop them, and in the process, hits a thug who in turn shoots the Joker in the chest. Then the helicopter crashes and explodes, and everyone thinks the big J is dead.
Nope. I just checked my copy of JLA: The Nail and it’s right there: Batman pummelling the Joker with a loud “crack,” followed by Bats holding his limp form. It’s shadowed (gotta protect the kiddies, ya know), but very apparent.
This was set up by the mystery villain in order to further discredit the superhero population and the JLA. There was already severe distrust of the JLA, and Batman spooked the hell out of everybody. The Joker’s murder on live TV began to push paranoia over the edge.
