In the modern era, Batman’s biggest conflict is whether or not he should end the Joker’s life, yet many are ignorant of why he shouldn’t.
As of late, it seems like the biggest question everyone is asking, both from fans and DC Comics, is why Batman hasn’t killed the Joker yet. Given the number of lives the Joker has skewed or ruined, it’s natural to wonder why Gotham’s guardian doesn’t cross his red line and end his nemesis once and for all in order to save lives and end his reign of terror. in the city that he loves.
Few villains in comic book history have truly earned nemesis status like the Joker for Batman. The Clown Prince of Crime Not only has he injured countless innocent civilians in his never-ending quest to torment the crusader in the cloak, he has also injured or killed those close to Bruce. From forever wheelchair-bound Barbara Gordon, the brutal death of Jason Todd, or turning a young Tim Drake into a mini-joker in the animated series and using him to live through him, even in this Batman chapter of the future the Clown prince of crime knows death to contrive to return.
Still, despite the Joker’s numerous atrocities, Batman remains adamant about never killing his enemies, including the Joker. Generally, Bruce’s explanation is that killing the Joker would make him more prone to use lethal force on others (which would leave the gallery of villains empty in future bat adventures). Regardless of the merit of this argument, there is a compelling reason not to kill Joker, and that he would simply return, something that history in the comics has revealed to us countless times.
The Joker always returns from the dead
From their first appearance to the present, the Joker and death are no strangers. Batman No. 1 is the number in which the Joker debuted and ends with him stabbed in the heart. However, despite this, the Joker survived to keep coming back … and keep dying. The Joker was executed in the electric chair in Detective Comics # 64, only for his henchmen to resurrect him with some kind of serum. The end of The Killing Joke has always led the reader to believe that Batman ended the life of the clown prince of crime.
Nightwing would end up killing Joker at the end of The Joker’s last laugh Chuck Dixon only to have Joker’s heart beat again later. More recently, both Batman and Joker died in Batman: Endgame but they were both brought back to life by him Well of Lazarus. It’s ironic that Jason Todd constantly criticizes Batman for not killing the Joker, considering that he, of all people, should know that death is far from permanent in the DC Universe.
Since the Clown prince of crime has cheated death so many times, the question ceases to be Why doesn’t Batman kill him? and instead it becomes, Why should Batman do it? In this sense, it just doesn’t make any sense for Batman to give in to his wrath. It even improves on Batman’s own reason. Sure, the villain will just come back to life, but will common street criminals? There’s also the element of giving the Joker what he wants. Many interpretations of the character have him motivated by a compulsive need to corrupt Batman. How much worse would Joker’s crimes get if he knew he won? How many more people would he torment and maim if he knew that even the Dark Knight would bend his morale in the right circumstances? Ultimately, Batman simply has no reason to kill Joker.
Of course, there are many alternate universes in which Batman permanently ends Joker, but these stories often change key parts of Batman’s character and continuity to get to that point, the last time we’ve seen him murder the Clown Prince of Crime, has been in the series Titans in its third season, which slightly changes the story of A death in the family, with Bruce avenging the death of Jason Tod by killing the Joker, and causing this event that Bruce has a crisis for having crossed his red line.
However, in the main vein of the comics, it’s hard not to see that death only slows down the Joker as much as being locked up in Arkham Asylum. While this gives Bruce good reason to stick with his beliefs, it also suggests something darker about him and his nemesis. In The dark knight, Joker told Batman that they were destined to fight forever and based on their story, that appears to be the case.