The History of Batman Killing in the Comics

[Travesty]

This thread is to showcase the times where Batman has been shown to have killed: both directly or indirectly. It seems to be a point of contention as of late, so I thought it would be nice to have a compilation of different examples throughout the history of his comic book run. And if you guys find more examples, feel free to add them here.

*this wasn't compiled by me, but from a person known as Silver Nemesis, from another forum I visit. I asked if this was ok before I brought it over here, and he was extremely generous to give me permission. So to let you guys know, this isn't my work, and I didn't compile these, and I didn't give the descriptions. I'm basically doing a copy/paste from his work. And if Silver Nemesis reads this, again, thank you for letting me post it here. You did a great job at putting this all together. Also, there were some additional contributions by GothamAlley and The Laughing Fish.




The Case of the Chemical Syndicate: Detective Comics #27 (1939): he punches Stryker into a vat of acid

Justice: Detective Comics #28 (1939): he throws one of Frenchy Blake's henchmen off a roof

The Batman Meets Doctor Death: Detective Comics #29 (1939): he kills Jabah by lassoing a rope around his neck and breaking it

Return of Doctor Death: Detective Comics #30 (1939): he kills Mikhail by breaking his neck with a well-aimed kick

Batman Versus the Vampire (Part II) Detective Comics #32 (1939): he shoots Dala and the Monk dead while they are asleep

The Case of the Ruby Idol: Detective Comics #35 (1940): he kicks an opponent onto another villain?s sword, impaling him. Later he knocks Lenox out of a window to his death

The Screaming House Detective Comics #37 (1940): he knocks Count Grutt against a sword that impales him through the head

 

[Travesty]

The Giants of Hugo Strange: Batman #1 (1940): he open fires on a group of gangsters using the Batplane's machine gun. One of the bad guys escapes, so Batman drops a cable from the Batplane and hangs him. At the end of the story he uses gas pellets to knock the last bad guy off a rooftop

The Horde of the Green Dragon: Detective Comics #39 (1940): he kills a Chinese assassin. Later in the story he wipes out the Green Dragon Tong by crushing them beneath a giant statue

Wolf, the Crime Master: Batman #2 (1940): he breaks the neck of Adam Lamb (aka The Wolf) by punching him down a flight of stairs

The Crime School for Boys: Batman #3 (1940): he throws a criminal off a roof

The Strange Case of Professor Radium: Batman #8 (1940): he drowns Professor Radium

Professor Strange's Fear Dust: Detective Comics #46 (1940): he knocks Hugo Strange off a cliff

Money Can't Buy Happiness: Detective Comics #47 (1941): he kills a gangster by knocking him out while he's driving and causing his car to crash headlong into a tree

The Brain Burglar: Detective Comics #55 (1941): he punches a foreign agent into a vat of molten steel. Later in the story he throws two more bad guys off a dirigible

 

[Travesty]

The Two Futures: Batman #15 (1943): he kills some Japanese soldiers by throwing a bayonet into the tire of their car and causing it to crash. Later he crashes a plane into an Axis warship, killing everyone aboard

The Angel, the Rock and the Cowl: The Brave and the Bold #84 (1969): he destroys a German plane using a hand grenade. At the end of the story he uses dynamite to blow up a convoy of German soldiers as they are crossing a bridge

A Bat-Death for Batman: Batman #221 (1970): he throws the villain Otto into a pit with frenzied animal that kills him

You Only Die Twice: The Brave and the Bold #90 (1970): he knocks out a criminal and throws his unconscious body into the sea where he presumably drowns

Swamp Sinister: Batman #235 (1971): he punches Striss into a puddle of chemicals that infect him with a lethal disease

Vengeance for a Dead Man: Batman #240 (1972): he euthanizes Mason Sterling by deactivating the life support machine connected to his brain (Sterling tricked him into doing this)

The Menace of the Fiery Heads: Batman #270 (1975): he punches Watkins into a statue, which then topples onto him and breaks his neck

The Corpse Came C.O.D.: Batman #271 (1976): he uses a sonically-charged amulet like a grenade to kill the Vedic cult leader and set fire to his temple while the cult members are still inside

Heart of a Vampire: Detective Comics #455 (1976): he shoots Gustav Decobra through the heart with a bow and arrow

 

[Travesty]

Dead Man's Quadrangle: The Brave and the Bold #127 (1976): he ignores a criminal's mayday call, deducing it to be fake. It then transpires that the call was genuine, and the criminal has drowned as a result of Batman's inaction

Batman-Ex - - As in Extinct: Batman #288 (1977): he uses a bad guy as a human shield by hurling him into the trajectory of the Penguin's gunfire, killing the man in the process

Skull Dugger's Killjoy Capers: Batman #290 (1977): he electrocutes Dugger by throwing him into a nest of electrified cables

Time...My Dark Destiny: The Brave and the Bold #157 (1979): he causes a helicopter to crash and the pilot is killed in the explosion

*the pic was lost for this panel. Sorry.



Where Walks a Snowman: Batman #337 (1981): he uses the flash of a marker flare to knock Klaus Kristin (aka. the Snowman) off a cliff.

The Crystal Armageddon: The Brave and the Bold #159 (1980): he kills a member of the League of Assassins by throwing him against a wall made from a lethal formula, which then causes the assassin to turn to crystal and die. Batman knew this would happen and had actually warned someone against touching the wall earlier in the same scene

The Monster in the Mirror: Detective Comics #517 (1982): he kills Marley and drinks his blood

Those Who Live By The Sword: The Brave and the Bold #193 (1982): he stomach throws Bloodclaw off the Woodrow Wilson Bridge

*the pic was lost for this panel. Sorry.



The Messiah of the Crimson Sun: Batman Annual #8 (1982): he kills Ra's Al Ghul by drawing his spaceship into lethal sun rays

Night of Blood: The Brave and the Bold #195 (1983): he stabs the vampire Gunnarson through the chest with a wooden table leg.

Batman: Year Two: Detective Comics #575-578 (1987): he takes Chill to Crime Alley, whereupon the Batman unmasks himself and reveals his true identity. He disarms Chill and turns the gunman's own weapon against him. Batman places the gun to Chill's forehead and is about to shoot him when suddenly the Reaper kills him first. Disappointed, Batman chases down and confronts the Reaper for the last time. At the end of the confrontation, the Reaper plummets to his death, taking the secret of Batman's true identity with him. But before he falls, he tells the Dark Knight "I didn't think you were a killer? I see now I was wrong", implying that Batman would have killed Joe Chill had he not got to him first

*The pic was lost for this. Sorry.


Son of the Demon(1987): he causes a helicopter crash that kills everyone aboard. At the end of the story he kills Qayin by kicking him into some electric cables

Skeeter: Action Comics Annual #1 (1987): he stabs Skeeter through the back with a wooden stake

 

[Travesty]

The Cult(1988): he guns down an innocent man during a hallucinogenic trance. Later he uses the Batmobile's armaments to demolish a building in orders to kill the rocket sniper on the rooftop. At the end of the story he cripples Deacon Blackfire and incites his follower's to turn on their leader. Robin tries to help Blackfire, but Batman stops him, then stands back and watches with a smile on his face as Blackfire is torn apart

Ten Nights of the Beast: Batman #420 (1988): he traps KGBeast in an underground chamber and leaves him to starve/suffocate

Consequences: Batman #425 (1988): he topples a pile of cars onto a villain, crushing him to death

Cosmic Odyssey(1988): he uses an Apokoliptian gun to blast a hole through the chest of one of Darkseid's soldiers

Shaman: Legends of the Dark Knight #1 (1989): Bruce Wayne accidentally knocks the assassin Tom Woodley off a mountain cliff

Detective Comics #613 (1990): he kicks two bad guys into the back of a garbage truck and they are killed in the grinders

Detective Comics Annual #4 (1991): in vision of the future foreseen by Waverider, Batman kills Ra's al Ghul and later blows up himself and the entire League of Assassins, including Talia al Ghul

*pic was lost for this. Sorry.


In the Dark Places: Batman #576 (2000): he kills a helicopter pilot by throwing a knife into the tail rotor of his helicopter and causing it to crash

 

[Travesty]

All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder#1 (2005): he kills a group of corrupt policeman by ramming into their car with the Batmobile

All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder#2 (2005): he runs down several police motorcyclists and then incinerates a load of pursuing police vehicles using the rocket thrusters on the Batmobile

The Big Show: Detective Comics #814 (2006): he fights the army of madmen know as "the Body", knocking several of them off rooftops and luring the rest to a building site where he has planted explosive charges. He then escapes via the Batwing, detonating the bombs as he goes and wiping out the madmen

Detective Comics #821 (2006): he knocks Johnny Lange in front of an oncoming train

 

[Travesty]

All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder#7 (2007): he uses thermite and bleach to set fire to a gang, and continues to beat them up while they burn

Batman #673 (2008): he hounds Joe Chill and drives him to the brink of suicide, then hands him a loaded gun and watches as he kills himself

Superman and Batman VS Vampires and Werewolves (2008-2009): he kills several vampires and werewolves in this series using stakes and a UV gun

*pic was lost for this. Sorry


How to Murder the Earth: Final Crisis #6 (2009): he uses an Apokalip's gun to poison Darkseid

Bronze Night: Batman/Doc Savage #1 (2010): in this story Batman uses firearms in a cavalier manner and admits that he may be responsible for killing criminals

 

[Travesty]

Brave and the Bold #84: Bruce Wayne kills a fighter pilot with a hand grenade.

Legends of the Dark Knight #84,(November 1993): Batman kills Lowther in self-defence.

The cover of Detective Comics #39 (May 1940) shows Batman punching a criminal off a high ledge on a construction site.

Here's one for the Boy Wonder. 'The Clock Maker' (Batman #6, September 1941) ends with Batman and Robin clinging to the face of a clock tower while the eponymous villain shoots at them through a window. Robin grabs the Clock Maker and hauls him out of the tower, sending him plummeting to his death.

Robin kills another criminal in 'Secret of the Iron Jungle' (Batman #6, September 1941), twisting the man's wrist around so that he shoots himself in the head.

Also in this story, Batman throws a criminal off an oil derrick.

In 'The Chain Gang Crimes!' (Batman #47, June 1948) Batman throws a criminal off a huge spherical gas tank.

In 'The Most Dangerous Twenty Miles in Gotham City' (Detective Comics #423, May 1972) Batman takes down two assassins. The first he uses as a human shield to absord the gunfire of the other. Its unclear if this assassin survives. The bullet seems to pass through his shoulder, but he appears lifeless in the subsequent panels.

 

[Travesty]

The fate of the second assassin is less ambiguous, as Batman snares him with a grappling hook and hauls him off a water tower. Batman appears totally unrepentant afterwards, remarking: "Tough, Trooper Omega – but when you play deadly games, you can't cry 'fingers'!"

In 'A Monster Walks Wayne Manor' (Detective Comics #438, January 1974) Batman kicks Ubu onto a splintered railing. The actual impalement happens off panel, but Dr. Varnov is present to caption the incident: "H-he impaled himself on the splintered railing..." However, the artwork clearly shows that it was the momentum of Batman's kick that sent Ubu to his doom.

The Earth-Two Batman was responsible for the death of his wife, Selina Wayne, as depicted in 'Huntress: From Each Ending... A Beginning!' (DC Super-Stars #17, December 1977). During a fight with some criminals Batman kicked an opponent's gun, causing it to veer to the side and discharge. The resultant shot hit Catwoman, knocking her over a balcony and sending her plummeting to her death.

This event caused the Earth-Two Bruce Wayne to burn his Batsuit and retire as Batman. And in case there was any doubt as to Bruce's culpability in his wife's death, he openly acknowledges it in 'United We Fall!' (All-Star Comics #69, November 1977).

Batman tries to kill Cat-Man in 'Nine Lives Has the Cat' (Detective Comics #509, December 1981) by knocking him off a boat. He then stands by and watches as Cat-Man apparently drowns. Of course Cat-Man's nine lives allowed him to show up again in later stories. But to all intents and purposes, Batman tried to kill him at the end of this story.

In 'The Doomsday Book' (Detective Comics #572, March 1987) Batman uses a dazed criminal as a human shield to protect himself from gunfire, sacrificing the criminal to save his own life.

In 'Infected' (Legends of the Dark Knight #84, June 1996) Batman tries several times to kill the villain, a hallucinating soldier who's been driven kill crazy by military experiments. He finally succeeds in killing the solider by shooting him several times with a handgun and knocking him off a dam. The Caped Crusader's internal monologue makes it pretty clear this was a deliberate, albeit regrettable, premeditated killing.

 

[Travesty]

In Year One: Batman/Ra's al Ghul (2005) Batman intentionally kills two bad guys who are pursuing him on snowmobiles by firing a flaregun at a mountain and creating an avalanche that buries them.

In 'An American Batman in London' (Detective Comics #590, September 1988), Batman knocks Abu Hassan out of a window by throwing one of his goons into him. Hassan falls and is impaled on a fence. Batman shouts "No!" as this happens, so it clearly wasn't intentional. We'll just chalk it up to clumsiness.

But there's nothing accidental about what he does to a group of Hassan's terrorist henchmen later in the story. Batman steals a car and uses it to mow them down at high speed, leaping out of the vehicle just before it hits them.

And just in case any of the terrorists survived, the impact of the collision triggers an explosive device one of them was carrying, blowing them all to smithereens.

In 'The Fear' (Detective Comics #592, November 1988) Batman kicks a drug-addicted suicide bomber into a safe, triggering the bomb he was carrying and killing him.

In 'Our Man in Havana' (Detective Comics #595, February 1989) Batman discovers a munitions factory belonging to the Alien Alliance. It is heavily guarded by representatives from several different alien species, including members of the Thangarian race. In the end Batman blows up the factory and everyone inside by ramming a boat filled with explosives into it.

In 'Family' (Legends of the Dark Knight #31, June 1992) Batman travels to the Corto Maltese to rescue Alfred from a South American racketeer named El Vato. As they are escaping El Vato's base, Alfred runs down a pair of soldiers using a stolen lorry. Batman then triggers some explosives he'd planted in a weapons depot, blowing the villains' base to smithereens and killing many of El Vato's men in the process. This was clearly a calculated and premeditated act. Right at the beginning of the comic Batman had thought to himself: "I want to kill them [...] God help me, Alfred. I may just kill tonight. If that's what it takes to save you."

And indeed he did.

 

[Travesty]

Batman kills one of Kobra's henchmen in 'Serpent in the Sky!' (Batman and the Outsiders #26, October 1985) when he injects him with truth serum. The henchman had previously been conditioned using a poison reactive to truth serum. Batman didn't know this when he administered the lethal injection, so this one's definitely accidental.

Batman tricks two bad guys into stabbing each other to death in 'The Truth About Looker: Part Three' (Batman and the Outsiders #30, February 1986).

In Bride of the Demon (1990) Batman steals a fighter plane and flies it inside Ra's al Ghul's base. He uses the plane's weapons to open fire on a control room manned by several technicians, then activates the craft's self-destruct system, sets it on a collision course with the control room and ejects at the last second. The artwork clearly shows several people being killed in the resultant explosion. This in turn triggers a larger chain reaction that disturbs Ra's' Lazarus Pit and causes the entire base to blow up, killing countless people in the process.

The Thomas Wayne Batman kills Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash in Flashpoint (2011) by stabbing him with an Amazon sword. In doing this, Batman saves Barry Allen's life so that the Flash can travel backwards in time and repair the damage to the timeline, thereby creating the current 'New 52' universe.

The infamous panel from TDKR:

​

 

[Travesty]

In Batman #340 (1981), Batman seemingly killed a mutated madman called The Mole, who was seeking revenge at a woman who was part of a parole-board hearing that denied him release from jail.

In a short story titled Second Face: The Avenger - Innocent Blood during Batman Annual #9 (1985), Batman ingeniously killed off two criminal groups: a local militia and a gang of bank robbers who disguised themselves by stealing the militia’s identity. As the two groups met to negotiate a deal to settle their dispute with each other, Batman lit up a firecracker, which tricked the two groups into thinking they were shooting at each other. As both gangs started firing, the bullets happen to hit a crate of explosives and blew up their hideout -instantly wiping each other out in the process. This example clearly shows that Batman wanted to avenge the deaths of all the innocent people who lost their lives because of these gangs.

Finally, I found an example where Robin killed too, although not in cold blood. In Ten Nights of the Beast (1988), Robin prevented a suicidal bomber from murdering an entire police escort protecting President Ronald Reagan (who was actually Commissioner Gordon in disguise). Robin knocked the bomber’s parachute just in time before the crook fell to his fiery death.

-Batman throwing a torch to burn supernatural flowers that keep an evil Mexican couple alive for more than a century in Detective Comics #395 (1970)...

...as the flowers burn, the couple slowly disintegrate into decaying corpses...

...and once they die, Batman writes down the year of their deaths on their tombstones.

-Batman jumping above two armed thugs before they shoot him, and both of them end up murdering each other instead, in Batman #425 (1988). But it must be said that Batman regrets this happening.

While I’m at it, I found another example of Robin having some blood on his hands yet again. In Batman #424 (1988), Jason Todd was outraged that Felipe Garzonas was about to get with murder because he had diplomatic immunity, despite the fact the crook’s violent abuse and harassment of a young woman drove her to commit suicide. It is implied, albeit ambiguously, that Robin had sent Garzonas falling to his death.

 

[Tvar10]

Some of these are kind of a stretch tho. I wouldnt call them blatant murders of Batman.

One he kicked a guy who bumped into another guy who fell in a trash compactor and another was Batman jumping out of the way of 2 gunman who shot eachother. I wouldnt count those as murders.. there are a few more in here like a few Elseworlds stories that I wouldnt count either.

Also Batman killing "supernatural flowers that kill Mexican ghosts that have been alive for centuries" is a stretch too

And all the "murders" from All-Star Batman and Robin could be classified as Frank Miller being Frank Miller...he even called Robin ******ed in that one. I think its the first time in over 75 years Batman used that word to describe Robin

He's definitely killed people in his 75+ years of comic history, but the fact that someone can pinpoint each time he killed someone and its less that 50 times shows thats what the character is about. Im sure you can do the same thing with Spider-Man and other characters who dont kill.

 

[BatLobster]

Good research here, Trav.

I think it just goes to show that when the source material is so vast, with so many decades of stories and so many different writers, you're bound to find anything...especially with Batman, because there have been so many different takes on the character. But there are indeed plenty of examples of Batman killing in the comics, you did a pretty thorough job illustrating that here- so props for the effort.

 

[The Joker]

Some of these are kind of a stretch tho. I wouldnt call them blatant murders of Batman.

Indeed. Most of them are a stretch or invalid.

- All the ones from the Golden Age were retconned when DC decreed Batman does not kill, and readers complained about him killing. DC editor Whitney Ellsworth then made it official that Batman does not kill; https://books.google.ie/books?id=rE...ge&q=whitney ellsworth batman killing&f=false
- Batman #221 he throws a crook against a wall which turns out to be a secret hidden door that Batman didn't know about. Batman was trying to knock him out by slamming him into the wall. That's why he said "Only chance his unpadded head"
- Absolutely nothing to suggest that guy died just because he fell into the water
- Batman #235 a stray bullet shattered a beaker a second before Batman hit the guy. His hand accidentally touches the lethal stuff in it.
- Batman #240. Read the dialogue. He was tricked into unknowingly killing the guy.
- Batman #270. He punched the guy. He accidentally fell against a statue that toppled on him. No intention to murder him.
- Batman #455. He killed a vampire. Vampires are already dead.
- Brave and the Bold #127. Ignoring a mayday call he genuinely thinks is fake is not him killing someone.
- Batman #337. He killed a snowman monster. If killing monsters makes him a killer, then BTAS Batman is a killer, too.
- Brave and the Bold #159, he kicks away a guy who's attacking him, who accidentally hits the lethal crystal wall. This is like the third example of him just fending off an attacker in which the guy accidentally falls against something that kills him. No lethal intent on Batman's part.
- The Monster in the Mirror: Detective Comics #517....Batman as a vampire. Does this even need explanation as to why it's not valid?
- Batman Annual #8. Robin: "You killed Ra's", Batman: "Have I, Robin?". Ra's lived.
- The Brave and the Bold #195. Another vampire kill.
- Son of the Demon was written as an out of continuity story in 1987.
- Action Comics Annual #1. Skeeter is another vampire.
- The Cult(1988). Batman shooting someone in a hallucination dream. What is this doing on the list?
- Batman #420. He reneged on leaving KGBeast there to die. He called the authorities and told them where to collect him.
- Batman #425. Read the dialogue. It says the guy ignores the cars starting to fall just so he can try and kill Batman. Accident.
- Legends of the Dark Knight #1. "I didn't mean for him to die".
- Detective Comics #613. Another case of him kicking away an attacker who accidentally ended up dying. See; http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m536/Mybattyscans/tec613.jpg
- Detective Comics Annual #4. A vision of the future that never happened. No idea why that one is on the list either.
- All Star Batman is elseworlds and doesn't count. You're talking about a version who makes a child Dick Grayson eat rats here lol. Miller extreme.
- Detective Comics #821. He hit a guy, who then went staggering away on to some train tracks in front of a train. Batman didn't kill him.
- Superman and Batman VS Vampires and Werewolves. 'Nuff said.
- Bronze Night: Batman/Doc Savage #1. Elseworlds story.
- Legends of the Dark Knight #84. Yet another example of him kicking away an attacker who accidentally ends up dead. He even tries to warn the guy of it in this panel.
- Detective Comics #423. gun shot wound to the arm doesn't kill you. He caught the second guy with his rope.
- Detective Comics #438. And another one where Batman kicks someone off him in defense, they accidentally die.
- DC Super-Stars #17, December 1977. This one even says a stray bullet hit Catwoman in the arm which accidentally caused her to fall to her death. It's not even an in continuity story, or even Batman's fault.
- Detective Comics #509. Catman lived.
- (Legends of the Dark Knight #84, June 1996. The guy was turned into an unstoppable monster. Batman had no choice.
- Year One: Batman/Ra's al Ghul (2005). Batman didn't kill these guys, he just smashed their snow mobiles.
- Detective Comics #590. And yet another example of him knocking some away in self defense and it accidentally ending in a death. You can even see him shout NO when it happens. The second incidence happened because one of the guys was wired with a bomb. That's why they blew up. Batman had just been trying to stop them from shooting the U.N. guys.
- Detective Comics #592. Batman did not trigger the bomb the guy was carrying. He was a suicide bomber who was planning to take himself and everyone in the room. Batman contained it by shoving him in the steel vault so he'd only kill himself.
- Legends of the Dark Knight #31. He didn't kill anyone. He created a diversion. He even says so himself in the panel.
- Batman and the Outsiders #26. It says right there Batman had no idea that injecting the guy with truth serum would kill him.
- Batman and the Outsiders #30. He doesn't trick them into doing anything. He just dodges their attack.
- Flashpoint (2011). The Thomas Wayne Batman kills Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash. The Thomas Wayne Batman? Could this be more irrelevant.
- DKR, it's still hotly debated whether that Mutant is even dead considering Batman uses rubber bullets in that. In fact CBR did a darn good job of refuting this just yesterday; http://spinoff.comicbookresources.c...ually-kill-anyone-in-the-dark-knight-returns/
- Batman #340. Another guy falls into the water and disappears. Doesn't make him dead.
- Detective Comics #395. Destroying supernatural flowers that have allowed immortals to live for years. That would be like destroying a Lazarus pit on Ra's. Doesn't make him a killer.
- Batman #425. He just dodged their gun fire, and he even says he didn't want any more deaths.

One he kicked a guy who bumped into another guy who fell in a trash compactor and another was Batman jumping out of the way of 2 gunman who shot eachother. I wouldnt count those as murders.. there are a few more in here like a few Elseworlds stories that I wouldnt count either.

Half of them are cases like that. A guy accidentally falling into something, or against something. Some are elseworld tales. Some are him killing monsters and vampires. Some are him just dodging gun fire and crooks accidentally shooting themselves. Then there's all the Golden age ones that got retconned.

 

[Tvar10]

Indeed. Most of them are a stretch or invalid.

- All the ones from the Golden Age were retconned when DC decreed Batman does not kill, and readers complained about him killing. DC editor Whitney Ellsworth then made it official that Batman does not kill; https://books.google.ie/books?id=rE...ge&q=whitney ellsworth batman killing&f=false
- Batman #221 he throws a crook against a wall which turns out to be a secret hidden door that Batman didn't know about. Batman was trying to knock him out by slamming him into the wall. That's why he said "Only chance his unpadded head"
- Absolutely nothing to suggest that guy died just because he fell into the water
- Batman #235 a stray bullet shattered a beaker a second before Batman hit the guy. His hand accidentally touches the lethal stuff in it.
- Batman #240. Read the dialogue. He was tricked into unknowingly killing the guy.
- Batman #270. He punched the guy. He accidentally fell against a statue that toppled on him. No intention to murder him.
- Batman #455. He killed a vampire. Vampires are already dead.
- Brave and the Bold #127. Ignoring a mayday call he genuinely thinks is fake is not him killing someone.
- Batman #337. He killed a snowman monster. If killing monsters makes him a killer, then BTAS Batman is a killer, too.
- Brave and the Bold #159, he kicks away a guy who's attacking him, who accidentally hits the lethal crystal wall. This is like the third example of him just fending off an attacker in which the guy accidentally falls against something that kills him. No lethal intent on Batman's part.
- The Monster in the Mirror: Detective Comics #517....Batman as a vampire. Does this even need explanation as to why it's not valid?
- Batman Annual #8. Robin: "You killed Ra's", Batman: "Have I, Robin?". Ra's lived.
- The Brave and the Bold #195. Another vampire kill.
- Son of the Demon was written as an out of continuity story in 1987.
- Action Comics Annual #1. Skeeter is another vampire.
- The Cult(1988). Batman shooting someone in a hallucination dream. What is this doing on the list?
- Batman #420. He reneged on leaving KGBeast there to die. He called the authorities and told them where to collect him.
- Batman #425. Read the dialogue. It says the guy ignores the cars starting to fall just so he can try and kill Batman. Accident.
- Legends of the Dark Knight #1. "I didn't mean for him to die".
- Detective Comics #613. Another case of him kicking away an attacker who accidentally ended up dying. See; http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m536/Mybattyscans/tec613.jpg
- Detective Comics Annual #4. A vision of the future that never happened. No idea why that one is on the list either.
- All Star Batman is elseworlds and doesn't count. You're talking about a version who makes a child Dick Grayson eat rats here lol. Miller extreme.
- Detective Comics #821. He hit a guy, who then went staggering away on to some train tracks in front of a train. Batman didn't kill him.
- Superman and Batman VS Vampires and Werewolves. 'Nuff said.
- Bronze Night: Batman/Doc Savage #1. Elseworlds story.
- Legends of the Dark Knight #84. Yet another example of him kicking away an attacker who accidentally ends up dead. He even tries to warn the guy of it in this panel.
- Detective Comics #423. gun shot wound to the arm doesn't kill you. He caught the second guy with his rope.
- Detective Comics #438. And another one where Batman kicks someone off him in defense, they accidentally die.
- DC Super-Stars #17, December 1977. This one even says a stray bullet hit Catwoman in the arm which accidentally caused her to fall to her death. It's not even an in continuity story, or even Batman's fault.
- Detective Comics #509. Catman lived.
- (Legends of the Dark Knight #84, June 1996. The guy was turned into an unstoppable monster. Batman had no choice.
- Year One: Batman/Ra's al Ghul (2005). Batman didn't kill these guys, he just smashed their snow mobiles.
- Detective Comics #590. And yet another example of him knocking some away in self defense and it accidentally ending in a death. You can even see him shout NO when it happens. The second incidence happened because one of the guys was wired with a bomb. That's why they blew up. Batman had just been trying to stop them from shooting the U.N. guys.
- Detective Comics #592. Batman did not trigger the bomb the guy was carrying. He was a suicide bomber who was planning to take himself and everyone in the room. Batman contained it by shoving him in the steel vault so he'd only kill himself.
- Legends of the Dark Knight #31. He didn't kill anyone. He created a diversion. He even says so himself in the panel.
- Batman and the Outsiders #26. It says right there Batman had no idea that injecting the guy with truth serum would kill him.
- Batman and the Outsiders #30. He doesn't trick them into doing anything. He just dodges their attack.
- Flashpoint (2011). The Thomas Wayne Batman kills Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash. The Thomas Wayne Batman? Could this be more irrelevant.
- DKR, it's still hotly debated whether that Mutant is even dead considering Batman uses rubber bullets in that. In fact CBR did a darn good job of refuting this just yesterday; http://spinoff.comicbookresources.c...ually-kill-anyone-in-the-dark-knight-returns/
- Batman #340. Another guy falls into the water and disappears. Doesn't make him dead.
- Detective Comics #395. Destroying supernatural flowers that have allowed immortals to live for years. That would be like destroying a Lazarus pit on Ra's. Doesn't make him a killer.
- Batman #425. He just dodged their gun fire, and he even says he didn't want any more deaths.



Half of them are cases like that. A guy accidentally falling into something, or against something. Some are elseworld tales. Some are him killing monsters and vampires. Some are him just dodging gun fire and crooks accidentally shooting themselves. Then there's all the Golden age ones that got retconned.

Awesome post...i was going to go through them all but I got lazy...Thanks for posting

 

[FunkMiller]

This thread is epically ****ing ridiculous.

I have to admire the OP for going to all the trouble to compile it, just to make some kind of half-assed justification for Zack Snyder's Batman being a murderer in BvS.

My heartfelt thanks to Joker for going through them all and debunking most of them to save me the the trouble. I doubt it had to take him long.

But to the OP, and everyone out there who thinks it's fine for Batman to kill, you go on denying one of the main cornerstones of The Batman mythos, if it makes you feel better about what Snyder did in BvS. After all, he had no problem with jettisoning it for the sake of more explosions and death in order to fit right in with his world view, so why should you be any different?

It would be silly to consider that he just did a bad job of depicting Batman on the screen. Far better to waste time defending Snyder no matter what, and making yourself look a bit silly by implying that Batman has always been some kind of mass murdering lunatic.

Yes, yes. That stupid little no killing code isn't all that important is it?

And hell! Why we're at it, let's dump that old butler as well, eh? That Batmobile is a bit ridiculous too, and the cape just has to go, along with that cowl, cave, giant penny, and anything about the character that might be considered frivolous or fun in any way shape or form. That's the Snyder way!

Good grief.

 

[Travesty]

Looks like you took this a bit too seriously.

What's even worse, is it looks like you guys didn't even read the opening paragraphs, if you did, there wouldn't be a need to "debunk" anything. I'm well aware that he indirectly killed. I said that bluntly, lol.

And let's keep this to the comics. That's clearly what this was for. If you wanna talk about the movies, there's a ton of threads on that right now.

 

[FunkMiller]

Looks like you took this a bit too seriously.

What's even worse, is it looks like you guys didn't even read the opening paragraphs, if you did, there wouldn't be a need to "debunk" anything. I'm well aware that he indirectly killed. I said that bluntly, lol.

And let's keep this to the comics. That's clearly what this was for. If you wanna talk about the movies, there's a ton of threads on that right now.

Heh. Come on dude... there's no way this thread wasn't created as a reaction to the debate about Batfleck killing in BvS, so it is definitely movie related - and the Snyder defenders will jump all over it with misplaced glee.

As I said though, I kind of admire the dedication to the research. That dude did a good job.

It still remains a fact though, that most of his examples are largely inaccurate, and Batman does not deliberately kill in any of them

 

[Travesty]

Heh. Come on dude... there's no way this thread wasn't created as a reaction to the debate about Batfleck killing in BvS, so it is definitely movie related - and the Snyder defenders will jump all over it with misplaced glee.

Again, if you read the beginning, I clearly wrote why I created it. I admitted it was because it's been a hot button issue, but this wasn't created to talk about the movies. If it was, I would've titled it something like "Batman killing in all media", and I would've included the movies, too. Look at the title. Look at the content. This is just a reference point to go back to, as it's created to showcase the history of Batman being involved in killing within the comics. Nowhere do I have examples outside of the comics. If you have nothing to add about the comics, then move on. This isn't talking about the movies. I can't make it any more clear, as it should've been clear to begin with. It seems some of you have clearly missed the point of this thread.

It still remains a fact though, that most of his examples are largely inaccurate, and Batman does not deliberately kill in any of them

I wouldn't say they're "largely inaccurate" at all. Just skimming over it, all that was said was, "this was the golden age. This was an Elseworld. This was a monster, so it doesn't count(not sure why?). This one we don't know if he died for sure. This one he didn't deliberately kill him(again, I already mentioned indirect killing at the beginning of my post), etc etc". There's about 80+ examples that I provided, and not all of them were "refuted". There's some panels where it's clear he killed. And I'm not sure why talking about the golden age somehow invalidates Batman killing? I make a thread about the history of Batman, and for some convenient reason, we don't want to talk about the history. I'm not going to try and go tit for tat, because then it'll be nothing but an exhausting display of circular logic and semantics on what "history" or "killing" means. It should be clear what this thread is about. It should be clear in those examples that it happened(both directly and indirectly). Again, this is a thread to showcase the history in which Batman has killed in the comics. It's a reference point to come to on The Hype. I can tell everyone who is "upset" about this thread, is somehow trying to not make this about the comics or the history. Some of you guys have sadly missed the point of this thread.

 

[FunkMiller]

Fair enough. I accept that you're intention is not to provide ammunition for the Hypers out there who insist it's okay for Batman to be a murderer in BvS.

However, just in case there's a small chance any of them stumble upon this thread completely at random, I will just say this:

The amount of times Batman has killed in the comics is dwarfed by the amount of times somebody other than Bruce Wayne has been under the cowl. But no-one would have been happy if Snyder had put Dick Grayson or Jean Paul Valley in the cowl for BvS. Cherry picking incidents to suit your argument, when it directly contradicts the overwhelming majority of the character's history and construction, is just plain daft.

 

[Saint]

I wonder if anyone has the patience to compile a list of all the examples of Batman's rule against killing.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I love this thread.

 

[shauner111]

This was a monster, so it doesn't count(not sure why?).

I'm guessing Joker said that because it's not a human being.

 

[Travesty]

lol, oh, I think I understand why he said it, but it's just another exhausting example of a semantic point of contention, that shouldn't even be brought up with what was initially set up for this thread.

I guess you stopped reading after you quoted that?