Why hasn't most of Batman's Rogues Gallery been given the Electric Chair?

[Mutant God]

I'm guessing that some group Illuminati/Court of Owls have kept the criminals alive so all the focus will be on them and not the white collar criminals/corrupt authority figures. Or maybe some of the big bads have Lazarus chemical in them that prevents them from dying and makes them even more insane the next time wee see them.

Also I think Gotham should be Chicago's DC counterpart.

[MajorHoy]

. . . Also I think Gotham should be Chicago's DC counterpart.

I think Central City might be better for that than Gotham City.

[Nero]

Because they're too popular to permanently kill off.

[RudHao]

Death Penalty might not be legal in the state Gotham is in, it's in New Jersey right?

[dancj]

Because DC would have to be seriously idiotic to kill off so many popular characters. It drives me crazy when fans keep screaming that Batman should kill his villains or they should be sentenced to death. Is that what the readers really want or are they being purposely difficult just to raise a stink?

I think it's worse when people point out that it's fiction (like we didn't all know that) to answer questions like this rather than going with the spirit of the question, which is to find an in-universe answer.

[byrd156]

I think it's worse when people point out that it's fiction (like we didn't all know that) to answer questions like this rather than going with the spirit of the question, which is to find an in-universe answer.

What's wrong with that? It IS the answer. As for the spirit of the question the answer is Arkham Asylum, since it's a mental institution instead of regular prison they can't legally sentence them to death. That's where the criminally insane ones go but for those like Penguin and Bane they either get sent to Blackgate for lesser crimes in Penguins case since he's a mob boss with only "ties" to whatever misdeeds he committed or in Bane's case he goes to a meta prison like Belle Reve.

[MajorHoy]

Death Penalty might not be legal in the state Gotham is in, it's in New Jersey right?

Read the original post and posts #16, 17, 20, 24, and this one:

All those examples are from 1977 to 1993, which, if memory serves me correctly, would be considered "at least the last century".
I'm curious as to how often it's been specified as in New Jersey since 2001, or even more appropriate, since the changes to the DC universe post-Flashpoint. (Also depends on where those references are made and by who. Any fan not connected to DC can say anything they want on a web posting, but that doesn't mean that's what DC actually says.)

Besides, even if DC still considers Gotham City to be in New Jersey, it would be a fictional New Jersey that may-or-may-not have all the same laws as the real State of New Jersey, so that might not even matter anyway.

[Arsenal]

I'm guessing that some group Illuminati/Court of Owls have kept the criminals alive so all the focus will be on them and not the white collar criminals/corrupt authority figures

I like this answer.

[Jim Kelly]

I always thought saying where the fictional cities might be in relation to real world locations was just a way to help readers locate the cities in the fictional world--not that the cities were in those actual places or in place of them.

[T'Challa Bruce Von Doom]

I think it's worse when people point out that it's fiction (like we didn't all know that) to answer questions like this rather than going with the spirit of the question, which is to find an in-universe answer.

What's wrong with that? It IS the answer.

This.

The problem is that people on the internet frequently call characters in comic books idiots or stronger pejoratives for not doing x. They're fictional characters who have no autonomy of their own and can only do what they're written to do. That's the answer. If you kill x hero's rogue gallery, then the hero won't have villains to fight and be heroic against. Certain rogues are iconic and make too much money to get rid of. That isn't the case for a villain in real life.

Real life is not an ongoing series which needs characters kept around because they make money. In real life, villains aren't money-making properties that are too popular to be gotten rid of. You can't blame characters in-universe for something that's a real world issue. You can't hold fictional characters to the same standards you would a real-life person who makes their own choices rather than having them be made for them by a higher, controlling entity (the writer for fictional characters). There are some things (why don't they just kill x villain, why do comic book characters never age, etc.) for which the answer is the fact that it's an ongoing fictional series that has existed before a lot of people who talk about it on the internet did, and is going to continue on after we're all gone. Certain big names can't just be killed and replaced, so they have a security that real-life people don't.

Now, not everything has a meta answer. And for those things that aren't due to the limitation of being a work of fiction, then in-universe factors can be looked at. But some things don't have an in-universe answer. The answer has to do with it being a work of fiction. That's why fiction requires suspension of disbelief.

[phantom1592]

What's wrong with that? It IS the answer.

No... it's a pretty insulting answer and one I see a LOT on these boards. It's generally just... dismissive and shuts down any attempt at having a conversation. Pointing out something is fiction and a business... is the same as my pointing out 'because that's what the script says!' anytime someone asks a question about a movie.

As for the spirit of the question the answer is Arkham Asylum, since it's a mental institution instead of regular prison they can't legally sentence them to death. That's where the criminally insane ones go but for those like Penguin and Bane they either get sent to Blackgate for lesser crimes in Penguins case since he's a mob boss with only "ties" to whatever misdeeds he committed or in Bane's case he goes to a meta prison like Belle Reve.

This is a better answer and right on the nose. Batman comics throw their rogues in an asylum because in that universe they are considered 'crazy' and not eligible to be executed. It's been this way forever, and I don't really see it changing.

[byrd156]

No... it's a pretty insulting answer and one I see a LOT on these boards. It's generally just... dismissive and shuts down any attempt at having a conversation. Pointing out something is fiction and a business... is the same as my pointing out 'because that's what the script says!' anytime someone asks a question about a movie.





This is a better answer and right on the nose. Batman comics throw their rogues in an asylum because in that universe they are considered 'crazy' and not eligible to be executed. It's been this way forever, and I don't really see it changing.

Both answers are right depending how you want to look at the issue.

I wasn't dismissing anything, it is the main answer outside of the universe and I gave the reason why in-universe.

[dancj]

What's wrong with that? It IS the answer.

It's not the answer to the real question being asked.

I don't mind if people point out the real world reasons as an aside, but Jim Kelly was acting like it a silly question to ask.

[dancj]

No... it's a pretty insulting answer and one I see a LOT on these boards. It's generally just... dismissive and shuts down any attempt at having a conversation. Pointing out something is fiction and a business... is the same as my pointing out 'because that's what the script says!' anytime someone asks a question about a movie.

Exactly .

[bat39]

How about this for an explanation?

Batman's involvement in the capture of these rogues' muddies the waters, legally. If the case ever went to trial with the intent of giving the defendants the death penalty, a good enough lawyer would be able to create enough reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury with regards to the actual extent of the villain's guilt in the situation - especially in those cases where Batman was the only real witness to some of the villain's crimes and he isn't around to testify. Maybe the prosecution just accepts the insanity plea because they know its at least a quick way to get the defendant under lock and key...and the defendant readily agrees because Arkham is a revolving door anyway.

And of course there will no doubt be a battery of civil rights activists, psychiatrists and what-not lining up to demand mercy for the villains. Probably even media that paints them as the real victims.

With regards to villains like Deadshot, Bane and the other 'non-insane' ones...I guess one reason they're kept alive (in addition to the aforementioned case for 'reasonable doubt') is so that there is always a potential pool for Suicide Squad recruits.