Batman working with killers

[LordUltimus]

Most of the ones mentioned either A) killed once in stories that may or may not be canon anymore and then were so psychologically torn apart by it they literally swore an unbreakable oath to never kill again (Superman), B) kicked out or were almost kicked out of the League because of it (Wonder Woman, Green Arrow), or C) were former villains that want to be heroes and thus stopped killing because killing is something villains do.

And yes, Superman has a stringent code against killing, why they hell would he fight against the Elite over it if he didn't?

[Frontier]

Green lanterns have a license to kill similar to police officers once the ring sees the criteria hit for killing the ring allows them to take life and they do


Barry and wally have killed reverse flash/zoom a few times now

Dianna is understood as a killer on the JL

Superman is closest to Batman but he does kill too

Bruce is literally the only hero in comics with such a stringent code and its because of how popular his villains are

Now that you mention it, was the non-lethal function not restored post-Johns? I'm not sure.

Barry only killed Thawne once and I'm not sure that's even in-continuity anymore. Aside from HiC it was a big deal that Wally was able to do what Barry didn't and stop Zoom without killing him, because Zoom was trying to force Wally to kill him like Barry killed Thawne. Wally even testified against Barry for killing Thawne.

I don't think the League views Diana as a killer even if she is a warrior trained to kill who would do it without absolutely any other option.

Pretty much all of these heroes are pretty anti-killing even if they've had no choice but to kill in the past.

[Zaresh]

Diana has a relaxed policy, way more relaxed than other in the league, even when she's the compasiknate and merciful one in the team.
Abuut Wally, he is very against killing, but sure he can be mean and try doing something worse than killing.

[Restingvoice]

Has Harley stopped killing people? I thought she was still working as a merc/Suicide Squad.

Oh. I don't really remember, but Batman is okay with what Harley's been doing in Coney Island, improving her community slash protecting people, so he doesn't hunt her down, but he still kicks her out of Gotham if he saw her there, unless he needs her, like in Joker War. So I guess she hasn't adopted a no-kill rule, but she's done enough good for Batman to only pay attention to her if she's in Gotham.

It's hard for me to count Suicide Squad because of the neck bomb.

[Agent Z]

And yes, Superman has a stringent code against killing

Not unless the villain is a non-human, in which case, they're fair game.

[SiegePerilous02]

Not unless the villain is a non-human, in which case, they're fair game.

Depends on the continuity and story.

He killed Mxy in "Whatever Happened..." and still treated it as severe and crossing a line, to the point where he gave up his powers. He didn't destroy Solaris in All-Star despite it being VERY non-human, etc.

[Gaius]

Lol, Harley fans trying to smear Diana as a killer. The biggest rocks in the biggest of glass houses right there.

[Restingvoice]

Not unless the villain is a non-human, in which case, they're fair game.

He has alien zoo in the fortress for that

[SecretWarrior]

Green lanterns have a license to kill similar to police officers once the ring sees the criteria hit for killing the ring allows them to take life and they do


Barry and wally have killed reverse flash/zoom a few times now

Dianna is understood as a killer on the JL

Superman is closest to Batman but he does kill too

Bruce is literally the only hero in comics with such a stringent code and its because of how popular his villains are

This was the first thing I thought of. What do people think happens to all that fodder during alien invasions? The League isn't always battling robots.

How does Bruce reconcile his code with stopping alien invaders? Do their lives not count?

I'll say Batman's stringency is justified by the fact that he's a vigilante himself who barely gets a pass. The cops couldn't keep looking the other way if he started murdering people.

[SiegePerilous02]

This was the first thing I thought of. What do people think happens to all that fodder during alien invasions? The League isn't always battling robots.

How does Bruce reconcile his code with stopping alien invaders? Do their lives not count?

I'll say Batman's stringency is justified by the fact that he's a vigilante himself who barely gets a pass. The cops couldn't keep looking the other way if he started murdering people.

Their lives do count in some stories, and not all alien invasion plots end in death for the aliens.

Morrison's first White Martian arc did not end with the aliens being killed despite invading. YMMV if the actual solution (mind wiping) is better or worse, though it should be noted it was J'onn (an alien himself of the same species) who came up with that idea, not any of the others. Meanwhile, Batman himself incapacitated the aliens he fought without killing them.

I don't think "Heaven's Ladder" had any alien casualties either.

[Robanker]

Last I looked Harley was still killing plenty of people.

Anyway, this shouldn't be a tough question; Bruce holds to the no-kill rule more than anybody, and is far less forgiving or flexible about it. Jason and Harley very likely don't lose sleep over murder. Clark exiled himself from Earth in shame and disgust over taking lives. That says it all to me.

But just about everyone on the League has taken a life, even Barry killed Zoom (not sure if that's in-continuity right now) and Bruce's "best friend" Clark has killed more people than you might think. Not to mention Diana.

If Bruce held to his rules as consistency as he "should" then he wouldn't be associating with very many people. Hence he gives a free pass to popular characters like Harley and Jason and doesn't say anything about his League peers' body counts, unless the story decides to make an issue of it (like Diana killing Max Lord).

He trusts people like Clark to only do it if there's no other options. He understands his character and that he takes no joy in it and his sacred Clark holds life.

Jason is just fine putting a bullet in a lot of Bruce's rogue's heads. Harley kills when she feels like it. I doubt either of them loses sleep over it. Clark definitely does-- he exiled himself from Earth in shame after first taking a life back in Exile. There's a difference and I think Bruce's working with them should reflect that.

[Frontier]

He trusts people like Clark to only do it if there's no other options. He understands his character and that he takes no joy in it and his sacred Clark holds life.

Jason is just fine putting a bullet in a lot of Bruce's rogue's heads. Harley kills when she feels like it. I doubt either of them loses sleep over it. Clark definitely does-- he exiled himself from Earth in shame after first taking a life back in Exile. There's a difference and I think Bruce's working with them should reflect that.

It depends which point of Jason's career we're talking about. Sometimes he's more likely to use a rubber bullet.

[Robanker]

It depends which point of Jason's career we're talking about. Sometimes he's more likely to use a rubber bullet.

I never got the impression from any time I've read Jason that he'd use a rubber bullet on one of the big rogues except out of respect for Bruce. It's more about his dad issues than moral compunctions.

[Jackalope89]

I never got the impression from any time I've read Jason that he'd use a rubber bullet on one of the big rogues except out of respect for Bruce. It's more about his dad issues than moral compunctions.

Even out of Gotham, recently, the only things he killed were Untitled (demon/eldritch spawn loyal to Trigon, of all people). Otherwise, he really hasn't tried to kill anyone. Even the last time he went up against a big Gotham Rogue, which was Penguin, he shot him with a blank.

[Ascended]

He trusts people like Clark to only do it if there's no other options. He understands his character and that he takes no joy in it and his sacred Clark holds life.

Jason is just fine putting a bullet in a lot of Bruce's rogue's heads. Harley kills when she feels like it. I doubt either of them loses sleep over it. Clark definitely does-- he exiled himself from Earth in shame after first taking a life back in Exile. There's a difference and I think Bruce's working with them should reflect that.

Oh there's definitely a difference between someone like Harley or Jason, who will take a life and sleep just fine that night, and someone like Clark, who will cross the line when absolutely pushed to it, rarely get pushed to it in the first place, and will be haunted by the choice.

And sure, maybe in Bruce's mind that does provide a degree of mitigating circumstances, but Bruce is still a inflexible bastard who expects everyone around him to bend to his views, and I think if we were *truly* writing Bruce in character and not worrying about the marketing or anything else, Bruce would struggle to accept the fact that the rest of the League have body counts, regardless of how hard they've tried to avoid lethal force or how rarely they've employed it.