When it comes to Batman, few writers know the character inside and out like superstar Grant Morrison. Regarding the recent comments by filmmaker Zack Snyder over whether the Dark Knight should kill his enemies, Morrison provides the perfect rebuttal as to why Batman’s “no-kill” rule is an integral part of his character.
Posting to their newsletter Xanaduum, Grant Morrison addresses Snyder’s recent comments on why his big screen version of Batman was portrayed killing his enemies. “I was reading how film director Zack Snyder thinks Batman should kill as part of the character’s self-imposed mission to stop crime,” Morrison writes.
Morrison goes on to explain that if Batman were to ever take a life in his mission, that would make him just as bad as the villains he fights. Morrison writes that, “if Batman killed his enemies, he’d be the Joker, and Commissioner Gordon would have to lock him up!”
Grant Morrison: “Magnificent, Horrendous, Childlike Psychosis” Is Fundamental to Batman’s Character
For Morrison, Batman’s decision to not kill his enemies not only separates the hero from the villains he fights, but rather is an integral part of the character’s psychology. “That Batman puts himself in danger every night but steadfastly refuses to murder is an essential element of the character’s magnificent, horrendous, childlike psychosis,” Morrison writes, speaking to the hero’s code of honor that was locked in from the time he was a small child. In a way, Bruce Wayne never really grew out of that “childlike” state, stuck forever as the little boy who lost his parents in Crime Alley. Morrison describes this as “fundamental to (Batman’s) grandeur as a fictional adventure hero! Is this not obvious?“
Batman didn’t always have a “no-kill” rule, of course. During the character’s earliest adventures in the Golden Age of comics, it wasn’t uncommon for the Dark Knight to off his villains at the end of each adventure. Much like his early propensity for carrying firearms, this aspect of the character was quickly done away with, and Batman has kept to this code ever since. Morrison explored the possibility of what happens when Batman takes a life during their epic run on the character, with the Three Ghosts of Batman subplot running through the early part of their run. That story saw the GCPD train three officers to replace Batman should he ever die, with the three replacement Batmen eventually turning murderous and having to be stopped by the original.
Grant Morrison’s Batman Is the Ideal Adventure Hero
While it’s interesting to see what happens when Batman is pushed to the edge in other contexts and continuities, Morrison quite rightly points out how his code of not killing his enemies defines Batman in the main DC Universe. The line Bruce Wayne draws is a clear delineation between himself and his villains, and if Batman were to ever cross it, there would be no difference between them. It’s a good thing writers of Grant Morrison’s caliber have contributed to Batman throughout the years, defining his character and mythology for decades to come.
