7 DC Heroes Who Won’t Kill & Why (It’s Not Just Batman)

DC Comics has created some of the best heroes ever. Their superheroes were always somewhat traditional, and this has meant lots of things over the years. They were exemplars of heroic morality, and that meant something simple: they didn’t kill. They worked within the system, sending their foes to prisons and asylums, and held their fellows to a rather rigid moral system. However, as the years have gone and our cultural morality has changed, killing has become more accepted among superheroes (readership’s age has also risen, so that’s probably part of it). While it’s more accepted, that doesn’t mean that everyone is doing it.

DC heroes are meant to be the heroic platonic ideal, and that includes not killing. The heroes who don’t kill have their reasons for it and each of them hold to these morals with a titanium grip. These seven DC heroes don’t kill and they have good reasons why they don’t.

7) Barry Allen

Barry Allen birthed the Silver Age of comics, and became the exemplar of this new era of heroes. In the Golden Age, lots of superheroes killed but the Silver Age would change that. Barry led this charge and he had rather good reasons for not killing. Allen is a police forensic scientist and he believes completely in law and order. His job isn’t to kill people, it’s to stop criminals and save lives. Barry has killed once, breaking the neck of Reverse Flash, and the guilt over this action is another reason he doesn’t kill. He’s just not the kind of person who can do that sort of thing.

6) Shazam/The Captain

The Captain has had several name changes over the decades, starting out as Captain Marvel in the Golden Age, becoming Shazam because of Marvel pushing their Captain Marvel in the 2010s, and has since become the Captain (although that isn’t long for this world). Billy Batson was given the power of the Wizard Shazam and became an amazing hero, and not killing was a part of that. To begin with, the Wizard chose him specifically because he wouldn’t kill. Billy is a just a kid and doesn’t really have any killer instinct. He just wants to be a good hero and to him, that means not killing. He’s a very moral person, which is why he was chosen to be given such great power, and will never kill.

5) Nightwing

Nightwing was the first Robin, working with Batman for years. He watched his parents murdered one night at the circus and was chosen to help Bruce Wayne in his war against crime. He was trained not to kill, both by the Caped Crusader and Superman. He knows the pain that can death can bring a person’s loved ones and doesn’t want to make anyone else go through that. In a lot of ways, he was less likely to kill because of his relationship with the Man of Steel. Dick was inspired by the hero and wanted to be like him, even basing his new codename on a Kryptonian legend that Supes told him about. He was raised by the best heroes ever and learned to be just like them.

4) Jay Garrick

Jay Garrick was the first Flash and one of the most influential heroes in the DC Multiverse. Jay came up during a time when heroes were more likely to kill, but he never did. Over the years, he became the kindly grandfather superhero, so he knows that he’s an example that everyone follows. This is reason enough for him not to kill. He has helped train numerous young heroes over the years, and doesn’t want them to become killers. With his daughter the Boom returned, he’s especially not going to kill, because he wants to raise her to be the right kind of hero.

3) Wally West

Wally West loved the Flash as a child, and because his aunt Iris was dating Barry Allen, he was able to make every kid’s dream come true. West became Kid Flash, and was trained by Allen and Jay Garrick. As a founder of the Teen Titans, he was always around the greatest heroes ever, so he followed their example. Barry and Jay taught him that true heroes don’t kill, so Wally never has. There’s a reason as well: because he’s a role model. West is the best Flash of them all, so young heroes look up to him. He’s part of a legacy bigger than himself and he has to insure that future Flashes know the roles. Add in the fact that he has superhero kids, and he’s never going to become a killer.

2) Batman

Batman is one of the leaders of the superhero community, an inspiration for everyone that comes after him. He’s known for being against killing, not even monsters like the Joker, and it’s become one of his most defining traits. There are several reasons for this. The first is that he watched his parents killed one night, and he promised that no one would die by his hand. Later in life, he would reveal another reason for it: if he started, he would never stop. The Dark Knight is a damaged, damaged man and he knows that if he indulges his anger, he would become a slave to it.

1) Superman

Superman doesn’t kill and that’s just the way it is. He doesn’t see himself as some kind of executioner, but as someone meant to make the world a better place. He wants every human to reach their potential. He cares for everyone in the multiverse, and that has meant that he will never kill. All of this comes from the way he raised by the Kents. They taught him to be the best kind of person he could be, and that meant not killing. Now, technically, he has killed Doomsday and post-Crisis Zod, but it’s impossible to know whether he meant to do it with the monster – it was the end of a long fight and he was out of it. As for Zod, that story was taken out of continuity and one of many changes made by writer/artist John Byrne, with most fans disliking this development because it went against everything he otherwise believed in.

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