Batman Just Revealed a Major Detail About His No Killing Rule (& It Changes Everything)

Batman does not kill. This is an indisputable, core part of his character, often being called his “one rule.” It is a line that Batman will never cross, one he abhors with every bit of his being. There will always be trolls who attempt to argue against this with sources that were published over forty years ago and do not reflect how the character has grown into the distinct image of himself, but overall, everybody knows that Batman will never take a life. However, what many people don’t understand is why the Dark Knight refuses to do this and even goes out of his way to save the lives of his villains.

Issue #1096 of Detective Comics by Tom Taylor digs into this question and provides the answer that many people who only know Batman from other media or casual reading do not know. In the issue, the villain Asema has kidnapped Joe Chill and trapped him inside a burning building in order to let Bruce watch his parents’ killer die, so he could get some final revenge on the man. Asema even made sure to tell Batman that he doesn’t have to kill Chill, all Bruce Wayne has to do is wait. All he needs to do is nothing, and then the man he hates more than anyone else would sans maybe the Joker would be gone forever. Of course, Batman refuses to do this. Instead, he defeats Asema and gets Joe Chill out to an ambulance. As Batman says in the ensuing fight, he does not kill, but he also goes on to be more specific.

Asema is doing this because she wants vengeance for Bruce’s mom, as Martha once saved her life, but Bruce says that this isn’t what his parents would have wanted. They helped people and saved lives because the people they helped needed it. They couldn’t know if these people would go on to commit horrible atrocities, they just couldn’t ignore someone in need. Bruce says that he is his parents’ compassion, because they taught him the sanctity of life. Batman doesn’t just not kill, he exists to save everyone, because everyone has a chance to become someone better.

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Batman’s Code Isn’t About Not Killing, It’s About Saving Everyone

To many, this does not reflect how they picture Batman. After all, asking Batman to commit murder is very different from asking him to simply not save someone. Just look at the climax of Batman Begins, where Batman leaves Ra’s al Ghul on a train set to collide with a building saying, “I won’t kill you, but I don’t have to save you.” Now, one could argue that concussing a man so he can’t escape a fatal train crash would constitute killing him, but that’s not the point. This scene alone did irreparable damage to Batman’s rule against taking life in the public eye, cementing the idea that Bruce is against taking life himself, but he is perfectly fine with other people killing criminals. He just doesn’t want to get his hands dirty or can’t bring himself to do it. That’s stupid. 

As another point, a scene that has done a near equal amount of damage to Batman’s public character is the final confrontation in Batman: Under The Red Hood, where Batman says that if he kills the Joker he won’t be able to stop himself from killing other criminals. While this is certainly a part of why Bruce doesn’t take lives, that is not the main reason at all. And furthermore, I more prescribe to the idea that he meant if he took Joker’s life, the idea of taking more criminal’s lives would be easier and he would be less effective at saving them, because in the back of his mind he can use killing as a last resort. But even if that interpretation is not true, Batman wouldn’t simply become a murder machine if he killed one person. He would likely kill more often if he did it once and was able to rationalize it, but he’s not one step from becoming a psychopath.

Batman doesn’t refuse to kill because he is afraid of himself losing control or anything like that, Batman refuses to kill because it means taking away someone’s chance to live a good life. He fully believes in the value inherent to every life, and so he can’t just stand by and let someone die if he could do something to help them. Although he is presented as a dark warrior intent on inflicting vengeance, and he is, Batman at his core is all about helping people. When you dig just a bit deeper than the dark, brooding surface, you see that Bruce has endless compassion for everyone, even his worst enemies. He sees that they can be better people, that they can use the pain they feel to make the world a better place.

At his core, Batman is a character who feels a very deep pain that spawned from tragedy. But instead of letting that pain make him jaded, he uses it as fuel to inspire him. He wants to prevent anyone else from feeling the same type of pain he felt, and that pain came from death. Bruce sees the potential in every single person, and the best Batman stories always focus on that. “Bruce Wayne: Murder turned Fugitive” explores how Bruce’s sanctity of life is Batman’s heart, and The Killing Joke focuses on Batman trying to reform the Joker because he believes even he can be helped if he tries. Batman chooses life because he sees it as important, no matter whose it is. It’s more than not killing, Batman saves people. 

Detective Comics #1096 is on sale now.