Batman is a symbol of hope and someone who fights crime for those the justice system has failed. It’s those failures that helped create Batman as it is. With the ever present trauma of his parents murder and wanting to fight his “never-ending war” on crime, Bruce Wayne has endured a lot in his life. But while the character has a long history of suffering, mental health awareness has come more to the forefront in society in recent years and, as such, there’s been more examination of Batman’s own need for some therapy. Indeed, there are more than enough times Bruce Wayne should have just paid for a couple of sessions to work through is issues, but instead he takes to the streets of Gotham and fights criminals as a way to grieve.
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While Batman going to therapy would probably change a lot about the character and radically reshape some of his iconic stories (and the title would most likely turn into a superhero version of The Sopranos) there are key moments where it would have helped the vigilante greatly to get some help. Here are five times Batman should have called a therapist, but just fought bad guys instead.
1) The Death of Jason Todd
One of the most impactful deaths for Batman came with Jason Todd’s death at the hands of the Joker. After Dick Grayson while Jason’s time as Robin was short lived his death would haunt Batman for decades and for good reason: it was a particularly gruesome demise. If being beaten to death by a crowbar wasn’t enough, a warehouse exploding on top of the kid will do that. With nothing to lose Batman hunted down and planned to kill the Joker right after the event. The combined might of Superman and the fact that Joker was parading around as an Iranian Ambassador to get diplomatic immunity prevented Batman from getting his justice-wrapped revenge. Batman quit the pursuit and returned to Gotham with a darker edge towards petty criminals.
While Joker may have used the crowbar for the actual act, it was the fans of the book who pulled the metaphorical trigger. The same people who loved Batman at the time also had the ball in their court to give him the second most traumatic event besides his parents deaths. It created the darker eras of Batman to come and perfectly set up the excellent “Under the Red Hood” storyline in 2005. It’s hard to image now that Jason was once unpopular but without this story we would have never gotten Red Hood, though it would certainly be interesting to see how Batman’s relationship with his resurrected son would be different had the Dark Knight sought some help in the first place.
2) Becoming Batman to Begin With
The death of Martha and Thomas Wayne is the catalyst that lead young Bruce Wayne to later become the Batman. It’s perhaps the most well-known and iconic heroic origin story ever and it’s one that has stood the test of time, having been set in place since the Golden Age of comics as well as retold in “Batman: Year One”. It’s a core staple of the character we all know and love but maybe instead of growing up to travel the world, training to ultimately become Batman, he should have asked Alfred to take him to a therapist. Or, since Bruce was just a child, maybe Alfred should have signed him up for therapy himself.
A young Bruce Wayne that got the needed emotional support following the death of his parents doesn’t necessarily lead to a world without Batman, either. It just might lead to a very different approach for the Dark Knight, one that could be really cool to see explored.
3) The Gotham War
Where do I even begin with Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War? Following a lot of trauma for Batman during the back-to-back arcs of “Failsafe” & “Bat-Man of Gotham” something in Bruce snapped. Later revealed to have been subliminal messaging from Zur-En-Arrh, a twisted version of Batman, Bruce to lost his mind and proceed to go to war with Catwoman. Disregarding everything Selina had said to Bruce with her method of keeping Gotham safe by reducing crime, Bruce decided to wage war on everyone she aligned herself with and most of the Bat-Family. It was not a good look for him and with him losing his hand right before things popped off he should have taken some time off and maybe talked to someone about it all. Losing a limb alone should have been enough to prompt that, honestly.
With a lot of mixed reviews of the event, this goes down as one of Bruce’s more memorable flipouts. Whether Chip Zdarsky had planned for Bruce being out of character during the event or not or was retconned due to backlash is up for debate. What is for sure is Bruce was deeply struggling at point and he desperately needed help. Thankfully he got help from his family a few arcs later and a little too conveniently, it worked out for the Dark Knight. Still, a sit-down with a professional would have been very useful.
4) Cold Days
“Cold Days” by Tom King has the potential to be one of the biggest cult classics from King’s run. With the premise of 12 Angry Men, Bruce Wayne realizes he screwed up and beat up Mr. Freeze wrongfully. Buying his way onto the jury as Bruce Wayne, he slowly gets the court to believe Freeze’s innocence. What spawned the outburst from Batman? Being left at the altar by Catwoman during the Wedding (or lack thereof) issue. He was in so much more pain the he normal and took it out on Freeze. Not a cool moment from Bats.
King’s run on Batman is divisive for a lot of reasons but despite a lot of the hate, this story remains a surprisingly positive point for everyone. It stands out as a story where we follow Bruce as Bruce Wayne rather than Batman, which we need more of in general. It also might be the closest to emotional awareness that we really see from the character. “Cold Days” is a quick and easy read in King’s run with just three issues and a precise story, it makes for one of the most unique stories the Dark Knight’s ever had. But I’m sure Freeze would agree therapy would have been better than getting his butt whooped by Batman having a black suit Spider-Man moment.
5) Killing the Joker(?) in The Killing Joke
The most cryptic ending to any Batman story, Batman: The Killing Joke is a firm staple for fans of Batman. After Joker nearly fridges Barbara Gordon leading her to become Oracle, Batman is sent over the edge with the Joker. Coming out just mere months before “Death in the Family” this was the first time in 1988 where Batman almost killed the Joker (supposedly.) The shadowy panel of Batman putting his hands on the Joker has been interpreted a plethora of ways. Personally I think it looks like Batman may have gone to strangle the Joker or even kill him. No matter, Joker did survive despite how you read the book and that should have a wakeup call for Batman. After this, Batman should have taken his young sidekicks out of action and sat himself down to talk about his own feelings as well. It could have changed a lot of things for the character — and those in his orbit.
What do you think, should Batman seek therapy? Why or why not? Let us know down in the comments.
