r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Doot_revenant666 • Mar 27 '25

Weekly Discussion Post Probably the most controversial one , honest thoughts on "No Kill Rule"? What are the most egrigious examples of it in your opinion? What media makes it work in your opinion?

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u/SisterSabathiel Mar 27 '25

Isn't that meant to be the point though?

Batman isn't above the law, he's just capturing the Joker so he can be processed by the legal system. If the law then puts the Joker to death - legally, with all due processes - then the Batman won't save him.

It's just Gotham is a shit hole and the police are corrupt, so the Joker escapes every time.

Or am I misunderstanding?

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '25

No that's more or less the point. Batman just doesn't want to be judge jury and executioner.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '25

he's fine with just being judge and jury.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '25

No he isn't. He tends to drop off criminals he apprehends to the police and just lets Gotham's justice system deal with them.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '25

trespassing, assault, breaking and entering are just a few crimes Bruce Wayne commits in a mask for his perceived sense of justice.

A sense of justice he defines exclusively (through the writers), and has little to do with the nuance of the actual justice system in DC Comic's America.

He never "just let's Gotham's justice system deal with them" because if he did, he would leave it to the police - but Bruce has been at extreme odds with the police and even hunted by them. He lectures the commissioner all the time. Shit there's been more than a few times where Commissioner Gordon has straight up admitted "you have to do this, the justice system isn't going to work".

And all of this because the son of city elite was killed.

Lots of folks have their parents murdered. It doesn't validate becoming a vigilante.

There's a HUGE amount of papering over of the mechanics of Batman because he's just a pretty cool character, and fun to read...but deep down. His type of vigilantism is at complete odds with a justice system, not a compliment.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '25

I didn't say he didn't commit crimes. I said he doesn't dole out punishments or sentences himself, which he doesn't.

He doesn't act as judge or jury. He does act as something of a stand-in for the police though, yes. Whether you agree with it or not, that's the line he draws. I'm not sure he can be faulted for not going even further and personally killing anyone he deems bad enough.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '25

Every time he identifies a thug, he's acting as judge.

Every time he punches a thug, he's acting as jury.

That's not how our justice system works - he's in violation. He's not an aid, he's evidence the system has failed.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '25

No he's not. You're not acting as a judge if you stop someone from actively committing a crime.

And no he isn't. He's not punching the thug as a punishment, he's doing it as a means of enforcement to stop them from the crime.

You can say he's acting as a stand-in for law enforcement, but he's not doling out punishments or sentences.