Perp Walk

[cyberghostface]

From Batman: The Brave and the Bold #13. This is by Jason Shawn Alexander and Rodney Barnes. 





The man surrenders and Batman takes him in. The man tells Batman he killed the Joker to set him free.

Comments

[tcampbell1000]

"He also killed, like, skadzillions of people, but for the purposes of this story I won't care about that for a few pages."

[angelophile]

I hate this take. Like, a visceral hatred.

[nyadnar17]

Like I can feel it in my gut how much I hate this take and every single variation of it. Its physically uncomfortable.

[huntleyhaverstock]

The Joker is absolutely in love with Batman. I can buy that take. But this? This only works in the incredibly silly context of THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE.

[cyberghostface]

Not as overt as this but we've seen in various canons that Batman, even if he doesn't want to admit it, would miss Joker on some level if he died.

[angelophile]

It coming up multiple times doesn't mean it's not an unbelieveably stupid and anger inducing take.

[cyberghostface]

It induced anger for you, sure.

[nyadnar17]

It does. Like I have zero issue with the Joker loving Batman. But Batman loving the Joker played straight feels so icky.

I can 100% believe Batman at some point has had to deal with a fucked up trauma bond response to the Joker but I don't like writers treating that as anything but a fucked up trauma response.

[thanekos]

It works, but it also feels like an attempt to rationalize everything between " The Joker's going to keep committing over-the-top atrocities because it's entertaining in some way when he does them. " and " We're going to keep the Joker around because he's an entertaining character, no matter the in-universe questions that raises. "

[beyondthefringe]

My thought is when you lose something that’s a huge, impactful part of your life, especially something toxic or abusive or otherwise trauma-inducing… the absence affects you just as much because you have this emptiness to fill and this sense of “what now?”

If Joker dies, and I mean dies in a way that is conclusive and undeniable and indisputable, Bruce would definitely be affected by the “hole” left in the Joker’s wake. And grief is a valid response in trying to process the loss. It’s not that he loved the Joker, but the Joker was part of what defined him and now he has to work through that.

And maybe Bruce does credit Joker as a catalyst for his constant need to improve, a motivating factor… there’d be complicated emotions. Like dealing with an abusive relative, or a strict authority figure, or even a toxic ex.

But I can’t see him being truly grateful or -ugh- tender at the end. More like relieved, but also sorrowful because he always dreamed of somehow, someday, rehabilitating the Joker as the uptime proof his crusade against crime and evil could succeed. The Joker’s death would be a major failure and blow to that dream. Kind of like if Harvey Dent died.