How many people have died because Batman won’t kill the Joker?

General Discussion
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So Batman won’t kill the joker… But how many people have been killed by the joker for all these years???

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Ooooh! Well… How many lives has Batman saved? This is a big question on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, too. Many people have died because of Buffy’s actions, and because the life of a slayer only brings death. But we also know that Buffy has SAVED many lives. Are there any alternate world stories out there about what would have happened to Gotham if Batman never existed?

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Did he not possibly break his code in “The Killing Joke”? :clown_face::skull:

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In the Flashpoint Paradox, Bruce Wayne dies as a child, Thomas Wayne becomes Batman (with a kill policy), and Martha Wayne becomes The Joker.

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This is one of the bigger themes in the universe (in the real world, not just DC Universe…but especially in the entertainment world). Does the life of one person outweigh that of four, twelve or a million? Another question is, would people still love Bats if he did kill. Would he still be a hero? Or would he be an antihero?

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We can’t have Batman kill Joker or any of the rest of his rogue gallery or his series would be terrible. The thing that Batman has over every other superhero is the best cast of villains in comics.

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In the world of comic books, stories continue, legacy characters are a recurring motif, killing the Joker would simply have a meaner edgier one take his place

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When you frame the question like that Batman is responsible for all deaths after their first encounter, so hundreds at least. It’s my philosophy that the Joker is solely responsible for those deaths and Batman is responsible for all the lives he has saved. I think it was one Kevin Smith’s books that brought up the possibility that the Joker would not exist if Batman did not, as if the appearance of Batman is what inspired the Joker.

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Hundreds of thousands

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I have often had this thought, as well. But then I think two things :

  1. The people who the Joker killed died because the Joker killed them. Period.

  2. Why should Batman have to give up what makes him him and what makes people respect him for someone like the Joker?

It’s easy for me to THINK, “What’re you doing?? Just kill him!!!”

But is taking a life that simple in reality? The inability, lack of desire, or flat-out refusal to take a life is what gives these fantastical characters depth and makes them more relatable to us all!

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Good points. As for the topic in general, Batman came ever so close to literally beating Joker’s brain into the pavement in Hush. If Gordon hadn’t stopped him, he probably would have.

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I remember reading an article back in 2010 that revealed the Joker’s body count to be at least 4,000, including women and children.

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Nevermind, fact checked it. That was grossly exaggerated. Joker’s apparently cannonically killed 550 people.

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14

Definitely in the thousands

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15

As many as Oliver in Arrow?

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You have to consider the fact that both the timeline and universes have changed over the years. There may have been 550 murders, but can we really say that it was all from the same version of the Joker?

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Too damn many

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If he kills his rogues gallery the storyline would be so flat. Batman is flawed because he’s moral to a fault, and too dedicated to the crusade. Take that away and the complexity of the character and his relationships fade…imo.
That being said, being totally meta, I feel like a cop or a fellow inmate would have done the deed by now.

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millions possibly billions mabey trillions

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Why is it up to Batman to kill him? Couldn’t Superman do it? Wonder Woman? Any Green Lantern?

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