I’ve never been a reader of Batman, but I’ve been thinking of late about the mythos of this character, and whether it’s reasonable to think of him as a hero, or even a laudable figure.
Let’s face it, this is a rich guy, who fights crime recreationally. He won’t kill criminals, because he has a “code” against killing – a code by the way, that the criminals aren’t all that interested in following themselves. The fact that Gotham City so predictably fails to keep these recidivistic criminals in jail, only serves to reinforce that Batman knows that every time he refuses to kill a criminal, more innocent bystanders will die.
It’s the trolley problem, do you through action kill one to save many, or through inaction, allow many to die, in order to keep your hands “clean” through non-involvement.
Batman’s code does one thing – it preserves the criminal underworld from which he gains his sense of self-worth. I’d find Batman far more interesting if he was less emo about his dead parents, and more prepared to sacrifice his principles to get the results.