Casual fans will know that Batman’s number one rule in his vigilantism is his steadfast dedication to never killing any of his foes. Die-hard fans know that’s really just a general rule of thumb. Despite his non-murderous code, The Caped Crusader has been either directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of countless rouges and villains. We’ve seen him snap people’s necks, kill Green Arrow, and even (debatably) put the joker down in The Killing Joke. Just recently he even gave (SPOILER) a dirt nap. But none of these murderous tendencies are a recent revelation. Believe it or not, The Dark Knight’s first – and arguably most brutal - kill came in his very first standalone issue, Batman #1.
While the character made his debut in Detective Comics #27 in 1939, it wasn’t until 1940 when he got his own standalone book, Batman #1, and he wasted no time in the first issue proving how little he cares about this supposed code. While the book introduces us to Batman mainstays like The Joker and Catwoman, it’s his encounter with Professor Hugo Strange that shows the brutality The Caped Crusader is truly capable of.
Strange helps to break free several inmates from Arkham Asylum (then called Metropolis Insane Asylum), and injects them with a serum that turns them into giant, 15-foot-tall lumbering beasts that wreak havoc across the streets of Gotham. Batman is injected with the same serum, but is able to concoct an antitode when he tricks two of the giants to beat one another to death. In the process, he also kicks Strange off a cliff into the churning tides of the waters below, presumably also to his death. But that's just the start.
Taking to the Batplane to pursue the other mental-patients-turned-giants, Batman tracks them down, assuring himself, "Much as I hate taking human life, I'm afraid this time it's necessary." Shooting the truck they're traveling in off the road, Batman ensnares one of the giants in a noose hanging from the bottom of the Batplane. Using a "steel-like rope," Batman lynches the mental patient from the bottom of his plane, quipping to himself, "He's probably better off this way." Once convinced the body hanging below him is dead, Batman adds insult to literal injury, cutting the corpse loose, presumably to splatter at the feet of the terrified Gothamites below.
The final giant tries to climb a tower to reach the Batplane, but Batman dispatches him quickly as well, gassing the involuntary monster and sending him spiraling off the tower to his doom. Though this ordeal is over, Batman suspects Strange is still looming. So the next time someone claims Batman doesn't kill, or will only do it when absolutely necessary, just have them take a look at Batman #1.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/2WQx8iG
No comments: