How Many People Should Batman Have Killed?

[SowZ]

Considering how many people he's knocked off the roofs of small buildings, smashed through windows, beaten to unconsciousness, broken their bones, used fancy gadgets including electrocution/paralysis/sleep poison, scared out of their wits, and left wounded in the snow, how many people should he have killed by accident due to untreated head wounds, internal bleeding, heart attacks, allergic reaction to otherwise mild toxins, hypothermia, infection, etc.?

[Giggling Ghast]

I know during Batman: Arkham Asylum I broke the arms and legs of several hundred inmates over the course of one night. I often wonder if Gotham City hospitals maintain special "Batman" wards to treat all the goons he severely injures.

[comicshorse]

I remember in one of Alan Grant's run he definitely DOES kill someone when he throws a thug throw a window and the guy gets impaled on spiked railings

[Grif]

I know during Batman: Arkham Asylum I broke the arms and legs of several hundred inmates over the course of one night. I often wonder if Gotham City hospitals maintain special "Batman" wards to treat all the goons he severely injures.

Does that mean they can list "Batman" as an injury now?

"What happened to you?"

"Batman."

"Ah."

[Cen]

All of them.

[Legato Endless]

All of them.

Then, at last, Gotham will have peace.

[ChaosArchon]

In all honesty the only count can be less than Superman, seriously the guy can bend metal and kill a god-like being, and he also hits normal criminals with disregard...

[SowZ]

In all honesty the only count can be less than Superman, seriously the guy can bend metal and kill a god-like being, and he also hits normal criminals with disregard...

Superman occasionally kills things, though, albeit very rarely. So I'd expect Superman to have a higher body count.

[Tanuki Tales]

Superman occasionally kills things, though, albeit very rarely. So I'd expect Superman to have a higher body count.

He does. Superman has zero qualms about killing artificial life, demons and some alien life forms. He's also the one who can bring himself to execute individuals who truly deserve to die, in his opinion.

[Giggling Ghast]

Superman lets common thugs surrender after heat-blasting the guns from their hands. Batman doesn't have the benefit of nigh-invulnerability, so when he puts somebody down, he puts somebody down.

I do sort of wonder about the mooks I leave hanging by their ankles in the Arkham games. Shouldn't that eventually kill them?

[masamune1]

Superman lets common thugs surrender after heat-blasting the guns from their hands. Batman doesn't have the benefit of nigh-invulnerability, so when he puts somebody down, he puts somebody down.

I do sort of wonder about the mooks I leave hanging by their ankles in the Arkham games. Shouldn't that eventually kill them?

The police find them later.

Or other mooks find them and you fight them again.

Or other mooks find them and their bosses order them shot. In which case yes, that does eventually kill them.

Do bare in mind that all of the Arkham games each take place over the course of a single night, so its not like those guys are hanging there for that long.

With regards to Superman, there is also the time he tortured Alternate Universe Zod and his cohorts to death with Kryptonite. Slowly and painfully, while they begged for their lives.

[SowZ]

Superman lets common thugs surrender after heat-blasting the guns from their hands. Batman doesn't have the benefit of nigh-invulnerability, so when he puts somebody down, he puts somebody down.

I do sort of wonder about the mooks I leave hanging by their ankles in the Arkham games. Shouldn't that eventually kill them?

Absolutely. It might be able to exacerbate an otherwise too small to kill you brain bleed. In fact, tripping and falling at walking speeds onto normal ground left untreated kills a larger number of people than most anyone would expect. Just the guys you punch out and walk away from could easily die. If one ever gets in a fight, the first thing the winning party should do is call an ambulance even if there are no major visible injuries.

[Gnoman]

With regards to Superman, there is also the time he tortured Alternate Universe Zod and his cohorts to death with Kryptonite. Slowly and painfully, while they begged for their lives.

Wasn't that the version that he sentenced to death because they exterminated all life in an entire galaxy and were too dangerous to be left alive? You can argue that the choice to execute them didn't belong to him, but there aren't all that many ways to execute Kryptonians once the decision has been made.

[SowZ]

The police find them later.

Or other mooks find them and you fight them again.

Or other mooks find them and their bosses order them shot. In which case yes, that does eventually kill them.

Do bare in mind that all of the Arkham games each take place over the course of a single night, so its not like those guys are hanging there for that long.

With regards to Superman, there is also the time he tortured Alternate Universe Zod and his cohorts to death with Kryptonite. Slowly and painfully, while they begged for their lives.

Can you think of a faster way to do it? While torturous, not sure if that's 'torture' per say.

[Jayngfet]

The obvious issue is that you'd need to pin down what Batman has actually done before you can get even a rough guess. With DC's timeline the way it is he may have one accidental kill or hundreds.

[SowZ]

The obvious issue is that you'd need to pin down what Batman has actually done before you can get even a rough guess. With DC's timeline the way it is he may have one accidental kill or hundreds.

I'm curious how many he actually has confirmed, and how many he probably has and is unaware of.

[Giggling Ghast]

If you can go toe-to-toe with Superman, it's unlikely that any prison on Earth or elsewhere can hold you. When Superman kills, it's often out of necessity.

[jedipotter]

Well hundreds, if not thousands. It would be bad enough just to count all the ones your sure he killed without a doubt. But human life is fragile. Chances are that around half the people he stunned, zapped, gassed or knocked out might have died.


As crazy as it sounds, if you subject someone to trauma, they often die from it. Just watch the news and see how many people die from just going out to get their mail over the winter. That's right, a couple seconds being outside in the cold and people freeze to death. Now think of when Batman holds a bad guy under some freezing sea water or such. When someone gets punched in the face, or even just hit in the head.....they die. When people get their head slammed into or through a wall...they die. And so on and so on.

[Tanuki Tales]

Wasn't that the version that he sentenced to death because they exterminated all life in an entire galaxy and were too dangerous to be left alive? You can argue that the choice to execute them didn't belong to him, but there aren't all that many ways to execute Kryptonians once the decision has been made.

Yup.

And to be honest, the only person in all of DC who I think has more moral authority to decide who should be reasonably executed other than Superman is Captain Marvel.

[SowZ]

Considering how many people Batman has probably killed incidentally, it might be a bit hypocritical when he gets on a high horse when someone else is the J. League kills.

[Sapphire Guard]

Has anyone come up with an actual example yet? Aside from the building he burns down full of chained prisoners in Batman Begin in order to avoid killing chained prisoners.

Batman isn't the Punisher. Some people he deals with probably die... but there's no way he can stop that from happening. I imagine he has a pretty low bodycount overall compared to other heroes, because his powers don't generally involve collapsing buildings by accident in the process of fighting someone else.

[Gnoman]

Yup.

And to be honest, the only person in all of DC who I think has more moral authority to decide who should be reasonably executed other than Superman is Captain Marvel.

Certainly agree with you there, but wanted to acknowledge that the "moral authority" is a perfectly reasonable argument.

[Tanuki Tales]

Certainly agree with you there, but wanted to acknowledge that the "moral authority" is a perfectly reasonable argument.

In DC though, who really has moral authority?

The U.S. government? The United Nations? The Guardians and the Green Lantern Corp? High Father? The Endless? God/Source/YHWH/Jehova/etc.?

[Legato Endless]

I imagine he has a pretty low bodycount overall compared to other heroes, because his powers don't generally involve collapsing buildings by accident in the process of fighting someone else.

Oh that only happens in the abandoned warehouse district. Or Hulk is a super genius who can rampage through the city but never result in any causalities. Superman doesn't kill people, just lifestyles. And the economy.

[Tanuki Tales]

Oh that only happens in the abandoned warehouse district. Or Hulk is a super genius who can rampage through the city but never result in any causalities. Superman doesn't kill people, just lifestyles. And the economy.

The Hulk thing is actually canon...

Bruce Banner is always subtly controlling and directing the Hulk subconsciously.

[Dienekes]

Well hundreds, if not thousands. It would be bad enough just to count all the ones your sure he killed without a doubt. But human life is fragile. Chances are that around half the people he stunned, zapped, gassed or knocked out might have died.


As crazy as it sounds, if you subject someone to trauma, they often die from it. Just watch the news and see how many people die from just going out to get their mail over the winter. That's right, a couple seconds being outside in the cold and people freeze to death. Now think of when Batman holds a bad guy under some freezing sea water or such. When someone gets punched in the face, or even just hit in the head.....they die. When people get their head slammed into or through a wall...they die. And so on and so on.

Alright, while I think it's worth noting that yeah, life is fragile. I think you're overstating things here. I've been in a few fights, got my head hit a few times, been thrown through a wall, been stabbed, broke bones, as well as many other unpleasantries and I'm still here. 50% of people Batman fights dying? Ridiculous.

A non-zero, much higher than people should really be comfortable with number? Of definitely.

[Legato Endless]

The Hulk thing is actually canon...

Bruce Banner is always subtly controlling and directing the Hulk subconsciously.

So is the empty city block. Especially back in the 70s. Banner being able to accurately predict the swath of destruction is far from his most impressive feat. The only part I quibble with is how the no causality thing is calculated. There's no way for Banner to prevent a casualty caused by the mass hysteria, or someone keeling over from the shock of him bursting though the wall. So my assumption is it sometimes ignores deaths he's only indirectly responsible for.

[masamune1]

Hulk generally avoids hurting people as well. Its not just Banner. Hulk is a big softie underneath it all.

Has anyone come up with an actual example yet? Aside from the building he burns down full of chained prisoners in Batman Begin in order to avoid killing chained prisoners.

Batman isn't the Punisher. Some people he deals with probably die... but there's no way he can stop that from happening. I imagine he has a pretty low bodycount overall compared to other heroes, because his powers don't generally involve collapsing buildings by accident in the process of fighting someone else.

Obviously there are no actual examples. The point is, Batman is portrayed as having a definitive no-kill code and as being a fairly realistic sort of superhero. Except beating the crap out of thousands of people and not one of them dying is not realistic at all, so the "realistic" part is undermined. Its in the same category as how he is treated as being on-par with (if not superior to) the likes of Flash, Superman and Green Lantern, ie. people who are vastly more powerful than he is. Its one of those things you just have to accept, but it jives with many of the reasons given for the character being popular.

[No brains]

MMA and boxing don't have 50% death rates. If they did, I don't think they would be as popular. One thing about the thugs Batman fights is that they are generally young, strong, reasonably healthy men. Depending on which Batman hits them, it may not be that hard. 60's Batman had a tough time fighting one or two guys even with Robin's help. An interesting correlation to make is that as time goes on, Batman becomes a more skilled fighter, but also, more people know and fear him. He might not be knocking the literal large intestines out of everyone he meets. Some guys might be taking a dive because of what they heard Batman did to this other guy his friend knows. It is perhaps reasonable to assume Batman have made examples and tableau(plural, spell check doesn't seem to know) of people both health and well-set enough to survive and recover from such treatment like The Penguin or Rupert Thorn. It's not about crushing flesh machines out of working order, it's about disarming minds of the nerve needed to keep going.

If this is about who he should have killed so that they wouldn't just escape and kill more people, well, he shouldn't have a rogue's gallery so much as a mausoleum.

[Traab]

Superman has killed more people by accident than half his rogues gallery has killed on purpose. Just the collateral damage from being thrown or throwing through entire buildings, (There is no way all those high rises several blocks away from the sudden fight get evacuated) the exploding vehicles, the dodged weapon fire capable of hurting superman, the deflected attacks, the sheer air pressure of the shockwaves of his hits taken and dished out. That one death of superman movie where he pile drove doomsday into the middle of metropolis from outer space like a frigging asteroid and obliterated several city blocks, superman in all reality would have a death total greater than the holocaust. Metropolis would be effectively depopulated within a decade. It would be in ruins inside of his first year. Only comic book hand waves keep him from being one of the most feared "good guys" in existence. At least batman tends to only accidentally kill thugs and bad guys. Innocent civilians rarely get caught up in his murder sprees.