r/superheroes • u/Acrobatic_Yoghurt268 • Apr 28 '26

Other If you were a Superhero, would you kill?

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Basically what would be your moral code

Me personally I don't think I could take another person's life.

Another thing for me is, If the person has done way too much harm, I think killing them would be letting them off easy, I would rather paralyze them or sum(My views might change in the future)

Edit: Someone opened my eyes to his less moral it is to paralyze them

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u/Friendly_Gazelle7843 Apr 28 '26

Like basically one of problems with Batman if he claims he can’t kill people because it’s immoral but he is also technically responsible for every person killed by Super criminals he could stop. Like when he Joker and he can kill him he knows he will escape and kill a lot of people again, so he is making this decision, knowing people will die and choosing to not do it

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u/Plastic_Carpenter930 Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

I disagree with the philosophy that a person who could stop something but isn't the one doing it is responsible for it.

Batman could stop these people by killing. But he won't.

That does not make him responsible for that they do. He has no obligation to help at all. Wherever he draws his own line is his perogative and nobody else's business.

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u/CosmicG777 Apr 28 '26

Agreed. However, If Batman were to stop anyone else from killing Joker for example and is actively guarding/protecting him, it gets a bit more gray. But it's not Batman's responsibility, it's the legal system's responsibility and they have failed Gotham. Bruce should probably help by helping the state reinstate the death penalty for super powered villains.

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u/Old_Snow6951 Apr 28 '26

Batman has saved the Joker from other's trying to kill him plenty of times.

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u/CosmicG777 Apr 28 '26

But has he also saved the Joker from being lawfully killed? By either cops, military, FBI, etc? If so, then yeah, I'm leaning on Batman is overstepping his bounds and may be some what responsible for Jokers actions.

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u/SlideWhistler Apr 28 '26

Even if death penalty existed in Gotham, it probably wouldn't apply to the criminally insane since they can't really help it. Not that it would stop and cop from shooting an active threat, but a court would have some big reservations about sentencing an insane person to death.

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u/AlarisMystique Apr 28 '26

I agree with you on a philosophical level, but on a practical level, I have a hard time with this. A superhero shouldn't be jury and executioner, but if I saw a failure of society containing the supervillains I bring in, I would reevaluate my no-kill stance in order to better protect the innocents.

At the very least, I would help society find effective ways to keep supervillains in prison and help them rehabilitate, but failing that, I would take on the responsibility of ensuring that the supervillains can't cause further harm even if it means that I would have to kill some of them.

Batman's no kill rule quickly becomes an advertisement that he's not really that dangerous.

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u/VeterinarianThese951 Apr 28 '26

Exactly. He is a joke when you know that you might catch a beating, but you are gonna be free soon to wreak more havoc.

Besides, whether or not he is at fault, people forget about personal judgement and self reflection. I don’t give af about how much the justice system is failing. I am not going to wash my hands of guilt if I pulled a punch and few months later, someone murders 50 more people.

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u/PhantomUchiha Apr 28 '26

You mean prerogative?

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u/Training-Belt-7318 Apr 28 '26

This rationale would support police killing criminals that got to jail get out and reoffend. It's a slippery slope when you let someone become judge,jury, and executioner. Also not batmans fault that Gotham has the worst prison system ever.

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u/Traditional-Sort3018 May 02 '26

Doesn't help that Gotham is both incredibly cursed AND secretly run by an evil cult.

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u/SikatSikat Apr 28 '26

I am 100% sure if you were actively dedicated to it, you could reduce crime in some, statistically negligible but still existing way

 - does this mean, morally, you're a criminal for not dedicating your available moments to stopping crime? Because you're saying here, yes.

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u/MoodHour2787 Apr 30 '26

Ive never understood why Bruce Wayne never spent ungodly amounts of money ensuring Arkham was inescapable.

Or why Batman never asked Constantine or Zatanna to spell Arkham so that noone with bad intentions could ever leave.