vengeance [ven-juhns]
noun
Idiom
1. Infliction of injury, harm, humiliation, or the like, on a person by another who has been harmed by that person; violent revenge.
2. An act or opportunity of inflicting such trouble.
3. The desire for revenge.
4. Obsolete. hurt; injury.
5.Obsolete. curse; imprecation.
6. With a vengeance,
It makes sense. Batman is a sociopath. The moment you forget that is the moment you forget who Batman is supposed to be. But, Batman is no hard killer. In fact, Batman is almost insanely pushed toward never breaking the rule of using a gun, after all his parents were killed by a gun, and never murdering, after all, he does not make himself judge, jury, and executioner.
a. With force or violence.
b. Greatly; extremely.
c. To an unreasonable, excessive, or surprising degree: He attacked the job with a vengeance.
EX. Batman is all about vengeance. To quote the dramatic declaration of Kevin Conroy's Batman, " I am Vengeance...I am the Night... I AM BATMAN!"
At his core, Batman is a vigilante. If you didn't already know (what do you live under a rock?), Bruce Wayne took on the mantle of Batman after years of dealing with his parents' murder at the hands of a crook in an alley. He wanted justice at just about any cost. This alone would make him like any other number of characters. What separates Batman from his predecessor the Phantom and thugs like the Punisher, is Batman's code; Batman doesn't kill. He doesn't use guns.
Well, except all those times over the years that Batman has brutally murdered people when written by troglodytes or pushed too far. Pictured below? Is a few panels from his early years, in which Batman punches a bad guy into a vat of acid and then quips, "A fitting end for his kind."
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| "A fitting end for his kind." |
Batman sure has changed a lot over the years and I bet you're wondering, especially considered that Batman used to murder people with an almost gleeful joy and often carried a gun (just in case), has changed his credo and become renowned for casting off the weapon of a murderer. Whitney Ellsworth, a noteworthy comic book writer, artist, but mostly editor, declared that Batman shouldn't kill or use guns after watching the character shoot holes in a bunch of giants. And honestly?
Batman's job is to capture criminals, to save lives, and to do what he can to get criminals prosecuted and put away. This sometimes leads to the irrational and, more than a few times, has led to himself or others getting injured.
For example, in the Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, after an incredible chase scene, the Joker's night of revelry is spoiled. He only has one less trump card. He walks out into the middle of the road and eggs Batman to run him over. In a game of insane moral chicken, Batman turns at the last second and wrecks his bike, rather than kill his enemy.
The only time Batman shoots a gun, post him shooting up those giants, are situations where he is pushed to the absolute edge and the only way to save someone is to fire a gun. That or apparently to sell war bonds to the kiddies.
