Batman and His Code of Honor

I finally got to see the new Batman V Superman movie! (And yes, I realize that the picture above is not from Batman V Superman but rather it is from the Dark Knight). Batman V Superman was highly anticipated since it is the first time that Batman and Superman have shared the screen. These two heroes have shared the pages of comic books for many years and it was intriguing to see how they came together in the movie. Before I talk about the new movie, I want to take a look back at an important aspect of the Dark Knight (now that picture is making more sense). Later this summer we will be seeing a new version of the Joker in the movie Suicide Squad. That movie will be the third movie in the growing DC movie universe. With these two 2106 movies we are getting new actors for the iconic characters of Batman and the Joker.

Before thinking too much about these new incarnations, let’s take a look back at what we saw in The Dark Knight film from 2008. There is an intriguing dichotomy between Batman and the Joker. The relationship is complex. They are enemies and the Joker should be striving to kill Batman, however the Joker eventually gets to the point that he doesn’t want to kill Batman. Joker wants Batman to live so that they can go back and forth in their battle of differing philosophies. You could easily say that it is a struggle between good and evil but I think there is more to it than that. There are many reasons that Joker is Batman’s  enemy number 1.

There is so much to say about Joker and Batman. It really can’t be summed up entirely in just one article. I would think that the new movies will give me more chances to comment on Batman and Joker in the future. For the sake of this article, I will focus on the code of honor. Batman has a strong moral compass. Batman has rules for himself that he won’t break in his war against crime. He won’t kill the criminals. No matter how evil they are, no matter how heinous their crimes, he will not kill them. He will capture them and let the legal system deal with them.

However, the Joker has no rules. The Joker favors chaos. He finds it amusing. He thinks that murder is just part of the joke. He is not after the same thing as other criminals. He doesn’t want money. In The Dark Knight, he sets fire to all the money he has earned through all his murder and mayhem. Earlier in the film, Batman is trying to capture the Joker and he threatens one of the crime bosses. The boss is more afraid of the Joker. He tells Batman that the Joker has figured him out. The Joker knows that Batman has rules, but the Joker has no rules.

There is even the fact that Batman won’t break his rule even to get revenge. He doesn’t kill to avenge the death of his parents in Batman Begins. He doesn’t kill to avenge the death of Rachel in The Dark Knight. In a very famous storyline called “A Death in the Family”, Batman has a very good reason to want to kill the Joker. The second Robin (Jason Todd) is brutally murdered by the Joker. Batman has a close relationship with every person that takes on the mantle of Robin. In some cases he adopts them as his sons. Even after Robin is murdered, Batman won’t kill the Joker.

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In my Christian view, the sinful human heart can really contain elements of both Batman and the Joker. Most Christians would like to see ourselves as having a Code of Honor just like Batman. Have you ever drawn a line in the sand when it comes to sins? Are there a few sins that you think of as the really bad ones that only a really vile person would ever do? Sometimes the thinking might even come from the culture around us. I think most people would probably agree that murder is a line they don’t want to cross. But is murder really worse than lying? Or think about those people who abuse children. We would agree that sin is terrible? But is it worse than gossip?

There is always that temptation to classify sins. But that is not something that God does. God tells us that he sees all sins as equal. James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” In God’s eyes, just one sin makes us guilty of every sin. One lie makes us just as guilty as a person who committed 100 murders. Unfortunately our sinful nature wants to take that information in the wrong way. Our sinful nature wants to tell us, “Well if I am just as guilty as those ‘terrible’ people, then maybe I should just give up and indulge my sinful side. If I can’t be good by having a Code of Honor like Batman, maybe I should just indulge all of my evil desires like the Joker.”

And that is the other side, indulging our sinful nature. I think we do this more often than we realize. There may not be many people who are as drastic as the Joker. There may not be many who kill people because they find it fun. But there are other sins which we commit because we think they are fun or pleasurable. There are those who abuse alcohol by over indulging. They make the excuse that they are just enjoying themselves. There are those who indulge their sexual desires. They think it is just the natural thing to do. Many people don’t even think these sins are that bad.

But remember, every sin is just as bad as the next. Every sin earns us the punishments of death and damnation. We can’t save ourselves with a Code of Honor. It certainly doesn’t help to give ourselves over to our sins. That is why we need our Savior. Only Jesus can rescue us because he never sinned. We see his forgiveness for the times that we have classified certain sins as the worst ones and looked down on others for committing those sins. We are forgiven for those times in our lives when we have indulged our sinful nature.

We certainly can’t save ourselves by following a Code of Honor. And yet, once we see that Jesus has forgiven our sins, we do want to follow his commandments. We want to avoid all sins not just certain ones. We would like to have a strong moral compass like Batman. Our moral compass uses God’s Word as its guide. We don’t want to indulge in sins like the Joker. We live for our God trusting in his forgiveness.

Batman History

Knightfall was a major story arc from the early 90’s. It illustrates Batman’s rule about not killing. It shows this especially after he turns over the mantle of Batman to Jean-Paul Valley. The first part of the story centers on the villain Bane attacking Batman first on a psychological level and then physically. Bane eventually breaks Batman’s back. At that point, Bruce asks Jean-Paul to become Batman. Jean-Paul becomes much more violent than Bruce every allowed himself to be. When Jean-Paul causes the death of a criminal, Bruce realizes that he needs to come back. The third part of the epic story is about the struggle between Jean-Paul Valley and Bruce Wayne.