this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2025
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Its also worth noting that multiple curses on Gotham have been revealed, making it so that no matter what things can't improve.
Also yeah, the reason batman doesn't just murder bad guys is because its about rehabilitation, not punishment.
Lots and lots of rehab if the games are canonical.
He's not dead, he's just sleeping.
It's about the appearance of rehab.
If it was actually about rehab, the Joker would have become a hero himself.
The real message is that rehab doesn't work, and the hero is too naive to realize it.
The joker has become a hero in the past. The joker also is the sole character whos defining characteristics basically is he's crazy not insane
There's nothing to fix, he's just like that.
And then, recidivism. He goes right back to being the bad guy.
The message is that you can't ever trust the offender. Even though it seems like they've gotten their life together, they are a minute away from returning to evil. The message they are sending is that all "rehabilitation" is temporary at best.
Exactly. They are saying that rehabilitation can't possibly work; the bad guy can never change.
The lesson actually being taught is that the hero's naivete enables the villain's future harm. The villain should never be trusted again, because rehabilitation is an impossibility. Trust and compassion are the hero's true weaknesses.
Batman is not about rehabilitation.
There are plenty of stories available of former bad guys getting their lives together and becoming heroes themselves. Those are stories of rehabilitation. Batman is not.