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Why doesn’t Batman just kill the Joker?

We know why superheroes don’t kill, but do they?

Susana Polo is an entertainment editor at Polygon, specializing in pop culture and genre fare, with a primary expertise in comic books. Previously, she founded The Mary Sue.

There are a lot of comics out there that attempt to tackle the question of why Batman, or Daredevil, or Spider-Man or ... whoever, chooses not to kill their opponents. Even though they perform heinous crimes, and if you’re already breaking the law by dressing up like an animal or demon and punching alleged criminals, well. Why draw that line so firmly when the others are so fuzzy?

That’s the question we tackle on this week’s Issue at Hand, Polygon’s show about the strange world of comics, hosted by me, Susana Polo. The editorial reasons for superheroes to be against murdering their opponents are fairly simple, but the in-universe explanations tend to be kind of lame. But they don’t have to be!

Please find contained, in the above video, my proposal for the ultimate, forever, in-universe reason why superheroes don’t kill of all time. I think you’ll find it well argued.

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