(Fictitious character) Batman - Batman and ethics

Mark D. White

This edition first published 2019
2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Name: White, Mark D., 1971 author.
Title: Batman and ethics / Mark D. White.
Description: First edition. | Hoboken, NJ : WileyBlackwell, 2019. | Includes index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2018052863 (print) | LCCN 2018052978 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119038047 (AdobePDF) | ISBN 9781119038030 (ePub) | ISBN 9781119038023 (paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Batman (Fictitious character) | Comic books, strips, etc.Moral and ethical aspects. | BISAC: PHILOSOPHY / Eastern.
Classification: LCC PN6728.B36 (ebook) | LCC PN6728.B36 W5 2019 (print) | DDC 741.5/973dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018052863

Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Images: dovate/iStock.com, dwleindecker/iStock.com, panda3800/iStock.com, daboost/iStock.com

I wish to thank the people at Wiley Blackwell that saw this project through from formulation to completion: Liam Cooper, Deirdre Ilkson, Rachel Greenberg, Manish Luthra, and especially Marissa Koors, who helped me see what I was trying to say with this book the entire time. I also thank Louise Spencely for her expert copyediting, and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and criticism.

I thank E. Paul Zehr (Becoming Batman) and Travis Langley (Batman and Psychology), my bearded brothers in the bat, for support and feedback at a crucial point in this project, and William Irwin, Rob Arp, and all the contributors to Batman and Philosophy, which is really where the current book (and all my popular writing on superheroes) began. I thank Jeff Peters, formerly of Commuter Comics, for helping me find my Batman love again after many years away, and Steve Nemeckay at Amazing Heroes for sustaining it ever since. And as always, I thank my friends that help preserve my spirit while writing: William Irwin, Lauren Hale, Anita Leirfall, Carol Borden, and Heidi Page.

Of course, I wouldnt be writing this book if not for the creative genius of Bob Kane and Bill Finger, nor all the writers, artists, editors, actors, directors, and producers that have put their indelible and invaluable stamp on Batman and his world. I owe each and every one of them more than I can ever put into words, so to them I dedicate this book, full of the best words I could come up with.

Youve decided to become a costumed crimefighter. Congratulations! Youve got your outfit, having made the critical decisions regarding colors, mask or cowl, and cape or no cape. Youve got your secret lair, your cool car (unless you can fly), and all the equipment you need to confront the criminal element and protect the innocent citizens of your fair city.

But wait thats just the easy part. What are you going to do now? Are you going to look for muggers and burglars, or tackle corruption in government and business? Are there already supervillains to fightor will they instead be inspired by you? How far are you willing to go in your crusade for justice? What degree of violence are you comfortable using? Will you break bones, put thugs in the hospitalor will you cross the line and end them once and for all?

The questions dont stop there. Who else will you enlist in your mission? Will you bring in a sidekick, maybe even a young boy or girl to watch your back and train to become a fullfledged hero someday? Will you cooperate with other masked crimefighters? What relationship will you cultivate with the local authorities? How far will you go to protect your secret identity? How will you balance your superhero life with your personal life, including your love life? Will you let your friends and family know what youre doing?

It turns out theres a lot more to being a costumed crimefighter than gearing up and jumping into the fray. As with many things in life, being able to do something is not the same thing as knowing what to do with it or the best way to do it. As a wise sage once said, with great power must come great responsibility: deciding what to do with your power is the hard part, and the answer you choose separates the superheroes from the truly dangerous (if not villainous).

Being a superhero, then, opens a green hornets nest of ethical conundrumsand if youre anything like me, you find those moral dilemmas just as interesting as the exciting, cataclysmic battles between good and evil. It turns out that stories about superheroes in comic books, TV shows, and movies are great ways to start discussions about ethics and morality. The difficult ethical spots that superheroes find themselves in may not always look like the ones you and I face, but they can be examined using the same basic schools of ethics that philosophers have developed over the last couple thousand years. Even better, they apply much more to our daytoday moral issues than you might think.

That also happens to be why I wrote this book. But why did I choose Batman as my companion along the way? There are several reasons, but the simplest one is that hes incredibly cool! And Im not alone in thinking that. Batman is one of the most popular and enduring superheroes all of time, appearing regularly in the comics since his introduction in 1939, becoming a TV star in the 1960s, and a movie star starting in the 1980s. He has appeared in many different forms, styles, and moods, yet there is an essential quality of Batmanness that persists through all of them and continues to fascinate us.