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• Matt Feeney the New Guy

  

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  March 21, 2013 11:13 AM EDT

  I was reading an article of the greatest antihero was of all time. It had obvious ones like the Punisher, while it made pretty good arguments for Wolverine. It even made mention to the somewhat reformed Red Hood (Jason Todd version). But then it mentioned Batman. I've had this discussion with others, but I've never seen Batman as an antihero.
  
  So now I'm asking you guys if you believe Batman is an antihero or otherwise. You could bring up his incredibly strict moral code and lack of killing (yes, he's killed a couple people, every superhero has, but considering he's been around since the late 1930s, they're pretty spread out). However you could bring up his vigilantism and label that as a sign of antiheroism.
  
  So what say you?
• Bryn

  

  • 1913 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 11:14 AM EDT

  From the first few movies... Yeah. The Nolan films and comics? No.
• Matt Feeney the New Guy

  

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  March 21, 2013 11:18 AM EDT

  I'm one of those people who say the comics have more pull with Batman's character, for obvious reasons.
• Bryn

  

  • 1913 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 11:21 AM EDT

  Yeah, me too. So when I heard that in the first few movies that batman kills people... I released a scream of something around the lines of "NO F****** WAY!!!"... Batman has killed before but it was mostly by accident (if you consider batman beyond canon, then the return of the joker shows that)
• NeroKitty

  

  • 661 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 3:03 PM EDT

  In the Nolans' films he is portrayed as the Antihero. I never thought so. He is just misunderstood in a time of chaos. He brings fire to fight both fire and water (water being the cops) so in a sense he is an antihero.

• Josh Marken

  

  • 158 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:05 PM EDT

  If vigilantism was a sign of being an antihero, then spiderman, green arrow, and almost all heroes are now labelled anti heroes. 

  I'll not post a long ass reply but all I'll say is that batman is most definitely not an anti hero. 

  In literature, an antihero^[1] (or antiheroine^[2] as the feminine) is a protagonist who has no heroic virtues or qualities i.e.: morally good,^[3] idealistic,^[4] courageous,^[4]noble.

  Not having those vitues does not mean you can't save someone or have a code of honour. Many villains have codes of honour. I then refer you to batman who possess all of these things, abiding by a moral code that he only came close to breaking. This was when he decided to use a god gun. The circumstances of this was when Darkseid, a god, was taking over the world.

• NeroKitty

  

  • 661 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:11 PM EDT

  I think he is a hero. He saved Gotham from a Nuke with the help of Spawn.

• Drakon

  

  • 159 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:12 PM EDT

  Hero and yes I saw the film and read the comics

• Drakon

  

  • 159 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:13 PM EDT

  Best anti-hero in every sense of the word is a guy called SPAWN if have not heard of him search him up online hes epic!

• Matt Feeney the New Guy

  

  • 1124 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:14 PM EDT

  How could I forget Spawn? That guy kicks ass!
• NeroKitty

  

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  March 21, 2013 4:18 PM EDT

  My brother had an action figure of him when I was a young child. It scared the shit out me but I wanted to play with the "toy" so badly....

  I took it out of it's *gasps* plastic wrap. He fucking snapped on me. It was his Christmas present from our dad.

• Matt Feeney the New Guy

  

  • 1124 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:19 PM EDT

  Agreed, Josh. I brought it up because it appears to be an argument used a lot, I've never considered him an antihero. Hell, the GL Corps are more like antiheroes than Batman (they kill people decently frequently, especially like the Sinestro War, if I remember the name correctly).
• Josh Marken

  

  • 158 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:21 PM EDT

  Sinestro war. Yes, when the sinestro corps recruited the anti monitor, superboy prime, and brought parallax back. Hundreds of sinestro, and green corp were killed. Hell, Hal jordan has at least 4 million on his list of kills (literally), and that's me being generous!

• Matt Feeney the New Guy

  

  • 1124 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:25 PM EDT

  Ugh, Superboy Prime, I hated him! :P You remember in the Blackest Night, Jon Stewart is on a barren planet surround by Black Lanterns and makes an entire military of constructs! I think that beats Jordan's love of boxing gloves :P
• Josh Marken

  

  • 158 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:27 PM EDT

  I think Jordans love of boxing gloves were put aside when wiped out a city  and killed off the corp haha

• Bryn

  

  • 1913 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:29 PM EDT

  Have you ever seen "AT4W" or Linkara? He makes a review of a comic book with Superboy Prime and he talks as Superboy prime in the whiniest voice possible
• Matt Feeney the New Guy

  

  • 1124 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:38 PM EDT

  Yeah, I know. Didn't he drop a house on the keeper of the book of fear?

• Bryn

  

  • 1913 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:44 PM EDT

  http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hXurh5G9PtU At 6:17 I hate Superboy prime... So much!
• Matt Feeney the New Guy

  

  • 1124 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:52 PM EDT

  Actually he died from Darkseid shooting him with his omega beams.

• Andrea Barghetti

  

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  March 21, 2013 4:53 PM EDT

  Strictly comics? no. "V" from V from Vendetta is an anti hero in a comic book world, Rorschach is a antihero, I don't think I find batman an antihero.

• Josh Marken

  

  • 158 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:54 PM EDT

  But he wasn't actually dead, just sent back through time as various re-incarnations such as bat pirate 

• Bryn

  

  • 1913 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:56 PM EDT

  But then it was retconned that he went back in time to relive every batman that existed in history, including a cowboy batman, a pirate batman, and a caveman batman... I'm dead serious
• Matt Feeney the New Guy

  

  • 1124 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:56 PM EDT

  Good examples, I would definitely consider those two antiheroes (though I've never watched V for Vendetta, I've read Watchmen though).

• Bryn

  

  • 1913 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:57 PM EDT

  God that was stupid... And I was starting to like having robin be batman...
• Matt Feeney the New Guy

  

  • 1124 posts
   

  March 21, 2013 4:59 PM EDT

  I was always confused about that since Nekron and Black Hand were able to revive him as a Black Lantern. I've kinda just assumed his body was dead but his soul/mind was alive.