Comment on Bang!
petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 hours agoIf I understand correctly, yes. The idea is that the “just hand of the law” is a better executor of justice, even if it’s the same justice, than “some guy” with “some guy’s opinions” on things.
And to be clear, I don’t think that view is without it’s merrits, of course, I just think a lot of goodguy / badguy media really under explores it. Certainly they often ignore the view that good outcomes may sometimes be worth more than the process.
Also, I don’t actually watch / read much Batman. I think there are times when his refusal to use guns is more about his personal adjacency to the crime of his city, and how he feels that if he indulges too much in the call to violence, that he would just become another mafia kingpin. In a literal sense, like as if he were an addict refusing a drug.
Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 10 hours ago
So what I’d take from that is Batman knows what he can become and also knows that since he’s teetering on the edge, he absolutely has to hold to that one line. Otherwise he can no longer rationalize his actions/existence as “good”.
The Punisher, in contrast, is 100% A-OK with being a villain and embraces it. He doesn’t even try to rationalize his actions or existence and more or less sees himself as an inevitable consequence to circumstances.
I’d guess too that the real world is somewhere on between the two. Your take as well?
petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 hours ago
Well, it does depend on which particular Batman comic run and author we’re talking about, but I have heard that this is sometimes the reason.
I probably consume even less Punisher, but my understanding is that he’s sort of like if Batman did kill people. They’re operating under the same moral framework. One that views The Law as civilizing and a world of Punishers as barbaric. Animalistic. A world of selfish kings fighting over the same throne.
This is different from what’s being expressed in the OP. The OP rejects the idea that this act is barbaric at all and instead focuses on the outcomes. They and the villain can’t be the same because they and the villain never do anything for the same reasons.
The villain in the OP has made billions suffer, and probably for money. But the hero is stopping the suffering, and because they like joy. The fact that they both kill, maybe, is immaterial. It doesn’t actually matter.