Killing The Preconceptions of The Superhero

What does it truly mean to be a superhero? If a comic book were to have sentience and if said comic book’s name was Batman: The Killing Joke, it would argue that a superhero is more than just a costume, more than the person inside it. It’s a will, a will to carry a burden heavier than any other. A will to go through the worst experiences and still come out able to maintain justice. Superheroes were originally constructed as powers with people, not people with powers. Clark Kent wasn’t a person, he was a vehicle to display cool superpowers, with little in the way of any actual character besides his desire to do the right thing. I couldn’t tell you a single character trait of The Flash, but I know he runs quick, in fact that’s about all I know about him. Because that’s all I was meant to know about him. Superheroes were nothing more than representations of cool abilities with bland characters for people to project themselves onto.
 This is the major change comics of the 80’s and 90’s brought to the medium, switching the focus from the powers to the people behind the suits. Comics in this era were about Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Barry Gordon, not about batsuit, flying speed laser beam, and superspeed.
This brings us to the Killing Joke, a story squarely dedicated to showing that even when pushed as far as he possibly can, Bruce Wayne will still do the right thing no matter how hard of a decision it is. Batman isn’t a superhero because he wears a giant batsuit while stopping minor crimes. Batman is a superhero because he makes the hardest decisions a person could make - keeping alive the man responsible for disabling his friend, stripping her and taking pictures of her injured body, and torturing the chief of the police department - all for the sake of preserving and maintaining justice. Bruce Wayne’s code to never kill has always been a part of who Bruce Wayne is, however The Killing Joke puts Bruce Wayne's morals to the test. Bruce Wayne’s never been forced to confront the ramifications of who he’s kept alive in a major way. The reason The Joker is such is a great foil to Batman in The Killing Joke is because he’s fighting Bruce Wayne ideologically, pushing his morals to their limit and forcing him to do what is right even if it means the keeping the Joker alive. It’s a major part of who Bruce Wayne is, and it’s development as a result of him losing his parents as a child makes it a believable part of who he is. He fights crime because he doesn’t want anyone else to suffer like he has. If he kills, he’s no better than the man who murdered his parents, thus he locks away the criminals he fights. It’s these two aspects of Bruce in conjunction with The Killing Joke’s plot, gives the reader a character who lost everything while he was still a child, and shows their true resolve in maintaining their ideals even in the worst of scenarios.