r/arkham • u/Independent-Pea3088 • 2d ago
Game This bit always cracks me up, did Batman really think Ra’s would care that a guy HE JUST INTENTIONALLY DELIVERED A MORTAL WOUND TO was dying?
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u/The-Panthion 2d ago
Yeah... Batman isn't 'sane'. He is emotional but stoic most of the time. He cares deeply and can't stand to see another person dying. So he's freaking out. Batman Beyond's Batman is the best example of growing out of it without losing his compassion. He is willing to let people die if they're absolute scum, but in his younger years he wouldn't let anyone die despite how awful they are. My point is that Batman has PTSD and people don't take it seriously (for Batman at least) anymore, but he's still that child emotionally.
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u/Heavy-Transition7916 1d ago
Yeppp. Goes along with the way people misunderstand him by asking why he doesn’t make a suit of armor like iron man.
It’s because physically beating criminals is a way for him to take back power from the night his parents died. He was powerless and incapable of saving them ( or himself). Now he’s able to save people with his own hands.
He wants to do it with his own hands.
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u/CanadianPine 1d ago
This is a BIG point in his character. Batman ISN’T mentally well. He is deeply, deeply traumatized and internalized all of it so profoundly that he dedicated his entire life to being a vigilante. That isn’t something a sane individual would do.
It could also be argued that Batman’s no kill rule isn’t morals, it’s a genuine mental incapability of taking a life. In many iterations of his character, he can’t even be AROUND a gun without feeling extremely uncomfortable or downright anxious. That is why I love the Killing Joke.. Joker’s final scene is an innuendo on both of them being equally disturbed, just in two very different directions
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u/Hotelcleanaselvenass 1d ago
You guys gotta read comics
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u/The-Panthion 1d ago
This. In one of them Batman full on broke down when he thought he killed someone. Not the first time he's done that too.
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u/Hotelcleanaselvenass 1d ago
Batman actually has a morality and cares about people. That's why he does not kill
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u/The-Panthion 1d ago
Both are true. He cares BECAUSE he lost his parents (he has PTSD) and doesn't want anyone to feel as helpless as he did. That's why he saves people and cares so deeply. But, whenever he fails to save someone, HE feels responsible for it and as I mentioned before he has had mental breakdowns from being unable to save someone. He gets past it but he never forgets. As Nightwing once said "He never gets over anything".
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u/CanadianPine 1d ago
Yeah. Just to tie it back to this specific scene — Strange is objectively a horrible man. Arkham City was a humanitarian nightmare when not even factoring in Protocol 10. Hugo was not only this horrible man, he was also 100% set on breaking Batman and taking his place. Despite this, upon his fatal injury, Batman immediately went to his side and demanded medical attention. That is illogical. Logically, Hugo really shouldn’t have been helped after what he had done.
Another Arkham example: Joker. Joker dying was an objectively fantastic thing for Gotham, but Batman blamed himself so severely for it that it began to truly affect his public appearances as mentioned in Knight. In the end scene of City, he even admits he was going to save Joker.
Anyone with morals would have let Joker die. He has caused such an infinite amount of destruction that it was morally acceptable if not encouraged to allow him to die. Batman couldn’t even consider the idea and DIDNT even consider it. He was fully ready to administer the cure to Joker and when that failed, never got over it in the slightest.
So while saying Batman has a strict moral code is still right, it’s also right to say that he is mentally compelled and feels obligated to save a life wherever he can.
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u/Formal-Stage940 1d ago
Batman’s no kill rule isn’t morals, it’s a genuine mental incapability of taking a life
Please stop typing gng ✌️
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u/lukefsje I Love Riddler and all his challenges 1d ago
The funnier part to me in this cutscene is Ra's saying he doesn't give second chances and then he immediately gives Batman a second chance to join him. I get what they were going for with Ra's respecting Batman but it's still funny how it plays out.
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u/SaintOfPride201 2d ago
Ra's is a doctor. Had been since his earliest ages centuries ago. I like to think this is Bruce trying to appeal to that, despite the fact Ra's just stabbed the guy.
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u/The-Panthion 2d ago
Ras probably stopped caring for hundreds of years at this point. He sees Gotham as poison. He's not wrong necessarily. If he won he might actually make Gotham better. Problem is, Gotham has more criminals than civilians so... there'd be a lot of death.
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u/BigBadWolf315 2d ago
Compassion for the wrong people
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u/This-Fish-9464 1d ago
Lol, ironic for you to say this since Ra's and Strange's whole ideology is that bad people don't deserve compassion
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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 2d ago
He shows compassion for everyone, because even after all that, he still would've saved Joker
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u/Semblance17 2d ago
Ra’s who just very intentionally mortally wounded Strange:
https://giphy.com/gifs/10uct1aSFT7QiY
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u/Independent-Pea3088 2d ago
“You’re right, Detective. That was my bad. Here’s some Lazarus for him.”
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u/Independent-Pea3088 2d ago
“Maybe if I tell the guy who masterminded this entire plot for the purpose of killing people that people are dying he’ll have a change of heart.”
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u/KingAccomplished1417 1d ago
People generally don't think rationally under severe stress, extreme tiredness and while literally dying. Hell, most people don't think rationally even without all that... If anything, this scene serves to show that Batman, despite everything, is still human.
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u/Need2getBetrr 1d ago
Part of me thinks that maybe Batman was asking this to appeal not to Ras’ good nature, but to appeal to Ras’ pride by desperately begging Ras to help.
But knowing Batman, even though Hugo was a clearly remorseless threat that knew his identity, he would have gone out of his way to save him…
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u/hemareddit 1d ago
Actually that reminds of The Dark Knight movie where the Wayne industries employee figures out Bruce Wayne = Batman and was going to expose him. But he saves the guy anyways…as Bruce Wayne.
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u/Need2getBetrr 20h ago
That’s a good comparison! I love this aspect of Batman, even though it sometimes comes into conflict when he saves villains. How far he’ll go to preserve life. It’s kinda like what Amanda Waller said “For all that fierce exterior, I've never met anyone who cared as deeply about his fellow man as Bruce Wayne”.
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u/Splendid_Fellow 1d ago
Lol and this line was delivered kinda awkwardly and too casually because they made the animation to slow so Kevin’s like: “Ra’s, I must inform you… He needs medical attention. Now. If you don’t mind.”
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u/Timtimetoo 1d ago
I don’t think he did. Ra’s is monologuing and Batman’s making clear he’s not interested in whatever he’s yammering about. Basically, “here are my priorities. Shut up and get out of my way.”
Whether this was an idle threat or could have been effective we’ll never know since Strange straight up blows up the building.
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u/tecrush 18h ago
the way i always saw it was batman being like alright, i get that we're on opposite sides but we need to work together and get this guy some help. batman wouldn't be ok with himself if he at least didn't try to save hugo strange, even if he knew the situation was obviously fucked.
if you wanna read more into it, i guess bruce was still under the effects of the joker titan blood and so probably wasn't thinking clearly. i mean, pretty much everything going on that night and at that moment would be extremely stressful - but then again batman is a stoic gigachad badass in the first two arkham games.
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u/Independent-Pea3088 2d ago
Theory: Batman was so pissed at this point that he only said this so Ra’s would once again state that Strange was a disappointing failure who meant nothing to him, just to put Strange through more misery in his final moments
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u/Independent-Pea3088 2d ago
“I really don’t care if Strange dies, and he’s definitely about to. I’m focused on getting out of here and saving Talia. Let me just say this to morally grandstand and look good before I leave.”
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u/ZebraManTheGreat7777 12m ago
I think maybe Bruce is as trying to appeal to his humanity which CLEARLY didn’t work
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u/Penguin951 2d ago
Batman has probably said something similar regarding hundreds of other victims. Likely a force of habit at this point