The following contains spoilers for Batman #135, on sale now from DC Comics.
One of the biggest debates in the DC Universe revolves around if Batman should kill the Joker. Many believe that by murdering the Clown Prince of Crime, Bruce Wayne could prevent many deaths down the line. More so, it's widely posited that Gotham City would become safer as a whole.
The highly-anticipated Batman #135 (by Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne, Jorge Jiménez, Romulo Fajardo Jr. and Clayton Cowles) dives into this topic once more with a nuanced take. Batman (from Earth-Prime) tries to save an alternate Gotham from a version of the Joker who is known as Red Mask. And, as they tumble through the multiverse, fans finally get an answer to whether Batman has been doing the right thing.
Batman Confirms That Killing Joker Changes Nothing
As the Dark Knight runs through the multiverse, hoping he can find and stop Red Mask, he visits a few other worlds. In some, the Joker is alive, but in others, he's dead. And, in the ones where the Joker doesn't exist, chaos still reigns. There's crime as usual, and the various Batmen are needed more than ever. In fact, there's a mental and physical toll on these Caped Crusaders that many wrongfully assumed would be gone.
This is apparent in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns' Batman, where an older Bruce is still pained and stressed. Injustice's take on Batman, whose Joker got killed by Superman, is in a mess thanks to its superhero civil war. The Batman Beyond world had trouble as usual and Kingdom Come's timeline still spiraled out of control.
This emboldens the Caped Crusader to find Red Mask and save him. Admittedly, part of his moral and ethical code often wondered if breaking his no kill rule would be the right thing to do. But now, Bruce firmly believes that staying in the light and not giving in to darkness is the best path.
DC Settles a Long-Standing Fan Debate - For Now
This learning curve leaves Batman inspired more than ever to find humane solutions, not just for the Joker, but also for any villain down the line. However, he still has to figure out a new solution because Arkham Asylum and Blackgate can't hold the Clown Prince of Crime down for very long. This is a great way for the publisher to handle the discussion, officially squashing the idea that by not killing his homicidal nemesis, the Dark Knight is inadvertently responsible for all of Gotham's chaos.
However, this storyline runs the risk of being retconned because the Joker will always have bloodthirsty tendencies and keeping him alive doesn't help Gotham in any way. Ultimately, this direction keeps Batman locked in this infinite internal battle, but for now, Bruce has hope and is a little more at peace knowing he made the right choice.