WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batman: Three Jokers #1 by Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok, Brad Anderson, and Rob Leigh, available now.
Batman has one rule, above all others, that he must always adhere to during his war on crime: that he shall never kill, and will always strive to save a life. While this has ensured more than one of his mortal enemies have lived to kill another day, it's also allowed him to make the symbol of Batman and what it means all the more important and honorable. But now, two of his allies may have just sullied that reputation.
While Jason Todd may have pulled the trigger in Batman: Three Jokers #1, Batgirl may have allowed him to kill one of the three Jokers, but does that make her just as culpable in his death?
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After capturing one of the three Jokers - the one known as "The Clown" - Jason Todd and Barabra Gordon find themselves subjected to his mockery while Batman hunts down another lead. Joker repeatedly insults the pair of them and their dark connections with him. Being the version of the Joker who actually murdered Jason Todd during the events of "Death in the Family," he's able to particularly taunt Jason with his last words, and how his belief in Batman ended up failing in the end. Todd raises a gun to kill the Clown for this, and Batgirl tries to throw a Batarang to keep him from going through with it. But she misses, and the Batarang ends up embedded in a nearby wall as Jason pulls the trigger and shoots the Clown in the head -- killing him instantly.
Barabra tries to confront Jason over his actions, asking him what he thinks he's done. But Jason is quick to point out Barabra's typically precise aim apparently just failed her. This suggests one of two things: either that Barabra purposefully whiffed her attempt to save the Joker, or that she subconsciously allowed Jason to deliver a killing blow to (at least one version of) the Clown Prince of Crime. Neither option is particularly good for Barabra to dwell on. The code against killing that Batman instilled in all of his partners has been tested by every single member of the Bat-Family, but rarely has it actually been broken. Doing so can set the Bat-Family against one another.
Jason has been gunning for the Joker ever since his return. But Batman has always kept him from enacting his revenge for the brutal way the Joker killed him all those years ago. It makes sense that Jason would want to kill Joker, and it makes sense that he's finally accomplished it. But Barabra has fought against those darker impulses. She was paralyzed by the Joker not long after Jason's demise and had to rise up over the trauma left behind by the attack on her. She's risen to every challenge life has thrown at her, and has even regained the use of her legs after spending a solid period of time confined to a wheelchair.
But now, given one moment to prove just how above the Joker's cruel attacks she was by saving him, Batgirl failed. Best case scenario, she missed an obvious and easy throw, the kind of mistake that not even the youngest Robins would make in the field and with a life on the line. Worst case scenario, she purposefully allowed Jason to murder the Joker in cold blood, and then walked away from her choices. Either way, it means that the Joker's blood isn't just on Jason's hands, but on hers as well. She'll have to confront that reality - especially when Batman learns about what has happened. While there'll likely be a reckoning between Bruce and Jason, there might also be a more heart-breaking confrontation between Bruce and Barabra that's most likely coming down the line as well.