To your question about future iterations of Batman: I'd answer that he'll always be pulled from the straight and narrow path, into an excess of vengeance, order, or control. At his core, he seeks human order with the best of human means (intelligence, strategy, violence, and collaboration).
But his characteristic propensity for questionable aims and means is what I find most intriguing about Batman, compared to other heroic figures in the American mythos. He aims to do his own form of good by his own "good" means, but his stories also reveal the limits of his relativism (he's never shown to be straightforwardly moral).
Yes indeed. The scene where he confronts the Riddler at Arkham asylum is very reminiscent of the scene in "The Dark Knight" where Batman confronts the Joker, only this time he doesn't get to bash the Riddler's head into the wall and kick him around the room (that "Dark Knight" scene convinced me that Batman is not interested in due process or justice). It does feel, however, that he would have done so if he'd been able to.
He is a very morally ambiguous character. Contrast him with Spider-Man, whose sense of responsibility presupposes an obligation to a higher moral standard which doesn't seem to exist for Batman.
To your question about future iterations of Batman: I'd answer that he'll always be pulled from the straight and narrow path, into an excess of vengeance, order, or control. At his core, he seeks human order with the best of human means (intelligence, strategy, violence, and collaboration).
But his characteristic propensity for questionable aims and means is what I find most intriguing about Batman, compared to other heroic figures in the American mythos. He aims to do his own form of good by his own "good" means, but his stories also reveal the limits of his relativism (he's never shown to be straightforwardly moral).
Yes indeed. The scene where he confronts the Riddler at Arkham asylum is very reminiscent of the scene in "The Dark Knight" where Batman confronts the Joker, only this time he doesn't get to bash the Riddler's head into the wall and kick him around the room (that "Dark Knight" scene convinced me that Batman is not interested in due process or justice). It does feel, however, that he would have done so if he'd been able to.
He is a very morally ambiguous character. Contrast him with Spider-Man, whose sense of responsibility presupposes an obligation to a higher moral standard which doesn't seem to exist for Batman.