Batman Once Saved The Joker From Being Murdered By... Marvel's Punisher?

Batman and the Joker are sworn enemies, having done battle in print, video games, and numerous film and television productions throughout their pop culture tenure. The Clown Prince of Crime often concocts a sinister scheme of some kind, prompting the Dark Knight to swoop in and stop him, rinse and repeat. Though Batman has broken his biggest rule of no killing multiple times before, generally, even when facing down the Joker, he upholds it. In fact, he even maintained it when the life of his greatest adversary was threatened by a different vigilante – the deadliest person in the entire Marvel Universe, Frank "The Punisher" Castle.

The Punisher came face-to-face with DC Comics' greatest hero-villain pairing in the pages of "Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights" from 1994. During the Chuck Dixon-written crossover, Punisher encounters Joker and chases him down, which the latter laughs off. However, once he pulls out a gun and points it directly at the Harlequin of Hate's head, the DC villain realizes this is no laughing matter. Just in time, Batman emerges from the shadows and prevents Punisher from taking the shot, saving Joker's life and giving him an opportunity to flee the scene.

Now three decades on, this moment from "Deadly Knights" still has comic readers frustrated with Batman's decision to let the Joker live.

As mentioned, most versions of Batman live by a strict rule of no killing. No matter who the person is, or how heinous their crime may be, the Caped Crusader doesn't make the call regarding their life. Instead, he sends his enemies to prison through the Gotham City Police Department to either reform them or keep them safely away from society. This is how the Joker has been able to terrorize Gotham for decades, and despite pushing the city into chaos numerous times, Batman hasn't put a definitive end to him. This was likely the logic in "Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights," but not all fans agree with it in this context or any other.

"A super villain, in the process of committing a crime in which peoples lives are put in danger, can be killed to prevent the crime from happening. All while satisfying due process as self defense is a Constitutional right," commented u/AmanteNomadstar in a Reddit thread, explaining that within this framework, Batman is well within his rights to kill Joker without jeopardizing his faith in the judicial system. In another thread, u/PuffsPlusArmada explained that even if Batman killed just the murderous, downright evil Joker — and none of his other rogues — countless Gotham lives would be saved. "All of the people the Joker kills afterwards would be Batman's fault. Just f***ing kill the Joker," added u/MojaveMilkman.

Even though creatives like Zack Snyder have ignored Batman's no-kill rule, it remains ingrained in the character's mythology all the same. Should he have allowed the Punisher to kill Joker? Or even do it himself? There are compelling arguments that either should've been the case, but that's simply not what came to pass in "Deadly Knights."