Batman is an enduring character, arguably one of the greatest characters ever created. He is a cultural icon representing justice, resilience, and discipline. His legend, his determination to find himself and face his fears despite the loss of his parents, has a universal appeal that anyone can relate to. The Caped Crusader also has overcome many trials and tribulations since that fateful night in Crime Alley. Jason Todd, the second Robin, would challenge Batman’s “no killing” rule and died at the hands of the Joker in Death in the Family, an event Batman called his “greatest failure.” Batman single-handedly compromised and defeated the Justice League using their weaknesses against them in JLA: Tower of Babel. He even trapped the KGBeast and left him for dead until the GCPD rescued the villain.
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Batman is by no means a saint. He struggles with moral ambiguity as he changes the landscape of law and order. He perverts, embraces, and redefines what authority and justice are in a crime-ridden city that lacks both. He bends the rules until they reach a breaking point. Batman has been tested on the big screen before (saving Commissioner Gordon but letting Two-Face fall to his death in The Dark Knight or murdering henchmen in the Snyderverse), but readers know this best in the 1991 five-part story Batman: Venom. First introduced in issues of Legends of the Dark Knight #16 to #20, Batman faces his worst battle and lowest point: addiction.
A Vulnerable Batman
DC Comics
Batman is known by fans as an indomitable spirit and an unwavering threat. He doesn’t sink to anyone’s level unless it means reversing the situation and getting the upper hand. Unfortunately, Batman’s hands were at the bottom of a prescription bottle. One case led him into the sewers where a little girl was held for ransom. Planted explosives cave in the ceiling, trapping the girl behind fallen debris. Batman attempted to move the blockade, but the water levels rose and the girl drowned.
Batman blames himself for her death, saying “I wasn’t strong enough.” He had no knowledge of the explosives, nor could the rocks be removed in such a confined space. Rather than rationalize the event, Batman toils with and dwells on what he couldn’t do. He makes a rookie mistake in his first years as a detective: leading with his emotions. The Dark Knight has a heart and a soft spot for children, having been a victimized child himself, a strength and weakness that gets manipulated. An adaptation where Batman is reduced to a child again, physically and psychologically, would humanize the fearless facade of a man who often masks his feelings.
Obsession Meets Addiction
Batman cares about the safety of others, so much so that he will neglect his own safety to save them. He needs to protect innocents at all costs, a problematic modus operandi for some, but a necessary sacrifice for the hero. Batman needs to prevent another Crime Alley from happening and the solution comes with side effects. Batman meets with the father of the deceased girl who is the creator of a designer drug called Venom. He uses Batman’s guilt as a ploy to have his steroid tested, much like the codependent relationship between a drug dealer and drug addict, which complicates the criminal underworld for Batman.
His nightly outings shortly turn into unhealthy fixes in the form of brutality, causing him to neglect and foil the cases he has followed so closely, some costing him months of research and reconnaissance. Batman threw caution to the wind, became less calculated and sloppy, practicing extreme violence that not only endangered the evildoer, but the do-gooder as well. His butler and confidant Alfred Pennyworth at one point has to find and return him back to Wayne Manor, similar to how Alfred saved Batman after an encounter with Scarecrow in Batman Begins. The compulsive nature to stop criminals is a noble effort, but it’s borderline criminal of Batman to stop them by mortally injuring them. These internal and external conflicts alone deserve to be adapted.
Weakness Becomes Strength
Batman: Venom marked the first appearance of the same drug that would later be used by the berserker villain Bane in the back-breaking “Knightfall” story arc. Batman understood how the drug ravaged his mind, self-worth, and purpose. To combat his addiction, he went cold turkey and locked himself in the Batcave for a month. During Batman’s absence, the drug was used on more test subjects as part of a super soldier program.
The story is reminiscent of the “Just Say No” government campaigns of the 1980s and 1990s to prevent illegal recreational drug use. Batman fought against his reliance on a debilitating factor in his life. Like his refusal to kill, Batman decided that Venom was going to hurt him, not help him, in the long-term. The message still stands as one of the best Batman stories on the page, one that needs the live-action or animated treatment.
