Batman Is Too Possessive of Gotham City
During a confrontation with Batman, Red Hood pointed out that Batman’s biggest issue is that he thinks he alone can decide how to protect Gotham City.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers from Task Force Z #6, on sale now.
Batman and Red Hood have always disagreed on how far they should go to protect Gotham City. In recent years, Red Hood has scaled back on his more lethal methods of stopping criminals, but he still doesn’t always agree with Batman on how to be a hero.
In Task Force Z #6 (by Matthew Rosenberg, Jack Herbert, Adriano Lucas, and Rob Leigh), things come to a head when Red Hood, trying a different method of making a difference, called Batman out for assuming that he alone gets to decide how to save Gotham City. It highlighted a problem Batman has never truly admitted to, but nevertheless has, that he believes Gotham is “his city”
As the two fought in the streets, Batman stated that he would not let Red Hood use the skills learned from the Dark Knight to continue leading Task Force Z in “his city.” This was where Red Hood grew angry and exasperated, retorting that Batman always assumed Gotham was his. He never took a moment to consider that while Gotham may have hurt him, he was not the only victim of it. Red Hood has suffered at the city’s hand just as much and is no less interested in protecting it.
This is something both men share and is arguably the reason they both disagree so often: they’ve both been hurt by the city, yet still love it enough to fight for it. Red Hood isn’t wrong though, on more than one occasion Batman has referred to Gotham as being his domain or territory. It’s a possessive streak that he has never acknowledged. Granted, most of these times were in defense of the city, usually to remind an overambitious criminal who they were up against, but in this case, Batman was trying to “protect” the city from a man he trained.
So here, it isn’t protectiveness that motivates him, but entitlement. Batman has held onto the idea that he alone gets to decide how the vigilantes of Gotham operate. When they are in “his city” they abide by his code and rules. If they stray, he strips them of their authority. It’s something he’s implemented on his Robins, various partners, some of whom have no real connection to or reliance upon him, and even to visiting friends. In his mind, his way is the only way to do things.
In Batman’s defense, his way has often led to victory and even the betterment of characters who were walking a darker path before. However, it is also this entitled mentality that drives a wedge between him and his proteges. Red Hood has been trying very hard lately to find a better way to help Gotham. In leading Task Force Z, he believes he has found something, a way to not just deal with the symptoms of Gotham’s corruption, but to eliminate the sources of it.
Batman does not trust this method, because it isn’t how he would do things. That, in Red Hood’s eyes, is largely the problem. Batman has one rigid way of doing things and that has made him inflexible. He can’t adapt to changes within the city because he believes he has the perfect solution every time. So really, Batman viewing himself as Gotham’s deciding protector, despite having no real legal authority to do so, is largely what prevents him from growing alongside “his city”
About The Author
For all the latest Comics News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.