For quite a while, I've been thinking over in my head how to write this post. Only figured out how to do it recently after re-watching one of the First of the North Star movies.
To explain why I think Batman is a terrible hero, I have the explain the simple point that "Hokuto No Ken - Kenshiro Den Zero" is trying to get across. It's the lesson they try to teach Kenshiro though the movie.
Will now attempt to describe the movie without getting in too many details (cause I love Hokuto no Ken and I get carried away talkin about it.)
Kenshiro, the successor of Hokuto Shinken.
If you've not familiar with Fist of the North Star/Hokuto no Ken, it's the story of Kenshiro becoming the messiah of the post apocalyptic world where super powered martial artists rein supreme. Kenshiro himself is the successor of the Hokuto Shinken martial art.
This particular movie is about a part that wasn't shown in the TV series. Movie starts with Kenshiro being defeated, and the first part of the movie is about a gravely wounded Kenshiro witnessing what the world has become: A lawless wasteland where murder and slavery are common place and where the strong oppress the helpless.
At a point in the movie, a still injured Kenshiro is forced to fight a giant thug, and he wins, but didn't kill him. Back in his cell, The following convo happens:
It should be noted at this point that, there were 3 candidates to become the successor of Hokuto Shinken, and out of all of them, Kenshiro is actually the least talented and weakest. Kenshiro however, was picked because he was the most humane one.
This sounds retarded when you consider it's a martial art meant to make people explode from the inside. But there is a flashback showing a convo between Kenshiro and his master where his master says:
In short, Hokuto Shinken is a very powerful martial art. By having a compassionate person as the successor, you have someone that uses the style sparingly and only when necessary. But sometimes you HAVE to kill. That's why the old man calls Kenshiro selfish earlier in the movie, Kenshiro doesn't want to carry the burden of taking lives.
Kenshiro values life, even of evil people, and at the start of the series, he won't kill anyone. But that comes back haunt him when people he spared kill innocents, at the end of this movie he learns that killing truely evil people is necessary to protect the helpless. As the series go on his nature sometimes takes over and he spares a few people that he shouldn't have, and that causes more innocent deaths.
In the end, knowing that you caused innocent deaths with neglect is worse than killing a man is the idea here.
Batman, the hero that protects no one.
I have never been a fan of Batman, I never got into it and for the longest time I couldn't tell why. The appeal of Batman is that he's a normal guy, if being a billionaire is normal to you, then yea, I guess. I mean I get it, it's a guy that has no real superpower that is as competent of a superhero as Superman.
A while back, I started watching a LP of Arkham Asylum, and the game looks great. Gameplay looks fun, it was a really entertaining LP to watch, and Bitten must have been sick of listen to me bitch about how nothing in the Batman universe makes sense.
Now, I could point out the stupidity of Arkham Asylum itself (the institution, not the game) but this is about Batman.
Batman, in many ways, is in the same situation Kenshiro is in: There's evil people killing thousands and there really isn't a place to lock them away. There's no authorities that can protect innocents from these people and both Batman and Kenshiro are the only ones that can do anything about it.
However, Batman really doesn't do much at all about it. A villain escapes, kills hundreds, Batman goes get him and drags his ass into an asylum with the shittiest security ever. (resisting urge to rant about Arkham)
In the game, it gets to the point where the villains just shit on Batman in the sense that, Batman is literally no threat. Worse that can happen is that batman will drag their ass in a cell. In the comic, the Joker is so comfortable with this setup he'll just casually walk to Baraba Gordon's place, shoot her (causing her to become paralyzed), strip her naked, take pictures of her and force her dad to look at those while he's strapped to a ride in the nude himself.
Why? Because he just WANTED TO PROVE A POINT. The Joker can just ruin people's lives to support a thesis because there's no consequence to it for him. He didn't kill anyone that time, but, my god. This is fucking dumb.
I don't understand the character at all. It baffles me!
To Batman it's more important to not hurt a super villain than to save a man from being killed right in front of him. What the fuck? This happens so much you really question why is that guy even considered a superhero.
The motivation behind batman is that he became an orphan because a thug killed his parents in an alley. So he became a hero that pretty much allows other kids to become orphans too?
I know this is going into a dark area where it sounds like I'm defending the death penalty, but these are fictional worlds where violence is out of control and there's no one who can do shit about it except the main character. And unlike what Batman believes, you can't be everywhere at the same time all the time.
At one point when watching the LP I was just asking Bitten:
So many people die because of Batman's neglect, so many lives ruined, just because he has a moral code that doesn't even really make sense with his back story.
Fuck Batman.
To explain why I think Batman is a terrible hero, I have the explain the simple point that "Hokuto No Ken - Kenshiro Den Zero" is trying to get across. It's the lesson they try to teach Kenshiro though the movie.
Will now attempt to describe the movie without getting in too many details (cause I love Hokuto no Ken and I get carried away talkin about it.)
Kenshiro, the successor of Hokuto Shinken.
If you've not familiar with Fist of the North Star/Hokuto no Ken, it's the story of Kenshiro becoming the messiah of the post apocalyptic world where super powered martial artists rein supreme. Kenshiro himself is the successor of the Hokuto Shinken martial art.
This particular movie is about a part that wasn't shown in the TV series. Movie starts with Kenshiro being defeated, and the first part of the movie is about a gravely wounded Kenshiro witnessing what the world has become: A lawless wasteland where murder and slavery are common place and where the strong oppress the helpless.
At a point in the movie, a still injured Kenshiro is forced to fight a giant thug, and he wins, but didn't kill him. Back in his cell, The following convo happens:
Old man: Why didn't you kill that Bear Slayer?
Kenshiro: He couldn't kill me... So I had no reason to kill him.
Old man: How selfish of you. That may be very well for you...
Old man: But... Once that man's wounds have healed, he'll go back to killing others without a hint of remorse.
Old man: Next time... It could be this family he kills.
It should be noted at this point that, there were 3 candidates to become the successor of Hokuto Shinken, and out of all of them, Kenshiro is actually the least talented and weakest. Kenshiro however, was picked because he was the most humane one.
This sounds retarded when you consider it's a martial art meant to make people explode from the inside. But there is a flashback showing a convo between Kenshiro and his master where his master says:
Hokuto Shinken is a fist wielded by the god of death himself.
A god of death does not kill out of personal interest.
He kills people for the sake of the people.
To live both as a human... and as a god of death is extremely hard.
However...
The only person who can shoulder such a burden, is you!
In short, Hokuto Shinken is a very powerful martial art. By having a compassionate person as the successor, you have someone that uses the style sparingly and only when necessary. But sometimes you HAVE to kill. That's why the old man calls Kenshiro selfish earlier in the movie, Kenshiro doesn't want to carry the burden of taking lives.
Kenshiro values life, even of evil people, and at the start of the series, he won't kill anyone. But that comes back haunt him when people he spared kill innocents, at the end of this movie he learns that killing truely evil people is necessary to protect the helpless. As the series go on his nature sometimes takes over and he spares a few people that he shouldn't have, and that causes more innocent deaths.
In the end, knowing that you caused innocent deaths with neglect is worse than killing a man is the idea here.
Batman, the hero that protects no one.
I have never been a fan of Batman, I never got into it and for the longest time I couldn't tell why. The appeal of Batman is that he's a normal guy, if being a billionaire is normal to you, then yea, I guess. I mean I get it, it's a guy that has no real superpower that is as competent of a superhero as Superman.
A while back, I started watching a LP of Arkham Asylum, and the game looks great. Gameplay looks fun, it was a really entertaining LP to watch, and Bitten must have been sick of listen to me bitch about how nothing in the Batman universe makes sense.
Now, I could point out the stupidity of Arkham Asylum itself (the institution, not the game) but this is about Batman.
Batman, in many ways, is in the same situation Kenshiro is in: There's evil people killing thousands and there really isn't a place to lock them away. There's no authorities that can protect innocents from these people and both Batman and Kenshiro are the only ones that can do anything about it.
However, Batman really doesn't do much at all about it. A villain escapes, kills hundreds, Batman goes get him and drags his ass into an asylum with the shittiest security ever. (resisting urge to rant about Arkham)
In the game, it gets to the point where the villains just shit on Batman in the sense that, Batman is literally no threat. Worse that can happen is that batman will drag their ass in a cell. In the comic, the Joker is so comfortable with this setup he'll just casually walk to Baraba Gordon's place, shoot her (causing her to become paralyzed), strip her naked, take pictures of her and force her dad to look at those while he's strapped to a ride in the nude himself.
Why? Because he just WANTED TO PROVE A POINT. The Joker can just ruin people's lives to support a thesis because there's no consequence to it for him. He didn't kill anyone that time, but, my god. This is fucking dumb.
"The safest thing you could be in Gothan city is a fucking super villain. That's how fucking ridiculous Batman is."
I don't understand the character at all. It baffles me!
To Batman it's more important to not hurt a super villain than to save a man from being killed right in front of him. What the fuck? This happens so much you really question why is that guy even considered a superhero.
The motivation behind batman is that he became an orphan because a thug killed his parents in an alley. So he became a hero that pretty much allows other kids to become orphans too?
I know this is going into a dark area where it sounds like I'm defending the death penalty, but these are fictional worlds where violence is out of control and there's no one who can do shit about it except the main character. And unlike what Batman believes, you can't be everywhere at the same time all the time.
At one point when watching the LP I was just asking Bitten:
"Why won't he even fuck up these villains? If Batman bent the Joker's knees and elbows backwards every time he escaped and MURDERED people, don't you think maybe the Joker would be SLIGHTLY afraid of Batman? The guy just fucking slaughters people, and Batman gives him mild bruises! What the fuck is this shit!"
So many people die because of Batman's neglect, so many lives ruined, just because he has a moral code that doesn't even really make sense with his back story.
Fuck Batman.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis sucks. This is borned of the stupid "Batman never kill me" plot. Kenshiro is a torturer and his deaths just overcome the realm of Self defense.
ReplyDeleteBatman put The Joker in the jail and normally he stay here. In many stories specially in the DCAU he can´t catch the Joker. Is not his fault. He tried to catch him and stop him with all he can.
Kenshiro let elders running a town in world with two Evil Overlords. Old man! In a world with two Evil Overlords!. Obviously nothing can be bad (Oh wait, was!. But Kenshiro is so perfect).