| “ | What, are you dense? Are you retarded or something? Who the hell do you think I am? I'm the goddamn Batman! |
„ |
| ~ Batman in response to Dick Grayson questioning his orders |
In his earlier works The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One, Frank Miller's incarnation of Batman managed to well-maintain his heroic qualities even with the darker nature of the narratives. However, in later stories All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder and The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Miller's incarnation of Batman is a sociopathic "hero" that is universally hated by both critics and readers alike.
All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder
In what is said to be the canonical start of all of Miller's Batman works, Bruce Wayne first appears to watch the performance of Dick Grayson, age 12, and his family with a particularly creepy focus on Dick. When Grayson's parents are killed, Batman abducts Dick against his will, saying he's "drafted into a war", and takes him into the Batmobile. When the police give chase, Batman violently rams the Batmobile through their cars, splitting one in half. He posits on how the police is corrupt and smacks Dick when the child understandably cries out of fear. Although Batman briefly questions his actions, he nevertheless keeps Dick as a prisoner.
At the Batcave, Batman shows a childlike annoyance in Dick's lack of wonder at the sight of the Batcave and leaves him there. When asked what he should do, Batman simply tells Dick to survive on his own and eat at the rats that show up. Alfred becomes concerned for the child and gives him food and warm clothes, which drives Batman into a rage wherein he almost beats Alfred down for "interfering".
They eventually capture the killer of Dick's parents and find that he had been hired by The Joker dumping him in a river. During one of their rounds, Batman lures Green Lantern Hal Jordan and beats up the superhero with no provocation in a room full of yellow which he cannot use his ring's powers against. Jordan argues against the cruel and unsavory methods Batman employs only to be mocked by Batman and urged into a fight when Robin steals his ring. However, Batman shows an odd semblance of humanity when he stops Dick from violently murdering Green Lantern and later shares a moment of mutual grief in a graveyard. Nevertheless, he still retains Grayson as Robin.
This is also the incarnation of Batman that spawned the infamous "I'm the Goddamn Batman" meme as seen in the page quote, further demonstrating how radically different this incarnation of Batman is.
The Dark Knight Returns
In the original The Dark Knight Returns, Bruce Wayne retires following the death of Jason Todd, only to be brought back into acting as Batman years later. While this incarnation is indeed an anti-hero (and definitely far more heroic than either of the other works mentioned here), it also reflects his returning dip into insanity. If the Frank Miller chronology is accurate, it can be assumed that he was the sociopathic self seen within All-Star Batman & Robin before realizing his own insanity and retiring. However, this return to Batman lead to his eventual insanity.
While mostly heroic, there is still the major battle between Batman and Superman who acts on behalf of the government after the Joker finishes himself off. In the brutal fight to follow, Batman fakes his own death. However, he is also shown instigating riots in the streets against the Mutants by stirring the "Sons of Batman", or the S.O.B.s who demonstrate a darkly anti-heroic vigilantism (such as S.O.B.s murdering would-be robbers rather than arresting them as Batman would).
The Dark Knight Strikes Again
Dark Knight Strikes Again Batman, after defeating Superman
In the years following the events of The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Batman returns to action to enact against the tyranny of Lex Luthor. However, his actions are more in line with those of a terrorist rather than a superhero. In his instance of attacking and taking down Luthor, he does not stop the villain right there, instead preferring to rely on terrorist acts (notably in mutilating Luthor's face with a massive Z). The graphic novel is also known for yet another brutal beating of Superman with enpowered gloves. While Superman is forced by Luthor and Brainiac to work for them on the threat of destroying the bottled city of Kandor, Batman shows very little mercy to his former ally, instead using the opportunity to just beat up Superman while hypocritically declaring that those lacking any enpowerment are better.
He also encourages a group of young women dressed as superheroes called The Superchix to rebel, resulting in their deaths for a completely pointless act, likely his Moral Event Horizon-crossing act. He also pulls another MEH-worthy action in having the heroes hold back when many civilians are murdered and injured by a Brainiac-conjured monster. While he does recognize it as a trap, he still prefers to let millions die just to ensure his plan works, an action very uncharacteristic of the usual Batman. When he finally gets to Luthor, Batman allows himself to be captured and tortured, only to set up Luthor to be caught by Hawkman and Hawkgirl's son. In another very uncharacteristic act for Batman, he encourages their son to get revenge on Luthor, leading to the villain's horrific death. When Flash questions this action, Batman silences him.
At the end, he goes to rescue his new Robin-turned-Catgirl Carrie from a superhero-killing Joker-esque shapeshifter that is revealed to be none other than Dick Grayson. Grayson reveals past affections for Batman to which Batman taunts with disturbingly homophobic slurs while also noting that he was useless and pathetic (which definitely takes a darker overtone when one considers All-Star). Batman ultimately kills Grayson by knocking him into a volcanic center below the Bat Cave after being saved by Superman. By taking the previous narrative into consideration, this is the tragic and disturbing result of Batman's abuse of Grayson, which might have even been sexual as well as physical and emotional. Nevertheless, Batman once again shows a somewhat human side by his apparent care for Carrie, although some have interpreted this as implying creepy wife husbandry at work-although Carrie shows none of the resentment towards Batman as Grayson does here.
Batman also presents another disturbing side to his character in the arc involving Superman and his daughter who questions why they as Kryptonians should just not use their power to rule over those on Earth. Superman argues that such a thing would be wrong until Batman steps in and actually mocks Superman for not taking advantage of his powers to accomplish such a goal.
Trivia
- Frank Miller's Dark Knight series is considered non-canon to the mainstream Batman continuity, with the exception of Year One.
- It is generally theorized that both of these characterizations are a response and ridicule to the Dark Age incarnation of Batman seen in The Dark Knight Returns. However in both instances, they only further cement the character as a sociopath.
- A really disturbing implication regarding Miller's Batman is that he was involved in an incestuous relationship with or molested by either of his parents, which might have corrupted him later on. His mother is the likely candidate given Batman's remarks regarding his mother's "bleeding breast", although this could just suggest that he has an Oedipus complex.
- In his reviews of the issues of All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, Linkara notes at one point that this cannot be Batman but a crazed hobo named Steve that took the Batsuit. Thus, Linkara's name for the character "Crazy Steve" has become a fan nickname for the ASBRtBW incarnation.