There are very few things Batman doesn't excel at, and even fewer that he just can't do at
all.
They do exist, however, and there's one character who can do quite a bit that Batman can't:
the Joker.
Here are the things that the Joker can do that Batman just can't.
While there have been plenty of stories over the years where the Dark Knight employs lethal
methods in his fight against crime, the idea that Batman doesn't kill people has been a
pretty solid general rule in comics since 1941.
"You won't kill me, out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness."
Not coincidentally, that's about as long as the Joker's been murdering people by the dozens.
In Batman #1, the comic that contains the Joker's first appearance, the Clown Prince
of Crime manages to murder no fewer than twelve people through a combination of poison and
good old-fashioned handguns.
That pretty much set the tone for the next 75 years, and even though he spent a few years
focused more on bank robberies and gimmick crimes, he's more than made up for it in the
years since, with an unofficial count by fans putting his body count at over 540 on-panel
deaths.
It's not just quantity, either, with high-profile deaths like Jason Todd, the second Robin and
Sarah Essen, Jim Gordon's second wife.
With all those twos, you'd think Harvey Dent was the one responsible.
There's no other Gotham City villain with a body count that even comes close, and the
only villains in the entire DC Universe who can beat it are the cosmic threats who have
wiped out entire parallel universes.
Even if Batman was a killer, it's hard to believe he'd go that far.
With all the childhood trauma, self-sacrifice, and violent confrontations, Batman's brain
probably isn't exactly a pleasant place for a mind-reader to be.
Still, he's never driven someone insane just by giving them a peek inside his psyche.
We know someone who has, though.
"... hi."
On multiple occasions, the Martian Manhunter — you know, the guy with all of Superman's
powers plus he can turn invisible and read your mind — has been confronted with Joker's
brain.
It did not go well.
He could barely keep himself sane while poking around up there.
Considering he can keep the entire Justice League telepathically linked at once, the
fact that Joker's brain alone was so harrowing should tell you just how much his mind affects
anyone who takes a peek.
Crime never takes a vacation, which means that Batman doesn't either.
He's so dedicated that he rarely takes a rest, even when he needs it.
Super-criminals, on the other hand, are free to take as many breaks as they want, assuming
that they're not busy paying their debt to society in an asylum that seems to be held
together with spit and chicken wire.
There's always somebody like the Cluemaster or the Electrocutioner waiting around to take
their shot, so why not?
In fact, we actually know that in the comics canon, the Joker always makes sure to take
a vacation once a year.
The catch?
According to Aztek: The Ultimate Man #6, he only goes somewhere worse than Gotham.
Given the state of the DC Universe in the late '90s, when Gotham was afflicted with
two plagues and an earthquake on top of all the other "regular" supervillain attacks,
that meant going to some pretty bad places.
And when the Joker takes these little trips, Batman sees it as his responsibility to bring
him back to justice, meaning that whenever the Joker takes a vacation, Batman, by definition,
has to work.
Say what you will about the Joker, but at least he keeps his sidekicks alive.
What, too soon?
Look, we hate to say it, but Batman doesn't have a spotless track record when it comes
to his sidekicks.
Jason Todd had his brains bashed in, the Spoiler was tortured to death with a power drill by
Black Mask, Bruce Wayne's bodyguard Sasha Bordeaux was shanked in prison after being
framed as an accessory to murder.
Even his own son Damian died, which wound up driving Batman so crazy that he tracked
down Frankenstein to figure out how to bring corpses back to life.
Sure, all four of those people came back to life eventually, but they still went through
some rough stuff.
But the Joker?
Believe or not, he's batting a thousand.
Harley Quinn is not only alive, she's also become one of DC's most popular (and marketable)
characters over the past couple decades, with multiple starring roles in comics that have
lasted longer than the Joker's ever did.
Heck, even Gaggy Gagsworthy, a sidekick who appeared in a single issue back in the '60s,
is still alive somewhere out there in the Multiverse — he was in comics as recently
as 2009!
Batman couldn't keep Robin alive, but the Joker managed to keep Gaggy around for 40
years!
Of course, once in a while, the Joker remembers to be the Joker.
Here's one thing you can't take away from Batman: he's massively popular.
He has been since the start, propelling Detective Comics to such heights that its publisher
would eventually rename their entire company "D.C." after it.
He's starred in thousands of comics, a whole bunch of movies, cartoons that have been more
or less constant since 1992, and even had his own breakfast cereal.
The Joker, of course, is also popular — arguably the single most popular villain in the history
of superhero comics.
But while Detective has passed 1,000 issues plus over 800 issues of Batman and not to
mention all those other Bat-centric titles, the Joker managed to get his only solo series
canceled after just nine issues.
Of course, that was back in 1975, with a pretty different version of the character than we
have today.
It also just wasn't that good, probably because it's kind of difficult to get behind a remorseless
homicidal maniac as a protagonist.
Of course, it didn't help that Batman never appeared in it, leading the Joker to fight
some random dude who got hit in the head and thought he was Sherlock Holmes, but the Joker
is a proud clown.
It has to sting a little bit that his only solo outing couldn't even break double digits.
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