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Christine Kim
Professor Vana DerOhanessian
English 114B
6 May 2014
Hero or a Villain: The Sacrifices Batman Makes
In the Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller portrays the character Batman as either a villain
or a hero when he comes back from retirement to fight crime and faces criticism from Gothams
society and the government. The author shows that the society chose to view Batman as a
vigilante and expresses his thoughts through the news media and how they wanted him to have
justice for his violent atrocities. Although Gotham City disapproved of Batman, one character
who always stood by his side and supported him was Commissioner Gordon, who was the leader
of the police deputy. Gordon exemplifies Batman as a hero rather than a villain when he
presents the topic of warfare and the incident of Pearl Harbor to Ellen Yindel, to show that
Batman is like President Roosevelt because he won the war for his country for having a fighting
spirit. Also, Batman was a necessity for Gotham City, whether they liked him or not. Even
though Gotham City may believe that Batman is a villain because of his violent actions and his
opposition to the law, in honesty, he is a hero because he sacrifices his own well-being and
reputation for the common good.
Miller depicts the story of Pearl Harbor and President Roosevelt told by Gordon in the
comic to portray the symbolism that Batman is a leader and a hero who is fearless like Roosevelt.
Gordon starts off to explain to Ellen Yindel, the police commissioner, the reason why hes loyal
to Batman and tells her that society is anxious about the Japanese taking over California and that
they are not doing anything about it. He tells this to Yindel because she represents the people of
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Gotham and that Gotham City is more focused on what Batman is doing rather than knowing
how to protect themselves. Just like the people of Gotham City, the U.S also hid themselves from
the reality of the war and waited for someone to save them, who was Roosevelt. Gordon
mentions the Presidents name by saying, And there was Rooseveltstrong and sure, taking
fear and turning it into a fighting spiritwe had our army and we won the war (97). This line is
significant because it shows that Roosevelt was the only one who took leadership and displayed
the virtue of courage and bravery by standing up for what was right. Moreover, that he sacrificed
his own image for the lives of many, which were the people of the United States. In that, he got
criticized after winning the war that he knew that Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked and
let it happen. Whether or not this is true, he still stepped up when no one else did to protect
America from getting bombed and destroyed, which at the end made him a hero. He symbolizes
Batman because Batman also had the same motives by putting the needs of others before his own
and protecting them, while knowing that he was going to get accused of. For example, when he
goes to the carnival to save the kids from being captives of Joker, he is the only one who takes
initiative and does something about it, when no one else does. Batman even says, No, Joker.
Youre playing the wrong game.. tonight youre taking no hostages (144). This shows that there
is only one battle between Batman and Joker and that no one else interfered with them, which
meant that Batmans intuition was to take the role of leadership and protect the children of
Gotham City.
In addition to the combat between Joker and Batman, the news media were gossiping
about him and expressing negative opinions, which demonstrated the consequences that Batman
has to face for his violent actions toward his enemies. Due to the news media influence, the
people of Gotham do not approve of his ways of defeating evil and questions his motives of
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being a villain or a hero. In the article, Indispensable to sound strategy, Richardson states that
suspicion and fear spreads uncontrollably through gossip, which is used by individuals to further
their own reputations and selfish interests at the expense of others. This statement is true because
fear made society blame Batman for creating chaos in Gotham City, when all he did was show an
act of kindness by risking his life for Gotham. It also gave the people an excuse not to learn how
to defend themselves and depend on Batman to do all the dirty work. Likewise, this gives a
reason for Batman to be a hero because true heroes do not think of themselves before acting and
acts on instinct rather than being afraid of getting judged. Lana, the news reporter, says that this
is a war and agrees, Batman is the only one with balls enough to fight it (144). However, the
other news reporter, Morrie disagrees and questions her statement by asking, How she can cling
to this hero worship and think of a defacto murderer as a hero (140). The author shows the
different sides on how Batman can either be a villain or a hero in any given circumstance.
However, Gordon proves that he is actually not a murderer, but a hero by telling us that even
though a lot of innocent people have died, we have still won the war. This renders the
importance of what makes someone a hero because even though both Roosevelt and Batman
knew that many people would suffer. They saw the bigger picture and realized it was not worth
the lives of the whole population. Since they were motivated through good morals, it allowed
them to ignore the aftereffect of being looked down upon.
Although the book portrays Batman as being a hero, Gothams citizens may believe he is
a villain because of his acts of violence and his crimes of being a murderer. The reason why
some may consider this kind of thought is because Batman has killed innocent people
unintentionally, which brought people to assume that he was an unreliable hero to save the less
fortunate. For example, when Joker had killed himself and died, the people of Gotham believed
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that Batman had killed him because his reputation was already stated as a killer. But really, Joker
had staged his death in order for society to isolate Batman for being a villain. This shows the
view of a citizen who may have concluded that Batman has caused the deaths of the innocent.
The author portrays that some people may jump into conclusions that an individual can be an
atrocious person for committing dangerous acts, but in reality there is good in everyone no
matter what kind of crime they have committed.
Adding on to the issues concerning about Batman, Gordon tries to convince the people of
Gotham that Batman is the only one who can free the city from turmoil. When Gordon gives his
honorary speech of introducing Ellen Yindel as the new police commissioner of Gotham City, he
mentions that she will face the anarchy of thieves, murderers, and especially Batman. He states,
She will face a man who is the living spirit of...something we need (116). The reason why he
brings up Batman is because he is trying to show the community that he is the guardian angel
that will watch over them and protect them and without him, Gotham City will be astray from
corruption. Along with this statement, in the article, Saints, Heroes, Sages, and Villains,
Markovits expresses that heroism is rather something we can merely hope for and receive with
gratitude when we get it (300). This quote is symbolic because the writer is telling us that if we
want more heroic acts to happen in our everyday lives, we need to acknowledge the heroes who
have protected and cared for us in the present times. This is the one thing that Gotham City lacks,
which is that every time Batman saves an individual or captures a group of enemies; the people
do not even praise him for his acts. Instead, they just shut him down for being the bad guy,
which he is not. That is why Batman becomes a hero than a villain because he is taking risks to
want to protect and rescue in the face of public criticism and social disgrace.
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Frank Miller illustrates the different perspectives on how Batman can be either a villain
or a hero in the comic book. Society portrays him to be a villain while Gordon views him as a
heroic figure. The author supports Gordons opinion by telling Yindel and the people of Gotham
who Batman really is by explaining the stories of Pearl Harbor and the characterization of
Roosevelt. By having good principles and ethics, Batman was able to put everything on the line
and sacrifice his own personal life for those who were in need. Which resulted Batman to
become the hero and guardian of Gotham City.
















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Works Cited
Markovits, Julia. Saints, Heroes, Sages, And Villains. Philosophical Studies, 158m 2m pp.
289-311, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, 23 April 2014.
Miller, Frank. et al. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. New York, NY: DC Comics, 1996. Print.
Richardson, Jacques. "Indispensable to Sound Strategy: Trust and Confidence in the Planner."
Foresight : the Journal of Futures Studies, Strategic Thinking and Policy 11.3 (2009):
56-66. ProQuest. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.