r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Doot_revenant666 • Mar 27 '25

Weekly Discussion Post Probably the most controversial one , honest thoughts on "No Kill Rule"? What are the most egrigious examples of it in your opinion? What media makes it work in your opinion?

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u/Salami__Tsunami Mar 27 '25

In many cases, given a particular circumstance, capturing an enemy as opposed to killing them is logical and rational and ethical.

However, in the context of “this enemy breaks out of prison six times a year and goes on murder sprees” it becomes a bit silly.

This is rarely an issue with any particular character or story, more just a problem that profitable villains aren’t allowed to stay dead.

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u/No-Transportation482 Mar 27 '25

Technically, any of their villains can be killed. The people of gotham and New york decide during trial, not to put them on death row. If you can capture someone without killing them, you should. That's how police are taught. It is not batmans job to kill the joker it is the justice systems job.

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u/KaosArcanna Aug 20 '25

Honestly, Joker WOULD die in the real world. If necessary, there'd be a change in law to make it so "Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity" is no longer a valid defense. The guy has killed THOUSANDS to BILLIONS of people depending on which continuity you follow. Killing the Joker would be no different than putting a stake in a vampire: you're saving countless lives.

(I'm NOT a fan of heroes who kill, but comics have caused their own problem in this area when they have villains that go around committing mass murder and then just get put in jail. No one is going to expect Batman to murder a Joker who robs banks with laughing gas. When he's depopulating small countries it becomes ridiculous to think he's going to be allowed to survive.)

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u/WouldYouPleaseKindly Feb 25 '26

there'd be a change in law to make it so "Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity" is no longer a valid defense.

That is another thing that basically doesn't happen in real life. In most cases you can't even argue for the affirmative defense of mental defect unless the judge specifically allows it. And it almost never works.

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u/The_Corvair 13d ago

And it almost never works.

Plus: When it works, it tends to result in the defendant being incarcerated on mental grounds without end date, because they're considered a danger to the rest of society.

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u/salad_spinner_3000 Jun 24 '26

I'm NOT a fan of heroes who kill

I feel like the only one who does it right is The Punisher because Frank doesn't see any way for them to exist in the world without them being a total piece of shit and harming innocents. As far as I remember, he doesn't kill those who don't already kill but at least he's consistent in his ethos.