DC Admits Batman, Not Joker, is the True Agent of Chaos
The Joker may claim to be an agent of chaos, but the Batman’s actions are way more chaotic in the long run – and he doesn’t even know it.
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WARNING: Spoilers for Batman: The Detective #5 and Batman: Urban Legends #7
The Dark Knight Detective is definitely seen as a force for good in the DC Comics canon, but in reality, Batman is every bit the agent of chaos that the Joker claims to be. Bruce Wayne has never wanted anything more than to save the lives of as many people as possible. But Batman: The Detective #5 by Tom Taylor and Andy Kubert proves that the road to hell is paved with good intentions – even for Batman.
Set in an alternate future with an aging Batman at the end of his rope, Batman: The Detective has seen Bruce go toe-to-toe with an enigmatic threat known as Equilibrium. So far, Equilibrium’s attacks have focused on killing people who were once saved by Batman. Now, issue #5 of the miniseries reveals just why it is that Equilibrium is so intent on making Batman suffer. And in one surprising way, it’s all Bruce’s fault.
With Equilibrium’s attacks growing more brazen, Batman turns to the man who trained them both – Henri Ducard – for information on his formidable foe. Meeting his former master in Paris, Bruce learns that Equilibrium is one of Batman’s victims – or at least, the victim of someone he saved. Ducard explains to Bruce how Charlotte Le Serf was one of his greatest students and a master assassin who eventually quit to settle down into a nice quiet life until her family was killed by a drunk driver who’d been rescued by Batman years before. Ducard explains to Bruce how Charlotte couldn’t accept the randomness of the tragedy and ended up blaming Bruce for the death of her husband and son. He even suggests that she sees Batman as an agent of chaos. And while that’s a title usually reserved for Batman’s archfoe, it’s not entirely inaccurate.
A natural hero like Batman frequently represents order and justice. But even though Bruce goes out of his way to save everyone he can – even monsters like the Joker – he has no way of knowing or controlling what they do with their lives after he saves them. As Ducard points out, they influence the world in all sorts of ways that nobody could ever expect, reinforcing the natural chaos of life. That’s not to say that Batman should start letting innocent people die, but it does reframe the weight of his decisions as a hero, especially when they could go on to ruin the lives of people like Equilibrium.
Meanwhile, the Joker can certainly be erratic and unpredictable. But aside from tormenting Batman, he typically wants only one thing: to kill everyone he can in whatever way he can. Mass death may be a sick, twisted, immoral goal, but in the long run, it’s a pretty simple and straightforward one. His zombie attack in Batman: Urban Legends #7 by Tim Seeley and Juan Ferreyra shows that, on the whole, his impact on the world at large has been to reinforce the natural order of death, making him Batman’s opposite number in a way that most people – and probably the Joker himself – never actually consider.
Joker may consider himself the ultimate agent of chaos, but that’s clearly not the case. In terms of demeanor, DC Comics’ Clown Prince of Crime is undoubtedly mercurial. But when it comes to inflicting well-intentioned chaos on an unsuspecting world, even Batman has him beat.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/batman-detective-joker-agent-chaos-equilibrium-dc-comics/