Should Batman kill the Joker?

If Batman kills the Joker, he becomes a killer. A symbol for that which is good and just becomes tarnished with the blood of his victim. Is it worth it? Will he not be changed irrevocably? Crowds and cameras gone, Batman aka Bruce Wayne sits, elbows on knees, head in hands, assaulted by profound anguish, and whispers, what have I done? I have taken a life. Regardless of the evil that is perceived in said man, what right has anyone to take another’s life? Will not his own soul, if such wisps of hope exist, be sullied, poisoned, debased?

Whether one subscribes to them or not, six out of ten of the Ten Commandments seem pretty good advice for community living. One is Thou Shalt not Kill. There are no addenda or clauses - Well, killing is okay in the following instances…. You shall not kill. Period. No exceptions. Alas, though most, if not all, societies have secular laws to punish killing…killing is justified by those same societies over and over again, century after century – when a government declares war against a nation or group recognized as an enemy of the state or church or God…or even as punishment for crimes (not just for killing someone, but also for seemingly minor offenses like stealing grapes). We endow the state and therefore ourselves, with the right to judge, convict and kill. I do not think the latter is ours to bestow.

No, I don’t think Batman should kill the Joker. Dying at the hands of his arch nemesis would not be punishment for the Joker. He would laugh knowing he had twisted another, if only just a tiny bit, into his own image. And then he would be dead.

And Batman would have to live with the blood on his hands.

Perhaps that is why he wears a mask? Not to hide from the world but rather from himself?