the way i think about this way too often. who really is the villain if the ONLY (except for the vampire thing) time he killed Joker was in an AU for Superman, as if Superman is far superior to the uncountable number of deaths Batman has knowingly let happen bc "wahhh I don't wanna be bad".
Batman is the most deranged version of the trolley problem, in that he's been in situations were his inaction could result in Joker's death, but he keeps flipping the switch to save him, inevitably resulting in more death down the road.
More the fault of writers and editors who took away the deeper reasons *why* Bruce doesn't kill and gladly have him sitting on his hands while psychos get away with murdering millions of people.
