Why Owlman Works and The Batman Who Laughs Doesn't
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- čas přidán 25. 11. 2023
- hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby
I own absolutely nothing in this video.
voices:
@gt19875020 - owlman
@Clayfayse - baby batman
music used:
Superhero Squad Online OST - Villainville
The Adventures of Batman & Robin OST - Psycho Section
Toby Fox - Megalo Strike Back
SiivaGunner/KFAD - You're Too Slow
Marvel VS Capcom 3 OST - Doctor Doom Theme
Batman Rise of Sin Tzu GBA OST - Scarecrow Theme
Undertale OST - Battle Against a True Hero
Undertale OST - CORE
LEGO Batman OST - Disco
follow me on twitter btw @TheBatspecter
"Erm acksshually it's called X" 🤓
Nah because you’re pretentious. Just enjoy stuff dude.
Earth 3 Superwoman is not Wonder Woman/Diana, she's Lois Lane.
you know what is actually fascinating about the core drive Batman has? it actually flaws him just a serious a way as Owlman. While Owlman intends for everything to be erased and nothing mattering not even his success or failure of that goal and cannot conceptualize of anyone not without the intent to cause harm and death in any way shape or form at any moment. Batman is the polar opposite and cannot conceptualize that there are those such as Olwman that cannot and will not choose to be better and that at times it is unfortunate but needed to end certain individuals within the bounds of morality and law. Refusing to believe that there is anyone at any moment who simply will not and cannot choose good. Thus allowing those such as Olwman and Joker to perpetuate their acts endlessly never being stopped and cause countless thousands to die by his inability and refusal to see the truth within those people. Just like Owlman's inability and refusal to see or acknowledge the truth that someone can choose good and is not wholly evil. They are both strangely very dark and corrupt in a wonderfully unique way. Both believing they are wholly correct and convicted of being 100% right when neither are. Strangely, Owlman was correct in saying they aren't that much different. Batman and Olwman see themselves as complete opposites when in reality they are actually side by side in how they look at things. They simply choose two different things and on the surface appear to be opposite, but by how they approach them become the same. It is why they despise each other so much and yet display no hatred or anger towards each other and simply view the other as insane. This again, strangely, is actually in a way correct. Neither wants to admit that they are in actuality the same. They cling to their convictions with a desperation that is driven to a fever pitch when confronting something that is the same as them because of the fear of what that means. That is what makes these two characters pure genius. Both are a villain in a truly unique way. One so convicted of being a hero and the value of life he ignores the untold death and destruction those consumed by evil have wrought and will always inflict.The other not claiming any title hero or villain and so convicted of the worthlessness of everything and the totality of all being evil he will end everything but not care if he succeeds and ignoring the good and kindness that does take place around him. Both willfully blind and unable to ever see by choice. One ignores good believing that to be good, the other ignores evil believing that to be good.
The real anti Batman is bane or Joker or deathstroke.
Can you record and post the promised scream?
"We need to make a Batman and Joker fusion"
Virgins: The Batman Who Laughs
Chads: The Green Goblin
Yes.
The absolute GOAT Norman Osborn
God speed batty man
You know, Im something of a batman joker fusion myself
@kikijammer well i did find women annoying
The idea Superman couldn’t detect the change in his biology given he could tell Terry was Bruce’s biological son just by looking at him is insane
a symptom of good ol ''writers dont know about the character they are writing''
Which is hilarious because it's the same story where Superman was able to tell the Batman they were traveling with was Clayface simply by the heartbeat. He even went on to explain how well he knows his companions so well that even a change like that doesn't escape his notice.
That's what we call "bullshitting"
@willbrown6298 as a writer I can tell you those words were probably used to subtly explain the potency of Jokers venom in that universe. So potent yet subtle that it went undetected by even superman. Granted, I agree the writing could've been done better.
@@mattearrusso2984 if that were the case, then there was no narrative reason for him to kill the Bat Family.
Batman: "I didn't call you all together to hel-"
Jason: "Heard enough." *Fucking shoots him*
*in the actual comic*
Jason: *connect brain controller*
In the good ending of the comic
Jason: No I'm not letting you break your no killing rule and not let me do the same **Pulls out Dual Pistols**
Batgirl:”Jason! You killed jokerfied Bruce!”
Jason:”he was jokerfied?”
@@patmianwinston Batwoman: "ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU JUST FUCKING SHOT HIM FOR NO REASON?"
Jason: "THERE WAS A REASON!"
Batwoman: "WHAT WAS IT?!"
Jason: "......Uhhhhh...Well who else was I supposed to use these "Kill Batman" Bullets on?"
@@bulbasaurguy4742Jason: "Can't I just hate Bruce without needing a reason for it?"
Redhood wears a ballistic mask just to get shot in the head through it
Why is he even their
@@kirbmon64-mj5plmost of the time Jason normally ends up giving up guns after a while so he ends up sorting out his drama with the batfamily and can actually work with them plus it’s Batman who had the biggest issue with Jason before he stopped killing. Damien just didn’t like him in general but they eventually get over it and Barbra, Tim and dick have all been pretty chill with him unless he steps over certain lines like attacking them and stuff
@@joshuarobinson6011he doesn't give up guns lmao
You know what else every member of the bat family wears? FUCKING BULLLET RESISTANT MATERIALS.
i love that they chose the one guy with the proper face protection to get headshotted
The best thing about Owlman is he was true to himself at the very end.
"It doesn't matter."
Owlman makes sense... but TBWL is the dumbest thing ive ever heard of.
Exactly, Didn't stutter when he had to face his own ideals
He just accepted the end: No panic, no freak out, no last ditch to save himself. Owlman stuck to his beliefs just as much as Batman, in the end. Fitting, really.
That was a great scene, yes!
Batman who laughs is the ultimate example of the people who think batman can solo the universe. Owlman is a batman who lost his care for the world around him
These are the same people who also insist that Punisher can solo the entire Marvel Universe.
@@wjzav1971maybe because... punisher did lol
@@kaiduffy2974 Because someone wrote a comic about it.
If I write a comic that gets published by DC where the Condiment King solos the entire DC universe, would you also take that seriously?
As this video shows, not everything that gets put into officially published comics is good or makes sense. Punisher was struggling with a really buff non-superpowered Russian dude. You're telling me its realitic he can take down the entire Marvel universe?
@@wjzav1971tbf it was a Russia dude
Owlman almost wipes out the multi-verse. If that's not solo-ing the universe I don't know what is....
The Batman who laughs is the very definition of plot armor, not just him, his entire evil Batman and robin army, he is literally the Goku vs argument.
The only difference is,at least(most of)Goku's arguments are actually valid.TBWL on the other hand,is literal plot armour
@@agenericguy1014 yeah. at least Goku spends time to train.
@@OnimoIndustries That and because he's actually(at worst)universally strong.People would talk about how "Goku would lose against Naruto/Luffy/Gojo/Makima" but then get mad at the Goku defenders for saying they're wrong even though in actuality,Goku would in fact,win against them.
TBWL on the other hand,is just stupidly strong for no reason.That and cuz the people in his universe are stupid for some bizarre reason
Speaking of Goku, if I had a nickel for every time there was an "evil" Goku in official Dragon Ball content, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right?
@@ninyaninjabrifsanovichthes45 and both of them were better than TBWL (especially Goku black)
"joker juice" sounds like a euphamism for bong water
True
It probably is.
a nihilistic character freaking out when they die because turns out they realize they actually do care about their lives is great and all, very poignant, but holy shit owlman going "it doesnt matter." and even smirking a bit as he died??? another level. in it to the end, that bitch. because it doesnt just fit with his character, it proves that throughout it all he 100% believed nothing actually mattered. true nihilism. amazing.
Yup. His dimensional counterpart managed to beat him and prevented his plot. To Owlman, this doesn't mean anything. This doesn't prove Batman was right or that he was wrong. This just means Batman got to exert his will upon the multiverse. Owlman living or dying doesn't matter because nothing is special and nothing is meant to be.
@@silverblade357there's also another side to it. You can take his monologue about other worlds where he made the opposite choice very literal in that he so firmly believes in his philosophy that he believes he himself didn't need to push the button because somewhere out there, in a parallel earth he already did, which is kinda funny since that exact reasoning probably killed every version of himself in the situation.
@@Infernal_Sniperactually not every version as by his own rules there has to be an opposite reaction in which owl man realizes he doesn’t wanna die
he just went: Oh well, I get to die anyway.
@@Fruad_joSuper owl the hero who cares too much, actually that kinda describes Batman dude literally overthinks everything to the point where he has back up plans on his back up plans
The Batman who Laughs could be a really compelling body horror story about fighting against a self that is transforming into your greatest ideological enemy. But instead it was just the line "and then batman goes insane and kills everyone" over and over in visual form.
And it's such an edgelord story with how he just kills everyone. It's that preptime BS times a billion.
Isn't that just Arkham Knight, except the Joker doesn't win in AK?
@@jonathanhirn591 you mean "did" win?
@@jonathanhirn591 In retrospective, they should've just taken the Arkham Knight plot and adapt it as the canon origin for the Batman who laughs. In my opinion, Batman being afraid of literally turning into the Joker was the strongest element of the game's plot and was definitely better than the actual back story for the Batman who laughs.
@@oss182 maybe he could also dress less than Judge Deaths edgelord little brother
I like to think that if there is a Batman Who Laughs universe, there is an opposite Joker Who Bats universe, that is essentially an inversion of a Marvel Ruins setting, where everyone makes the most wholesome choices and there aren't any villains, just more heroes, and they all only have to focus on preventing people from going down dark paths in the first place.
Jolly philanthropist Bruce Wayne is the benefactor of a Sesame Street type program for Gotham and the Joker Who Bats is a regular guest who tells jokes while teaching the importance of sportsmanship, physical health, and not letting one bad day bring you down.
Dr. Crane teaches kids that their worries are like crows, they can be a problem in a big swarm, but if you chase them away one by one, they're no match.
Occasionally Constable Castle comes by as "The Preventer" to give PSAs about public safety topics.
And Johnny Jonah Jameson wants pictures of Spider-Man because those glowing articles needed some cool shots to go with them. Says to the public that he is a Menace II Society... Fan because he got sighted getting Tyrin Turner’s autograph.
I Think it would be more like Joker finally kills Batman and regrets what he did. He Gives up his Criminal Empire and even was planning on Killing himself, before Realizing that ending his own life would have them both fall into obscurity and never remembered, so, He decided to Leave his life as the joker behind and become the new Batman...However, as Much as he tries, he's not like the old one. he's Not stoic, He's Not Serious, and he always tries to incorporate a Joke into his Career. so, Gotham hates him. But, the Thing is, the whole experience as Batman changed him as a Person. Sure, he's still Funny and Crazy, but now he's compassionate, Caring, and Even heroic. Harley, who realizes this months after getting dumped, Loses her shit at the sight of Mr. J Impersonating the Man who's Made her Life a Living hell, and drops the Harley Quinn Shtick all together to Assume the New Title "Ms. Joker", Leading Bat-Joker on a Wild Goose Chase before Bombing The Batman Museum, which was made to honor the legacy of Bruce Wayne. Joker realizes he will Never be Batman and Momentarily drops his New Persona, Trying to be a Comedian but Being kicked out for his Old Life. However, he is Given a Pep-talk by a Now Adult Dick Grayson who sees he's Changed for the better, leading Joker to take up his Persona once more, but remaining true to his old Self. He manages to Stop Ms. Joker from blowing Up Wayne Manor, and accidentally sends her Plummeting to her death to the rocky shore below. after Saving Wayne manor and all the artifacts inside it, Gotham Finally Respects the New Bat-Joker, and Recognize him as the New Batman. But, they still do recognize and appreciate some differences. Sure, he's Batman, But One Thing They will always Love about him...
Is That he's BAT-SHIT Insane
@@ATB06099that's very well written.
@@ATB06099 This is a really well thought-out idea. I've thought for years how fun it would be to see the Joker make a genuine attempt to be Batman. After all, who understands Batman better than the Joker? Unfortunately, I could never really think of a good justification for it.
dude someone make it a fancomic
His final words "it doesn't matter" are brilliant character writing. When he sees the yes and no buttons, he gives up. As far as he's concerned, if he presses the yes button, he creates a new world where he pressed no, and vice versa. To him, if he takes action then one Owlman lives and another dies. Under that logic, there's no point in pressing either button, and that's the definition of not mattering
Plus, his chance to take the "only action that matters," erasing all the worlds, is gone. Maybe he was consistently fighting to keep himself alive, despite it all, before, but now that he's lost the ability to wipe out all humanity and make the "only real choice," he can't see a point in continuing on anymore.
One of my favorite small parts of owlman's death scene is that Batman intentionally left the abort button open, and gave owlman a dimensional transporter. If he wanted, owlman could've turned off the bomb and went back home alive, bc batman even values owlman's life. But owlman's own nihilism leads to his death. That's the perfect ending for their fight. This is why batman is one of the best heroes. Not bc he "solo the whole verse with prep time no diff"
Also makes Owlman a bit scary in my eyes. His nihilism is so complete to just give up his life when there was an escape to avoid his death in that moment.
Kinda makes you feel bad for him..
*_Kinda_*
Jesus dude didn’t want to escape
I like when batman has no preptime and works with what he as at hand. That makes fights infinitely more interesting
@@blutygarnormal villains will compromise their conviction to save their own skin, he doesn't, and that's why he's unlike any other normal villains, he actually believe what he said, and he's willing to die for what he believes in.
Batman viewing all human life as sacred is so much better of a justification for his no kill policy than the sociopathic "once you pop, you can't stop" excuse.
i like to think it was a combination of both. he refuse to kill as a way to give them a chance as the huge majority of villains in gotham are either insane, or broken and it prevents himself to execute his view of justice to others making him above human which he is not.
just an opinion you can disagree
THANK YOU
Fr, the guy mind is strong enough to resist possession and be immune to mind control but blood thirst is too much to handle?
Thing is, even the latter is still good reasoning if they flesh it out and explain why he thinks that’ll happen even if we, the audience, know he has the mental fortitude with little to no trouble. It’s purposefully meant to be ignorant to his abilities because it’s more or less an irrational fear of killing due to his awareness of his mental issues and his lack of a solution to overcome them and face them. It’s one of Batman’s weaknesses but writers often don’t fully flesh it out. Bruce is terrified of himself and the idea of what he could become if he kills more than it being confirmed that he would acc become that insane. Him acc becoming that insane in Batman who laughs kinda destroys this and fucks it.
And as for Batman who laughs, he doesn’t even get the bare bones basic “one leads to many”, his story is just edge city.
ah hell no, let us have one socipathic or psycopathic hero. But I like the first reply's interpretation.
One thing I love is that Batman’s origin has a bat lifting him up and bringing a peaceful message to comfort him while he was grieving meanwhile Owlman’s sign was violent when the owl slashed his face with its talon and left a scar on his face that would always remind him of what he lost that night and how the same people he lost were just as bad if not worse than the one who took them from him. The signs that inspired their hero alter egos ultimately resemble how they deal with crime where Batman tries to lift people up and comfort them and give them the help they so desperately need meanwhile Owlman only brings violence and death because he believes that every man is unredeemable and therefore even though he doesn’t even know you, he hates you and will slash at you without hesitation.
(For reference, 6:54 is what I'm talking about here, for anyone that needs to hop right to that section)
The whole "Batman wins with prep time" is something I always thought people talked about when referring to these heroes, like... _individually_ . Like, if he was alone in a room with Flash and had his contingency ready, then he could possibly incapacitate him. One after the other? It'd probably start going downhill after a bit unless he picked his targets wisely, but I think it's somewhat reasonable for him to be able to take out at least _some_ of the Justice League like that. All at once, though? Definitely not. Batman's biggest thing, shown masterfully in the Arkham games, is his ability to pick off targets one by one, instill fear into their companions, and fighting dirty from the shadows. He hides, he waits, and then he strikes. If he tried to brazenly take on the _entire Justice League on his own_ , he'd absolutely get stomped.
Fr, I can buy that he has contingencies and going 1 v 1 against members of JL he can win, but taking on the ENTIRE JL all by himself, hell no
He wouldn't make a plan to take out the entire league out of pure logic, its far more likely he'd go bad instead of the ENTIRE LEAUGE
I love how OwlMan simply says “It doesn’t matter.” with a smile on his face while he dies. He truly and fully believed in his nihilistic principles till the end
Because in the end....it truly "doesnt matter"
Ah! But according to his view, an alternate version of him *did* abort right?
Though really, being stuck on that frozen planet by himself didn't have many prospects for a long life.
@@arlibrarian Ehh, think of it, frozen planet, infinite snowmen and igloos, alone, but still
*insert linkin parks in the end refrence here*
@@huntezslayer389 He actually did try very hard, and got very far… But BatMan stomped him haha
I never realized how this story ignores how Batman had a plan in case he ever went crazy, that being THE ENTIRE JUSTICE LEAGUE.
U forgot the robot?
@@asifishan1221 Failsafe is new. Batman having the Justice League as his contingency is classic lore.
@@AlriikRidesAgain oh what else does he have as his contingency plan?
@@asifishan1221 The Bat Family, The Justice League, Superman, The Batman of Zurr-En-Arrh, Jim Gordon, Imaginary Bat-Mite, and Failsafe are all the contingency plans for Batman that Batman has set up. I think.
@@AlriikRidesAgain oh thx for the information! :D
Another thing that doesnt make sense about the Batman who laughs, is that he really shouldnt have been created through chemicals.
Batman famously has resisted and created antidotes to Joker toxins
They actually tried to justify it with Joker had super duper Joker toxins stored in him that would release the day he dies prime joker came up with the stupid plan of committing suicide infront of batman so he could get exposed to it and fight back the batman who laughs as another batman who laughs.
The way the "Batman Who Laughs" steals Dr. Manhattan's powers makes no sense.
You can't ambush Dr. Manhattan in the instant between him rematerializing and him getting his powers. Doctor Manhattan didn't get into an accident, rematerialize, and then get his god power. He got into an accident, was dematerialized, and then rematerialized himself with his powers. It's why Ozymandis's plan to take him out fails in the original Watchmen. What Veidt didn't realize, what Dr. Manhattan explains to him in the finale, is that the very act of putting himself back together from scattered molecules was a conscious act. It was the very first thing he learned how to do (and, hey, it explains why skeletons and nervous systems randomly appeared in the lab before he finally came back - he was working his way up to the whole thing).
You can't "sneak up" on that, not even before we get into the whole shtick where he sees the sum total of his existence at the same time (since that IS something a "super smart" character can get around as Veidt had). You can't take that out by cutting a bit out of its brain. He doesn't need an intact body to still be Doctor Manhattan, so why in the world would he care that some bits of his brain meat got disturbed?
And even if you somehow could, why would putting your brain into his body give you his powers? Are god-powers over molecules stored in the spleen?
Is Manhattan overpowered? You're gosh darn right it is. This isn't a character who was ever meant to be fought. The tension isn't coming from that part of the story. Manhattan, unlike Superman, was never, ever going to take part in any "How will Doctor Manhattan beat the new VILLAIN!?" storylines. The Watchmen universe is never going to be menaced by some alien power that just needs to be defeated, but might be too strong for the world's heroes. Watchmen is coming at it from the other direction. Manhattan is the one and only god in an all too fragile and mortal world. But bad things still happen and Manhattan doesn't stop all of them, maybe because he CAN'T stop things that he knows will happen because they are happening to him in the future (Doctor Manhattan's view of time is a very meta sort of thing in the original Watchmen comic, because he essentially sees the world LIKE a comic book, able to flip ahead or back at any time, but with only a single linear story), or maybe because he doesn't care anymore.
But he IS overpowered, and that's exactly why an alternate version of him got dragged into this mess. The writer wanted a super duper mega powerful superhero that "the batman who laughs" could rob to become EVEN MORE POWERFUL. And it picked Manhattan likely for no other reason than how he often ended up on "strongest superhero ever!" lists. The writer clearly didn't understand or care much about the character, or the storyline he came from, or even his real power set.
Ya speak fax
How?
Because he's
BATMAN
My biggest issue with the Batman Who Laughs is they never made him a Jokerized Batman, they just made him evil. They kept focusing on the whole fact "he's Batman so he's always one step ahead" but never played into his sheer insanity. Plus he just showed up in everything for no reason
He always has a ‘master plan’, which is rubbish because if he was like the joker then he would just do things for the fun of it
I thought his concept was "he has Joker's moral compass" so he wasn't batshit, pun intended, but he's still a painful to read character
He's got the look of the Joker and the costume/gadgets of Batman, but he's got nothing from what makes his inspirations so beloved. It's such a waste.
And the sad thing is? The Batman did this concept so much better over a _decade_ ago. Check out the episode "The Laughing Bat". Joker tries to trade places with Batman by donning his costume and poisoning him with his Joker serum. It's equally hilarious and terrifying a concept, just like how Joker should be. And either scenario would make a greater origin for The Batman Who Monologues than what we actually got.
"Plus he just showed up in everything for no reason" TBF truly his Jokerest of traits
The joke always went that there were two lunatics in the insane asylum, or did you think a man who turned his Furrsona into an excuse to beat up vaguely animal themed people and multiple doctors was sane?
From what I have seen, the Batman who laughs is essentially the definition of a character who literally never loses and becomes a literal god like being just because.
You can say that that is what Batman and Joker have become in the last twenty years.
Because Batman has gotten to basically Chuck Norris status due to generations of fans and writers insisting that "he is totally awesome you guys" and Joker had to become much more threatening and dangerous to the point where he can even stand up to superhumans because how embarassing would it be if the totally-awesome Batman was struggling with a clown that every superhero could take out easily, unless we make the clown equally badass.
that makes sense though. batman is someone who fails to stop the joker time and time agine because he has a strict moral code but the joker is basically just a regular dude and he keeps winning because in his mind as long as he does what he wanted to do and succeeds nothing else matters. He's a man without consequence, to him there are none. If you mesh the skill and intelligence of batman with the mind of the joker that's pretty much what would happen, but the shitty part being this ones motivation is literally just ''lets destroy shit'' so hes a much more boring version of the joker.
@@wjzav1971 Batman's the new Wolverine. He's super popular so every story has to be made about him and he has to be "awesome". I just move on to other stuff while popularity is ruining something and sort through it later.
dr doom but even more lame and with a worse design
@@technounionrepresentative4274how is Dr. Doom lame? He's literally the best villain in Marvel
It's totally believable that the Batman Who Laughs could kill the Justice League and Darkseid; they'd just have to take on look at him to die of cringe.
This last comic panel about Owlman explaining how he will live on, but all the "evil batman" in this comic won't, because they were dumb, hollow ideas...
It hit hard, because it is true.
Batman who laughs is a power fantasy fanfix by a batman fan.
Owlman is a batman who looked into the abyss, and blinked.
Owlman is what writers who actually try can come up with when they twist Batman's core narrative elements into something new, yet not entirey different
The Batman Who Laughs is the only thing what modern Batman comic writers can do: edgy fanservice that simply don't understand who Batman really is
This implies that Batman goes harder than Owlman in the sense of nihilism, wouldn’t you think? Unless by blinking they mean he couldn’t tell the difference? So many ways to interpret the quote.
@@decentralizedintelligencea4778 other interpretation could be that by "you blinked" Batman is saying that Owlman decides to ignore certain things.
At least in one of Owlman origins, his nihilism begins when he discovers his parents weren't really good people. "You blinked" means that Owlman didn't see the whole picture, and his philisophy is based on cherrypicking, while Batman saw the abyss and saw more things the other wouldn't acknowledge.
Before this edgelord times with a Batman more aimed to emo 12 years old kids, Batman used to see good in people, so maybe by that Batman is saying that our decisions matter, and our life does have an impact in the people we have near us. Owlman bliked and didn't see what he didn't want to see, developing a tunnel vision about only what he wanted. Batman didn't, and he saw the good and the bad, the things that are lost and the ones that can be recovered. The things that is worth fighting for.
Not to say nihilism is inheritely bad, of course, but implying that Owlman is a nihilist because the abyss he blinked at, the abyss he didn't see, were the little things in life that do matter, but his personal ideology doesn't allow him to see.
Still, that line is one I regularly think about. No idea what Batman actually wants to say. So many possibilities, and could mean many things at the same time, but after years I still think about it
I don’t see how you can be a Batman fan and like the Batman who laughs
Everyone seems to be misunderstanding what the looking into the abyss and blinking statement means. What it means is that he looked into all the darkness that there was in the world and instead of being strong enough to fight against it he faltered and was afraid and in the end failed.
Batman who laughs: Somehow kills gods by being just that silly
Owlman: "whelp i lose. GGs"
True he really went GG
@@Man_Aslume Well, more so that batman is one of the few of the justice league willing to do things like nuking a planet to win. Such as the whole fight with darkseid. He wins by stalemating, couldnt beat darkseid, but definitely wouldve made the loss so significant just by the fact he would take out as much as he could before dying, darkseid just bowed out.
Less "GG" and more, "I push the button in another universe anyways.".
gg
“We cut to nightwing, batgirl, Red Robin, and red hood.” Dang it, now I’m hungry.
It isn't that he took on the Justice League. I mean, we know, he has contingencies for all of them. It's the fact that he took them all on at the same time when he even states that Batman's contingency is the Justice League.
The Batman Who Laughed *did* work, at first. The guy was legitimately popular and solidly intimidating.
Then DC began shoehorning him into fucking everything and refusing to let him lose Ever *and then somehow it only got worse*
“Evil Doctor Manhattan” please kill me
@@firetarrasque4667 What the fuck is an evil Doctor Manhattan? "I can relate to normal humans and am not apathetic 😈😈😈"
once bro became big black batman i knew he was cooked as a character
@@firetarrasque4667because the dude was apparently a good guy to begin with apparently
He was too popular
The final scene about Owlman realizing he's bulletproof in a Meta sense is actually glorious, and him telling the Bay Baby he's not going to come back because he's a dumb idea is such a metal line.
Kinda makes you wonder why the writers ever made those characters in the first place...
@@AlphaOmega1237probably to shit on shitty evil versions of batman
@@AlphaOmega1237believe me, a lot of dumb stuff happens while brainstorming. It's a miracle that thing got off of the drawing board.
@@AlphaOmega1237Because, at their core, the ideas of Batman being evil and Batman having the powers of other DC characters is interesting. And if you have two interesting ideas that don't conflict, why not combine them?
Then when people eat it up and demand more, you have to decide to keep going or to tell them that you already did what you wanted to do and stop.
@135forte But as the comic itself reminds, Baby Bat is a dumb idea. Not an interesting one.
"we've already lost, there's no way we can win against the batman who laughs."
"because of how strong he is?"
"because the writers want him to win but not put in the effort to make it make sense, so they're making us easy to kill instead. Even as I speak I can feel them making my intelligence drop to room temperature, we no have chance to to make good strat-... Starteg-... We no make plan."
The Batman Who Laughs is the kind of character that some edgy DeviantArt user would put in a fanfiction from 2006.
Owlman is like a character someone could put in a superhero deconstruction, and he would fit in perfectly.
I remember them announcing a Harley Quinn who Laughs, and I rolled my eyes. What’s next? The Joker who Laughs Harder?
"The Joker That Is Actually a Moderately Successful Metropolitan Comedian Who Makes People Laugh!" where mr jonkler just burps up the bad haha gas and goes on to live his life like a mid-2000s sitcom.
Better. Joker Who is Serious followed by Bane Who Is Fat.
The Joker that Doesn't laugh.
Aka White Knight Joker. Goes a bit hard into social commentary and jerks off at 'batman is useless.' However the concept is sound and it GENUINELY has some great moments. I recommend giving it a go.
the batman who cries
the batman who frowns
the batman who shids
the batman who fards
the batman who cooms
the ba
Joker that Exhales Funny
One of my favorite lines from Owlman actually comes from the Heavy Metal event. He's working with all the evil Batman, but then suddenly betrays them. And the reason for this is: if all of them die, even if he dies, or the whole multiverse dies, he will still come back. Because he's a good idea, and the other evil Batmen aren't.
I remember that. Cool af moment.
His the true OG, the one that works and works well. The rest is just cheap copy over glorified.
Owlman’s win felt earn while the rest kinda just the write hand thenm with a silver-plater
Owlman isn't the 1st evil Batman for no reason
He's just batman as nihilist...
Batman is already a nihilist😐@@Eldritch-1
jester, the earth three version of joker from the crisis on two earths movie. is so excellent,
he doesnt feel like a random hero in joker makeup, he feels like a very similar character with the same essense of chaos and whatnot, but fundumentally different as well
he only gets about a minute of screentime, and yet he is so memorable and does so much to make you curious about the history of earth right off the bat (haha) and start imagining all the types of stories you could tell in that world
The Jester was such a badass. I never thought a good Joker could work so well. Also appreciate the fact that he still has the Joker's edge. "This one'll kill ya!"
@@leonrobinson8180 yeah, for the minute screen time they pull off the concept in a subtle but genius way.
also helps you be able to understand the barely stated tragedy that luther is the last surviving member of his worlds justice league. since you get a taste of what it must have been like before
The novelty of The Batman Who Laughs was that it was basically kinda picking up on the idea from Arkham Knight, with a Batman with Joker's personality and madness. The idea on paper is pretty damn neat of course, it's a Batman with Joker levels of crazy.
The main concern people had back when he was introduced was that he was gonna be milked like hell. And that is EXACTLY what happened.
He was a main player in Dark Knights Metal, and instead of just capping it off there they decided to continuously make him the center of attention for a long time. Main antagonist in a Batman run, main antagonist in World's Finest, had his own solo series, and was the main villain in a Justice League arc AND the main villain of yet another DC reset.
And in every single of these stories post Dark Knights Metal he always managed to have the absolute biggest plot armor imaginable. He always had a plan for a plan for a plan for a plan, each more outlandish than the last. It stopped being cool and went into lame territory, he just didn't feel like a believable threat at that point because of how ridiculous he was getting.
By the time Death Metal rolled around a lot of people were just tired of him hogging the spotlight on every major title and event.
This was his main issue, he was miked too hard. He's a cool idea, but in moderation.
I feel like Arkham Knight it was executed so so so much better. Because it actually tapped into Bruce’s vulnerabilities, and tapped into his fears and insanity, on top of him having an insanely taxing and exhausting night trying to stop scarecrow all culminating to Batman being too overwhelmed and so mentally worn thin that the Joker insanity did break out at some points. While yes we didn’t inherently get a Joker-fied Batman, we did however get a few moments of what a Joker-fied Batman would look like, the level of insanity of joker, but adding to Bruce’s greatest strengths. It also proved how erratic this version would be like, how utterly broken he is psychologically, which could be seen as his visible weakness.
The Batman Who Laughs has that insanity… but without any of the drawbacks, any of the psychological fear and dread, anything really. It’s just Joker on steroids and “BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD!!!!” I agree that it was overdone, but I think it would have been fine if used often IF we actually had something more layered instead of a one note local crazy wahoo villain, which Joker already was, but even he has his loses, Batman Who Laughs just plain does not, which makes him an honestly terrible character for an incredibly interesting and fun concept.
Finally, someone who realizes that the batman who laughs is just the batman who lacks meaning or value beyond murder porn.
Me when i see the most brutal and disturbing death scene in a comic:
AMBATUKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM-
its almost that was the point of dc mettle
It's also a Joker without any humor or charm, literally took the WORST of both worlds when they made TBWL
@@noone12748 my guy it's just grim dark stuff. I can't imagine how you would think of 40k by that logic.
I think his design is cool but as a character he sucks.
My brain is so rotted because i started laughing when owl man said "man".
I know this mf had his legs up in the air while giggling
Your brain is: damn : rotted
Same, that man meme has ruined my sense of humor😭
Are you stupid
We learned the disturbing reality
Owlman is a Arkham redditor now
owlman's last line "it doesn't matter" goes 1000 times harder than batman's "you blinked" line. i LOVE IT so much and it shows that owlman isn't a hypocrite: utimately his life too doesn't matter to him
Batman who laughs: just a loser joker variant
Owlman: a demonstration of apathy and it's connections of evil.
I’m glad someone else is giving Batman who laughs the hate he deserves
I liked him at first but he became severely overused
FOR REAL
@@clarence2485this right here is sheer truth
@@clarence2485 Agreed
yknow what's confusing me in batman who laughs's world. Where was Darkseid? Darkseid would be offered Batman a place like second command. I think he do it since Batman kill everyone on earth than Darkseid.
Imagine being a god and trying many times to kill the earth. But a guy dressed as a bat kills everyone on earth.
Let's be real, if Bruce ever tried to actually kill the Bat Family, Jason would be the first one to spot it and put a stop to it. Because he's dealt with Joker the most other than Bruce and he also works with guns and can probably spot someone reaching for one just a little bit quicker than Barbara, Dick, or Tim could.
Not necessarily. Dick knows Bruce best, so would be the first to spot if he was off. Tim is supposed to be the second best detective in the family, so he could have deduced something was off as well.
Anyone in the bat family could've spot that goofy plan
I think since bruce is such a solid figure/ hero they really would let their guard down and not take what he’s saying so serious and could actually be slain
@@vitorhq1 Ace the bat hound would have spotted it 😂😂
@@dfredankey just for the fact they think Bruce shouldn't be taken seriously it's already a problem. He told them what was happening to his mind, he told them they couldn't let them stop him... What they thought? That the Batman was joking?
I have watched the Batman vs Owlman fight (the physical and the philosophical) scene so many times. There's just something so COMPELLING about Owlman. Phenomenally written, and brilliantly performed by his voice actor.
*Stygian Robin:* “But, Batman Who Laughs. Now that they know of our plan-“
*BWL:* “Ah, Robin. But that was the plan! Now that they know our plans, they will plan around our plans. And so we shall, in turn, plan around the plans that they are planning around our plans!"
*Stygian Robin:* “Your brilliance knows no bounds!”
BWL buys his own hype. He destroyed his own universe...in the Dark Multiverse where everyone is designed to lose. That's like having God Mode on when it's set to Easy Difficulty.
the fact that jason was present and still didn't pick up on bruce's shenanigans is proof of extreme plot armor brainrot
And same with Tim
Batgirl: JASON, JUST BECAUSE BATMAN IS JOKERFIED DOESN'T MEAN WE SHOULD KILL HIM!
Jason: . . . he was jokerfied?
Honestly I feel like the very second Batman even implied he was turning into the joker Jason would’ve shot him
This is the same guy who got beaten with a crowbar by the joker and left to die in a warehouse set to explode with his mother inside, no matter how much he cares about Bruce, if he knew that he was becoming the man who killed him I doubt he wouldn’t try killing him immediately
@@legocaptainrex5546not only that, he also dug himself out of his own grave with his bare hands before being found by the league of assassins, put into a Lazarus pit and then essentially trained to be an assassin by talia. Also the fact that he was in that warehouse with his mother because he was looking for her and she betrayed him to the joker. Jason’s whole life was basically one trauma after the next. Especially considering in the red hood comics we see Jason’s happiest memory is literally him being sick and Bruce staying home to care for him rather than going out and being Batman and he didn’t even want the memory back when he was offered it back
@@joshuarobinson6011man don't try to make sense in what they do with Jason anymore. DC doesn't give a shit about him.
I really like your summary. Batman realized that even the mugger who killed his family and he hated so much was still human. Owlman realized that even his family who he loved so much was still human. The same conclusion, and yet radically opposite ones.
Whenever the more killing part come up in regards to batman, I always thought it's b.s.! Why would someone become murderous after getting revenge?
@@erikbihari3625 Remember Injustice? The plot of that is Superman deciding to just kill Joker, and then he gets praised for killing him. Then, he kills another evil villain, and another, and another, and it just keeps escalating. Before long he's not just killing villains, he's pretty much declared himself to be the king of the world, all in the name of doing what he thinks is best for everyone.
That's why far later into the story we see the climax, the most brutal thing he ever did that even makes his few supporters turn on him. He sees a group of kids dancing in a warehouse, having a party, celebrating Joker as a martyr who was unjustly slaughtered whose death led to everyone on Earth being oppressed by a tyrant with too much power enforcing his rule upon them.
Then, faced with those kids who despise what he's become, he lasers all of them to death.
That's basically why Batman refuses to kill no matter what because it would be too easy to go down that dark path. To start by killing just one person, and then just keep killing one more person. In a way it's like how you can be addicted to something like smoking cigarettes and never realise that you have a problem because every cigarette you smoke is just one more cigarette. It starts with "Just one," and then every single time afterwards it is "Just one more."
Thats the difference!
Batman draws strength from even the most hopless seeming conclusions.
Owlman however, draws dispair.
@phazeblaze2274 i think its just that people define themselves by the goal they pursue. So actually reach8ing it can make a person think whats the point now
@phazeblaze2274. Usually there's little worse you can do with someone than kill their loved ones. Then it makes sure you're their priority number one! The only ones who'd go beyond it, are crazy people who take even the most minor inconvenience to heart like kevin when he absorbed the ultimatrix's power!
11:32 As a Power-Scaler who prides himself on being as realistic with Power-Scaling as possible, The Batman who laughs would probably give me an aneurysm. Having all his feats being "off-screen" is literally the most annoying thing I deal with while scaling characters. It's why I don't scale Analogue Horror stuff, because part of Analogue Horror's thrill is how it triggers a fear of the unknown, and as a result trying to scale ANY of it just... wouldn't work, but that's less from bad writing as much as it is coming from the fact that the entire medium makes use of a tactic that works best with a "Show the end result, not the process" mentality.
If you're a power scaler, then tell me who would win. Bugs bunny or Goku?
@@daniellejackson6543 You're asking me if Goku beats toon force. He'd need the goddamn Mask to be able to beat Bugs.
@@thomashost272 I was figuring you would say that.
Would you consider yourself _more_ ãutistic and obnoxious than other power-scalers? Or _less?_
Owlman is exactly the kind of vigilante a billionaire would become.
I feel like Owlman’s death in the movie was a nod at the fact that not only are his convictions stronger than his own sense of self preservation, but him realizing that as long as Batman “Prime” exists, he will too.
Batman Prime doesn't exist though, Prime Earth is an obvious wasteland. Plus, that wasn't an established thing until well after the movie came out
@@98loudsupongo que se refiere al Batman que todos conocemos, como si mientras ese Batman exista, el también lo hará dentro de el, supongo
Basically as long as there's a Batman, there's an Owlman- which means of the infinite Owlmans to follow, some will inevitably have the same idea he had. Which means Owlman has infinite opportunities to try again. And he can try again for eternity, because even if every Owlman thus far has failed he theoretically only needs to succeed *once.*
So literally nothing matters- not even his defeat, at least on a multiversal scale.
Plus the more popular a specific incarnation of a character, the more likely that incarnation is to return. Which means *this* Owlman is probably coming back sooner or later.
Not quite. Owlman made the decision not to disarm the bomb. Which means (according to the logic of the movie) that by doing so he created an alternate universe where he did disarm the bomb. If he had chosen to do the reverse, he would have created another universe where he didn't. Either choice he could've made lead to the same outcome.
It didn't matter.
@@Eva-uw6uo It's quite likely there was an Owlman that destroyed earth prime. After all, in an infinite multiverse where every action or decision possible has been made I don't see how there is a scenario where earth prime is never destroyed. In fact, I don't think there is a single earth prime either, since that would mean there would have been an infinite number of Batmans and Owlmans at the earth prime universe at the exact same time that the Batman and Owlman we follow are at earth prime. So, this may lead us to two different possibilities. One, where Owlman destroying earth prime doesn't actually result in the destruction of the rest of the multiverse. Or two, where Owlman destroys the multiverse but due to there being infinities smaller than other infinities, the infinite multiverse that Owlman destroys is part of a larger infinite multiverse that branches off into a set of infinite multiverses where Owlman is able to successfully destroy the multiverse and another set of infinite multiverses where Owlman fails to destroy the multiverse. Essentially, Owlman is trying to achieve an impossible goal of doing something that actually matters because whatever he does, there would be an infinite variation of him that does something either ever so slightly or radically different.
I feel like something people forget about Joker's whole "One Bad Day" thing is that he is lying. He outright doesn't know his own backstory. And The Killing Joke shows that Joker is doing all he can to prove the One Bad Day idea by trying to break Jim Gordon, but it doesn't work
I like the Joker's One Bad Day speech, because we've all had something like that, where we just have the urge to say "Fuck it all" due to stress, due to anger, due to whatever, we just don't want to keep doing whatever it is we're doing.
The difference is while we all have had that urge to say "fuck it" we usually don't go off the deep end, and at worst we just try to change something, for the Joker it was an excuse to give in to ever dark urge he's ever felt.
There's at least one interpretation of him that was always evil before becoming Joker, and intentionally sabotaged the mission he was doing so things would go wrong and Batman would show up, just because he thought it would either be fun or interesting, and the chemicals he fell in as a result just freed him from any obligations he had.
There's a fan comic for Joker meeting Spider-Man, and the punch line is him realizing if Spider-Man is still a hero after all that maybe it's not just one bad day after all
There's a joker meets Spiderman comic dub where joker is all like "HEHEHE IM GOING TO DESTROY AND RUIN YOUR LIFE" and spiderman is like "ok, take a ticket and wait in line like everyone and everything else".
Joker actually LEGITIMATELY FELLS BAD FOR SPIDERMAN 😂😂😂😂
Because professionals have standards@@thelordofthelostbraincells
Actually love the one bad day origin. Hell Arkham Origins probably has the best interpretation of it. It's pretty perfect and it even explains Harleys obsession with joker
Batman who Laughs is the personification of that one kid who always says "Well my powers cancel out your powers"
11:27 That entire psychotic break scene came out of left field, but the punchline with the OP reference what just :chefs_kiss:
15:35
That's actually such a sick way of explaining Batman's remark to Owlman in the animated movie: "We both looked into the abyss, but when it looked back at us, you blinked."
Owlman had the opportunity to choose to be better when facing down the revelation that his family was actually corrupt, but he blinked.
And that revelation promptly consumed him.
He could've looked at the corruption of his late family and choose to be better than them, not repeat the same mistakes they did. But that would require him to make a choice that he'd be responsible for. Like Batman did.
Instead, Owlman chooses to leave in a reality where there is no choice, because nothing matters.
@@Levyafan
This actually brings to light Owlman's quote of "there are other versions of me that you'd find quite charming..."
@@Levyafanyep. Owl man is the ultimate nihilist.
"It doesn't matter"
I guess Owl Man's favorite Metallica song is Nothing Matters.
What's neat about Owlman's death in Crisis on two Earths is that he was given choice, and as such there *will* be another Owlman who decided to live. Which is why he says "it doesn't matter" it literally didn't, there *had* to be a version of him who decides to die there going off of the rules he stated earlier.
An excellent point.
And, by his logic, that also means there's more versions of him who at least chose to live in that moment, some of whom may have escaped and others who probably died there. So it really doesn't matter at all, there's gonna be another Owlman.
Damn, that's crazy. Such a good character, hes my favorite James Woods role.
@@Eye_Of_Odin978 When I first saw the show, I thought he was just being nihilistic, but after watching this video.. yeah, I can see why he did it, and it's mind blowing! You're totally right.
All he did was create more time lines/alternate Earths where he made different choices. He's still out there, still able to theoretically try again! And I'm there for it! lol!
damm, i never thought of that, just assumed he didnt cared, but it was just to show that that moment was a choice and it brenched more realities 😂😂
Maybe that's why there's a platform multiple must have yried blowing that universe and a batman always stopped them
I like the conclusion about why Batman doesn’t kill. I've heard repeatedly that it's because he doesn't trust himself to keep it together when he does, to the point that I assume it's fact. This is the first time that I've heard someone say that it's because he values humanity and life to such a degree that he refuses to end anyone's life. It's kinda like a reverse of what Owlman said "there's probably a version of me that's nice and pleasant, but there are versions of you that are horrible, so who cares". Batman seems to think "there's probably a version of you that could've been good, so I'm saving you so that you still have a chance to become that version even when you don't think so yourself that it's possible". And it also seems similar to Joker's "one bad day"-philosophy, but in the sense that every person is "one extended hand" away from redemption.
Joker didnt cut his own face off.
Toy man did. Joker stapled his face back on and said no to reconstruction therapy. But i do see your point. I thought it was stupid too.
I’ve always said this about the Batman who laughs origin, Jason Todd would ALWAYS have his safety off in the bat cave around Bruce, even in a perfect world. Let alone a Bruce who just KILLED THE JOKER, Jason would not be caught lacking like that.
100%! Also Nightwing knows Batman best and RR is supposed to be the best detective of the bunch-I refuse to believe one of them wouldn't notice something off and go through with one of batmans billion contingency plans.
Batman would probably stop himself before anything happens.
Your comment got liked 69 times.
@@pustota7254 Thanks for keeping track of the milestones brotherman
@@BibyteBatman: "I'm mere hours from becoming a version of the Joker with all my skills and knowledge? Okay. *NO!"* **
Something I love about Owlman is how he is a mirror to Batman in *philosophy*. It's written clearly by someone who deeply understands Batman, and rewrote what would happen if Batman became a nihilist instead of what is basically a structuralist.
Owlman works he becomes a critique of philosophy, and functions as a rejection of what some people believe to be Batman's philosophy.
The Joker sort of works because he's the fundamental opposite of Batman. He doesn't have the same philosophical base for his beliefs, because he barely has any real beliefs. This makes him a useful villain, but hardly a great character. He's a VERY good writing tool, a personification of chaos and death, almost a force of nature. A great thing for the very human Batman, who values life and justice above all else, to struggle against.
But if you try to mix the two concepts, turn the Batman into the Joker, that's always going to be a very hard sell, because fundamentally a Batman and Joker story are written like a Man v Nature story. It's like trying to combine the characters of "Jeff the Random Guy" and "Hurricane Katrina". Like, I'm sure a VERY VERY good writer could make it work but it would not be easy and is ultimately a bad idea.
i'm really interested in what a story combining jeff the random guy and hurricane katrina would be like now
@@DiegoHernandez-sb3fc Maybe a ghost story about a guy who died in a hurricane and ended up possessing it?
@@alexanderticonuwu7591I mean that's basically batman who laughs anyway
@@TerrelSamA normal guy possessing a hurricane would be the opposite of the batman who laughs.
@@matheusboso7844Sounds like something you'd find in a manga more than a comic book.
"I Died Alone In A Natural Disaster But Then I Was Reborn As A Hurricane Spirit With The Power To Destroy Entire Cities"
Right as you said that "you would play the owlman monologue because you could do it justice," i got the burger king ad
the real anti-batman is Elmo
The reason I consider this Owlman to be the antithesis of Batman is because Owlman does not have an indominable willpower. Owlman doesn't have strong emotions tying him to his intent. In the end he simply shrugs and reminds himself "It doesn't matter" where as Batman is incapable of wavering in his conviction. The opposite of such a strong ideology like Batman has isn't going to be something like the strong ideology of cringe the batman who laughs has, its going to be an absolute lack of emotional attachment to meaning. He feels nothing whereas Batman feels too much. Genuinely incompatible existences.
The only bad thing about it is that I don’t think the owl as an animal doesn’t fit apathy as a concept, or really any animal.
“The steel mask” would be a more apt aesthetic.
@@BarakonI think they just wanted to stick to the "flying nocturnal animal" theme. Plus, in some cultures, owls are viewed as inherently sinister. Probably because of the whole "they're awake at night, when it's all dark and scary" thing.
In short he'll always lose to Batman. And he doesn't even care.
@@Barakon It's solely because owls are the only consistent nocturnal predator of bats.
@@tim_soup7099 oh
The fact that Batman didn't kill him, but instead gave him a choice, and Owlman's ultimately choosing not to change, to the point where his own death, the failure of his "glorious" purpose to eliminate all humanity, "doesn't really matter", it's so good, so well written, it makes the character matter, even if he himself believes nothing does.
I was kind of shocked at first, thinking that Bruce just tied him to a live bomb to his certain death, but seeing that Thomas had the choice made it all perfectly fit together. It's been a while since I saw that movie.
@@redgeoblaze3752. I didn't see it with him on the ground. The only aspect of choice owl man had is turning off that bomb, wich he didn't do! Remember his"abyss"speech?
Lol, oh shit. I just made a cheeky joke about how batman killed owlman but it's kinda implied he could have aboted the explosion.
Lol.
@@MaestroAlvis I think that's exactly what Bruce was expecting. or at least hoping he would save himself and start to realize how sacred life is, starting with his own.
@@erikbihari3625 "We both stared into the abyss. But when it stared back at us...you blinked." -Bruce 'The Batman' Wayne.
I do love the idea that the ONE time Jason trusts Bruce, he gets shot through the chin.
6:37 alternatively
Jason: “Wait, so I get to shoot a Joker and Batman? At the same time? Awesome!”
“The Batman who laughs is just the Sonic.exe of the Batman mythos.” Is the best way to describe this character I’ve ever seen.
Batman saying,”I believe in the absolute sacredness of human life, it may be my only belief” is so powerful, I’m glad I know his true reason for no killing
its not his true reason. and batman doesnt have a no killing rule. he has rule against intentionally killing someone. batman also doesn't stop the death penalty either. Its stated multiple times that batman wants justice for gotham not revenge on gotham. the "no killing rule" is to allow fan favorite villains to return when more likely we can see one of us killing someone like joker. and joker may not be the smartest or strongest, but neither is batman but batman wins all the time over joker. batman and joker are stated and shown to be equal many times. and your critism of the bat family death, 1 they are blind to their father figure 2 they are physically and mentally exhausted as was the plan 3 batman is talking in future tense and the batfamily trust in him is near absolute. batman also talks alot with his back turned to family. nothing suspicious there. 4 they are human batman actually knows them well enough to know how to actually shoot them. most of their bullet dodging ability relies on predicting where there opponent is shooting and that thugs usually dont know how to properly use guns.
@@zachfreedom644 finally someone gets it. Nothing about Batman's values are cemented, everything about him is for the sake of convenience
Semantics but it doesnt sound right to me Batman would specify human life when half the justice league and the entire lanterns org are non-human. Imagine how awkward it would be saying that with Clark Kent standing next to him
he doesnt want people to experience what he had
love it when the video starts with the person who i have never seen a single video about complaints about his previous video.
8:27 the baboon who larged
I thought it said the batboon who lards
That final scene with Owlman really doubles down on his views. When given the option to Abort he looks for a moment before smiling a bit. With the
"It doesn't matter."
as he explodes is just cool-
No one can say he didn't stick to his guns to the vary end.
He even had the teleporter make the way there with him. If he wanted to, he could've escaped to live and try another day.
But in the end, he was only human. And to Owlman, human lifes don't matter. Nothing matters.
I think the best interpretation of this scene I've heard is that his resignation comes from the fact that he never made it to earth prime. He could have simply used the teleporter to go back and finish what he started, to do as he always desired and make the only REAL choice, but in that moment, when he saw he had the CHOICE to abort the destruction, he knew he didn't reach earth prime, the earth without choice
@@borosbutredtape Oh yeah, one interpretation I saw was that that scene was him realizing his goal was impossible.
Thats because he had to make the choice in the first place to go to earth prime, because he did that he created a new reality, and as such he never really went to the true earth prime he went to a copy.
He also realized that every choice spawns a world, but this can only happen with things that are possible, meaning if his goal was possible it would have already happened because of another instance of himself, since it didn't that means it can't.
Batman is also the example of how a simple man can reject the evils of the world. He has everything a corrupted man could use. He's rich. He holds emense sway and power in the city and yet he values the people. He uses his money as a true tool for a better Gotham. He's an example that cancer can be contained. Where owlman he wanted to fight it but ultimately succumbed to those cancers
i mean, no not really. Gotham is a crime-ridden shithole that would likely be better off if he just let one of the other members of the Justice League step in and clean up. Batman is wealthy beyond belief AND is a superhero, but his city is always full of the kind of shit that would make The Punisher run out of ammo.
@@RecliningWhale Most of Batman's villains are literally just smart regular guys with a lot of resources though, with the rest also being miserable, unhelpable and/or insane. Sure you could get someone like Superman to beat the shit out of everyone once in a while, but that simply doesn't fix Gotham's particular rampant brand of crime. I mean, Superman's biggest recurring villain is _also_ just a smart regular guy with a lot of resources, so that should probably prove that there's a lot more nuance to crime in general than who can fight the hardest or throw someone in jail/escape the fastest.
Gotham in particular is all about the mental battle: fear, insanity, knowledge, secrets, mind control, social connections. Not a lot of DC heroes are built to handle that kind of thing long term without breaking down mentally and emotionally like Batman is, which you can see from how fast powerful heroes like Martian Manhunter and Superman (who both have known and easily exploitable weaknesses anyway) want to leave every time they drop by. Almost everyone writes Gotham off as a lost cause but Batman and it's the same with Bludhaven and Nightwing. Their training and investigative styles are perfectly suited to those corrupt places, so throwing in a "more powerful" hero isn't nessicarily going to net a better result.
And besides, the Gotham you see is likely toned down due to Batman/Bruce Wayne's monetary and heroic interference. If you had anyone try to take it on without his level of resources for orphanages, job providers, health care, etc... Well, that would be like fighting an infinite mob spawner since so many more people would be turned to crime.
I feel like that's one thing the Comics _never_ tackle enough...
Batman's Compassion and Sympathy.
But behind the scenes he manipulates the city to generate crime to give himself a sense of purpose. For if Gotham ever became peaceful he'd be out of a job and his sense of purpose.
almost never, the best ones are wholesome comics and comics that are good and actually give the true batman to the ppl@@ellugerdelacruz2555
24:36 I NEED to know where these panels came from,they are beautifuly drawn
I know this one, gimme a min
Paul Dinni's batman, war on crime. The same artist that drew this worked on a superman and a shazam comic and all of them are amazing!
The real anti batman is the friends we made along the way.
I feel like some writers often forget about Batman, is that he is a man of pure moral code. Batman isn't cool because he can solo the Justice League. Hes cool because no matter how hard his conviction is tested, he will ultimately do the right thing.
In a city where billionares and CEOs flaunt their wealth without the care for the people, Bruce uses his money to try to make Gotham a better place. Whether that means putting money on infrastructure like building an orphanage for orphans, to fighting criminals as Batman.
Its just insulting that some writers make Batman turn him evil so easily. Theres no way Batman would not do something about his declining mental health, without leaving some failsafe to protect those close to him.
Orphanage for orphans haha
👏
This, and as op says his feats are badly done. Like there was an entire arc for killing the justice league, the babalon protocol. He isn't 1 v 6. It's isolate and exploit. He's doing an agent 47. And what's more if Bruce was already gone the bar family would have noticed early. The first laugh? Blue and clark would know so things up. Can a batman laugh? Yes. But not that easily
It's crazy that all of Batman's plans to deal with the justice league are non lethal EXCEPT the one he made for himself, which just never occurred.
The same reason why I don't like turning Superman evil. Superman isn't cool because he is invincible and can solo anyone and anything if he wants to. He's cool because despite his immense power, all Superman wants to be is a good man with a happy, simple life surrounded by people he loves.
What makes Owlman great and what makes BMWHL terrible is that Owlman explores the alternate paths that Bruce could've taken and explores individual circumstances in his life that could've explored different paths. Owlman dating Super Woman is if Batman dated Diana but their relationship was as healthy as diving headfirst into a pool of acid. BMWHL is just "Evil Batman" That's it.
Super Woman is not an alternate dimension Diana though, she's an alternate dimension Mary Marvel (Shazam sister's, she has the same powers as him). This also means that Owlman is dating a teenager because, just like her brother, Mary Marvel is not an adult yet in her true form.
@@giantWario She has the Wonder Woman function of being the female representative between two dudes (Batman & Superman/Owlman & Ultraman). Even though she's more like Mary Marvel but visually and narratively, she's the Wonder Woman of the team.
@@gimmeyourrights8292 I mean she's not more like Mary Marvel, she simply is Mary Marvel. I do agree that she fits the same role as Wonder Woman on her team though.
Now that you mention it, Batman and Wonder Woman being a thing would actually be interesting.
@@wjzav1971 You say would as if it didn’t already happen. It was a thing in the silver age. Huntress was originally their daughter if I recall correctly.
"anyways, owlman prepares to give batman a really fa--"
_buffering_
26:09 Damn, Battle Against a True Hero really hitting hard
i really appreciate how owlman doesn't start kicking and screaming when he loses, he never averts from his view of existence and just goes along, saying "it doesn't matter". there is so much context beneath that one line and it hits all the right notes.
I feel like a realistic scenario of Bruce actually killing an enemy would be him breaking down and being so disappointed in himself that he wouldn't ever be Batman again or anything like that. if human life is so sacred to him and he ends up taking one, I think it would just break him, not "satisfy" him and make him want more
Anyone who thinks its harder to kill than to do non-lethal takedowns doesnt get it. It is so easy to be careless and accidentally kill someone in a fight, it is so much infinitely harder to make sure everyone is safe even if incapacitated. He would be distraught and give it up because then hes just a thug
@@tinycoke3718 I felt like up to your last sentence you were against what I said. Then I didn't understand anything anymore
Like in the first episode of Batman Beyond? Old Bruce in a costume while defending women from a thug, experienced a heart attack and was forced to use a gun on a criminal, he didn't shoot but was about to. So he stopped his heroic shenanigans.
@@SeriousJByou pretty much described comic industry at their current moment.
Back in the day, they would have actually understood the character, because what you just said is literally the plot from the very first episode of Batman Beyond. DCAU is pretty much the moat accurate interpretation of the characters we ever had out of the comics. Unfortunately, and again you just nailed it, today we just have edgy fanservice of an extremely flanderized version of Batman, who is a demigod whose plot armor and thirst for edgyness to please 15 years old emo kids is too high to not be cringe. Thus, The batman who laugs was born
@@Cross-kd5xb the curse of modern media. We have advanced technologically so much but seem to have stopped putting our hearts into new projects. I think most movies or series have become what you described
Red hood would absolutely start shooting as soon as he saw any guns near bruce
Red Hood would also absolutely know when someone is reaching for a weapon, dude is too well versed in weapons to NOT know when someone would reach for a gun, ESPECIALLY BATMAN. Red Hood of all people would realize the small uncharacteristic motion of Bruce reaching under his cloak. Like man, do not do Jason dirty.
@@sky-trevishere9638 THATS WHAT IM SAYING Jason would either turn Batman into a cheese or try to disarm him
@@v0llgas_NyxenSERIOUSLY THOOO LIKE BRUH.
Jason has been tortured by Joker, long enough to know his mannerisms and how he behaves. Like dude is rendered a freaking potato it hurts to read him like this.
The Bat family is specifically trained to deal with armed assailants while unarmed. They are trained in Gunfu to doge bullets basically. On top of that Batman would have a notable disadvantage when using guns. He doesn’t train with guns even if he is a top notch fighter.
What's crazy is that a story about The Joker learning he's crazy not because of society but because he actually has brain damage from chemicals would be really cool. I think learning that he has no greater philosophical point and that everything he's ever done was actually never been his own doing would truly break him.
And then maybe, now hear me out, in this hypothetical alternate scenario, he manages to kill Batman but then _becomes_ Batman as a sort of "funniest joke of all time" because without Batman "life has no punchline".
Obviously this would have to result from a story that really deconstructs the Joker and displays Batman's great capacity for compassion, in which the Joker would have an epiphany and start his weird "reformation" after he kills a Batman that didn't give up on finding a cure for him...
@@ellugerdelacruz2555 No that's lame.
Fan made Ideas like this exist, meanwhile, DC comics would rather write a story where Joker gets pregnant with Zatanna's baby
@@lolstalgic9602the sad thing is, I don’t know if you’re joking or not because I could 100% believe they wrote that.
SPOILERS AHEAD but this is very similar to how things go in Batman: The Audio Adventures. We learn that Batman's been running tests on the chemical mix that turned Red Hood into Joker, and, contrary to Joker's belief, the mutations were purely physical- ACE Chemicals didn't make Joker the way he is mentally. Joker kinda freaks out over it
Thinking about it, the Joker presumably didn’t leave the venom in his body as a trap for Batman. It was intended to get whoever killed him, and Batman's distinguishing characteristic is that he refuses to kill. Presumably Joker just wanted to ensure that he'd have a successor to cause problems for Batman.
I think that was his backup plan. I think the joker's ultimate goal was always to make Batman go to far, to kill. He wanted Batman to finally be convinced that it was better for him to be killed, for the good of others. And, as his final "joke", he would turn Batman into him, fully send him off the deep end.
If he failed, the next joker would have the chance to do the same.
Congratulations! Unintentionally and in 3 sentences you explored more about the character than the writers did.
@@obergfamily9049Unintentionally?
If he did kill the Bat Family in the Bat Cave he'd never have made it out alive past Alfred.
The Batman who laughs is a character that I hate for the same reason I hate Injustice Superman.
They do not feel like something that could naturally evolve out of the characters. They are, in fact, the polar opposite of their original selves.
Owlman is scary because he still feels like Batman.
Same goes for the characters in the Justice Lords story of the animated series. Seeing these heroes come to the wrong conclusions in a way that fits with who they are is a whole different kind of dread because you realise being a hero is a choice they make day after day.
Yes, injustice superman was actually right at the start of the story but they had to make him insane and out of control to justify him being the bad guy. This is when the writers cannot make a story natural and just goes to break the immersion.
The thing about "The Batman who Laughs" is that it is like DC looked at one the most fascinating aspect of the Arkham Knight games' storyline and said to themselves "Let's do that, but execute it much, much worse."
I don’t know, the AK storyline of Batman turning onto the Joker because of a blood transfusion already makes no sense because Joker’s blood isn’t magic. But it’s also cheapened by the fact it’s just an excuse to have the Joker as the main villain for the fourth time in a row which was one of big criticisms of previous games of overusing the Joker that Rocksteady chose to double down on.
@@gigagod3384 To be fair, that particular Joker has a ton of TITAN flowing through his body - which we already know causes one entire form to turn into a dangerous monster. The idea that a blood transfusion from someone with TITAN causes you to take on their personality traits is a stretch, but no more than a stretch than TITAN already was.
I haven't played Origins yet but I'd also say it's more so Origins fault for using Joker rather than Arkham Knight using him; that game needed to deal with the character in some way and I think the way Arkham Knight does it is actually pretty fun and interesting, making the themes of fear really come out in the game. There wasn't really a reason for Origins to use the Joker in anything but a side quest, it really should have been its own thing.
@@gigagod3384Joker’s blood is a factor but not nearly as much of a problem as Scarecrow’s toxin which almost seemed to activate the blood in Batman by unleashing his greatest fear.
I also think Arkham Knight is the perfect melding of the BWL and Owlman concepts. AK is the quintessential example of what Batman would be had the Joker broken him, driven entirely by vengeance, nearly devoid of moral considerations, but without the false edge and sadism that defined the Joker. Not to mention that carrying the Arkham iconography fits thematically back to the story and motivations of Amadeus Arkham and how it parallels with the exact moral conflict Batman is always grappling with.
@@reshi_ireI def agree there, one of my biggest issues with Arkham Origins narrative-wise is that Joker just entirely hijacks the story when he gets introduced, and so the whole plotline with Black Mask and the assassins just gets dropped outside of some side-quests. In addition, they make the duality between Batman and Joker and how one can’t live without the other so unsubtle that it might as well be branded in neon lights.
@@gigagod3384Tbf while Joker does haunt and torment Batman throughout the game, the main villain is still clearly both Scarecrow and Arkham Knight. Joker is nothing more than an outside spectator who lives in Bruce’s mind until the ending, and doesn’t actually influence the events of the story. Unlike in Arkham Origins, like the comment below me explained.
Alternatively known as:
"The Batman who outstayed his welcome"
"The Batman who raids HotTopic warehouses, I guess?"
"The Batman who traded weights for Cardio"
"The Batman with the excessively long name"
"The Batman who tries so damn hard to out edgy Frank Miller, Grath Ennis and others but fails miserably"
“The Batman who’s mid” might be one of my personal favourites
@@ohmygahdbilly my favourite was one that isn't even funny but had me dying when I first saw it; "The Batman who Teehee's"
Can't wait for "the Batman who uwu's", no greater evil than that
@@Lauren007E wait until you hear about the “Batman who skips when he walks”
@@ohmygahdbilly The Batman Who Does A Silly Little Dance
@@Levyafan the Batman who orders pickle on rye
I will say that Battle Against a True Hero works PERFECTLY for this video. It isn’t about Batman, it’s about Owlman. And that’s exactly what Owlman lives for. The battle against a true hero.
A battle of ideals.
I still can’t believe nobody has written a story about Owlman dealing with the Court of Bats that inevitably exists in his world.
6:15 The worst part is not even the fact that they didnt noticed but the fact that REDHOOD of all people wasnt wearing a bulletproof vest, like, redhood from all people is the one that get in gunfights the most and are you telling me that him from all people does not wear any protection?
oh no, he does, he always does, the writers just... forgot?
Batman was using extra thicc bullets 🤓🤓🤓🤓
@@key1131you mean ap rounds?
Probably more like that one Looney Tunes episode where Buggs Bunny is tormenting Daffy Duck because he's got the pencil and is at the artist's desk. They just went and erased it off of him between panels.
...In its own way, I suppose harkening to Looney Tunes is appropriate enough.
Nu uh um batman actually used antimaterial bullets just that you know sh¡t and didn't read properly 🤓
The concept of the Batman who laughs is practically everything that's wrong with modern iterations of Batman. Batman is no longer a strategist who always tries to find the good in people, he's just some edge lord LARPER that wins because the narrative said so.
He’s literally infected with laughing gas what are you talking about strategy he’s smart very smart with the wit go joker
@@thusluxx1358You don’t think…in *any* universe, bruce would have developed a serum or something to counteract it as a safety measure in his suit or something?
@@CrimsonGrowlithei mean he actually developed a serum against the Jokers toxin on Batman: Arkham city
@@key1131 Exactly! That’s why the Batman Who My OC Do Not Steal is such a stupid character!
@@key1131 Arkham City? I thought it was in Arkham Knight?
I agree that talking about both on the same video was the better idea, because it really puts into perspective the massive rift in quality between these two... by the way, I'm very glad that you talked more about the better character.
Wasn't expecting to see rerun, gave me a good chuckle
You know what I’d like to see? A story where the Joker decides to become Batman after Bruce Wayne dies. Protecting Gotham would be the perfect joke in his mind and would make for a much better backstory (in my opinion) for The Batman Who Laughs.
Damn, that would be good actually
Bruh the Batjoker is actually a genius idea
I'm just imagining the absolute freakout Red Hood would have when he finds out. Dude would lose. His. Mind.
@@MercuryA2000
Just another reason for Joker, in his mind, to do it. He’d never miss a chance at traumatising Red Hood even more.
Kind of sounds like a DC version of Superior Spider-Man, but whatever. There are only so many comic stories you can do before you start repeating, and these franchises have been going on for the better part of a century at this point.
Owlman taunting the Dark Knights about how they’re all bad ideas is definitely my favorite comic moment I’ve never actually read.
Because I've heard it before... and it wasn't funny the first time.
The funny thing is, the guy who wrote that scene was James Tynion IV, who also wrote TBWL's origin. It's like he was doing it just to apologize for what he wrought upon the world.
feel like the batman who laughs would've been better as a batman raised by the joker, instead of a batman infected by a joker.
Because a child raised by joker 100% would kill the joker, simply because it was entertaining. A tortured mind like batmans with jokers lack of morals and direction? now that would actually be interesting not..well,
what we got.
@@LadyDem My preferred take is that he'd really work as something similar to that old episode of The Batman: the Joker kills Batman, but now the game is over, and he has no purpose. So what does he do? He becomes Batman!
@@misterbadguy7325 He goes all Kraven's Last Hunt? Joker's last Joke?
6:47 Excellent musical taste.
As Red from OSP once said, can you picture the Batman you’re writing comforting a scared child? If yes, congratulations, that’s a good Batman. If not, you’re not writing Batman, you’re writing The Punisher in a funny hat.
The thing is though I could absolutely see punisher comforting a kid a lot of people seem to forget he became the punisher because his family was murdered he’s not just a psychopath murdering people for shits and giggles
@@jameson1239 Very true. Punisher is a few different choices away from being Batman. But they are very important choices. He's maybe Batman who has internalized the idea that you are morally responsible for the reasonably foreseeable consequences of your actions - and of your inactions. Which is a terrifying level of responsibility to carry when those potential actions and inactions include whether to kill or spare a psychotic mass murderer with a penchant for escaping from any form of incarceration. Batman is more heroic, Punisher is more reasonable.
@@richardkenan2891 pretty sure the population of gotham would rather have the punisher than batman in all honesty...
@@marcosdhelenoi mean for a couple of days maybe, but after the rouge gallery and the big villains is already dead, and the organized crime became unorganized crime, and a power vacuum is created, probably not
@@gamerfrienship6206 "and a power vacuum is created" its DC. a new villain will show up, regardless if the old ones are dead or not.
a power vaccum means internal conflict, them fighting themselves. which makes them easier to subdue.
also, if two face dies, you wont get a second one, same with the riddler.
those arent titles.
I personally like how the Crisis on Two Earth’s film doesn’t delve into Owlman’s backstory.
We know who Owlman is at that moment and that’s all we need to know. They reflect on each other’s past in a similar way and only give an impression. They don’t talk about events, but more about the emotions they both faced and how they dealt with them. They both looked into the abyss and know what that’s like but like Batman said, “you blinked.”
I freaking love their interaction in that scene.
That's because Owlman's exact origins didn't matter. We got more than enough from him to see his nihilistic perspective. What happened to him is irrelevant to the plot. What he planned to do was way more important.
@@silverblade357 It's not who is he underneath, but what he does that defines him.
It's referencing that Nietzsche quote right? I think batman was telling owlman that he became what he despised without realizing it.
“Batman has a contingency plan for everyone in the JL though”
Wasn’t his contingency for himself the League itself?
"Does it matter? There are alternate versions of me that you would find quite charming." Love that line. He not only displays his nihilistic nature but also his surprising sense of humour.