How is Batman One Bad Day - The Riddler's ending similar to The Killing Joke? Times the Dark Knight has killed in media (Spoilers)

The conversation about Batman's moral rule is brought back again as Batman One Bad Day - The Riddler featured an ending that was quite ambiguous. With the ending of the one-shot mirroring the ending of Batman: The Killing Joke, we see Batman appear behind Edward and ask him a riddle that goes something like this:

"Riddle me this, Edward. Though we meet but once, you know me forever thereafter. What am I?"

The answer to this is death and Batman One Bad Day - The Riddler wastes no time in leaving an ambiguous ending that makes it seem like Batman has, after all, killed the Riddler. This again brings back the question of how far Batman will go and brings his moral compass back into question.

So, with the release of Batman One Bad Day - The Riddler, let's look at Batman's moral code and how the media has handled it.

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Exploring Batman's moral compass amidst Batman One Bad Day - The Riddler ending and how it mirrors The Killing Joke

Batman One Bad Day - The Riddler final page (Image via DC Comics)

Now the comic ends in a similar way to Batman: The Killing Joke. Batman One Bad Day - The Riddler sees Batman show up mysteriously behind the Riddler when the following panels cut to black. It's a frightening reveal that doesn't tell us much about what happens later, considering it ends right after Batman tells the abovementioned riddle.

The same thing happened during Batman: The Killing Joke, which had Joker cracking a joke in front of the Dark Knight. With both starting to laugh in the rain, we can see the laughter getting muted out in the final few panels, making us question whether Batman finally snapped and killed the Joker or not.

Finale of Batman: The Killing Joker (Image via DC Comics)

Batman's morality has always been a huge discussion amongst the fans. Adopting a no-kill rule, the Dark Knight does his best, not wanting to cross that line as he fears he will never be able to come back from it. There is also talk about how he won't be able to distinguish himself from his enemies.

However, Batman has killed many times in the comics before. While the adoption of Batman's no-kill rule was adopted in the modern era of comic books, in his original few appearances, the Dark Knight was pretty prone to taking lives. In his first few appearances, he can be seen gliding off into the sky while holding a rope with a dead man hanging by his neck.

In Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin, the Dark Knight has killed many times, burning criminals alive, and more. There was also an interaction with KG Beast where he buried him alive, but it was retconned later to reveal that he contacted the GCPD to come and pick him up. Throughout history, he has killed many people, but that code of his has still sticked.

However, the movies have been pretty less lenient with sticking to it. Ben Affleck's version of the Caped Crusader from the Zack Snyder films has been less forgiving of these criminals. While it is hinted that this Batman stuck to his code, it seems that one bad day made it all go wrong, and he dropped it.

Michael Keaton's Batman is pretty famous for this too. It looks like his character never had that no-killing rule, seeing how he would go around exploding factories with people inside of them, strapping a bomb to a criminal, or even burning one alive.

Christian Bale's Batman perhaps stuck to the code the most. Only killing when necessary, The Dark Knight dealt with showcasing how far a person can be pushed. Killing Harvey Dent in that now infamous scene, Bale's Bruce Wayne pretty much retired from being Batman. He also caused Ra's al Ghul to die in Batman Begins, but the morality behind that can still be questioned.

Whatever it may be, we don't know how Batman One Bad Day - The Riddler ends, considering it's left up to the readers. But it's interesting, seeing as to how it brought back that conversation from The Killing Joke.