The problem with characters like Joker and Norman is that despite their escalation in violence/murder over the course of their runs, their "punishments" for committing these crimes is always "live to kill another day." They never get a satisfying comeuppance for the level of crime they commit in their respective worlds. The longer they stick around, the more absurd it seems that someone hasn't put a bullet in their heads, and it really starts to break the believability of the world when they slip through yet again.
I'm totally down with Batman and Spider-Man not killing. I think it's cool. I could probably understand Batman killing someone at some point. Dude has issues. But Peter Parker is the quintessential everyman. I like that he's a beacon of hope.
Joker and Norman are great characters, sure, but I'd be completely okay with them being well and truly killed off for good. In a series of comics in which there are infinite earths and multi-verses, it's not like the writers can't find ways to bring them back into the story after the "prime" version of the character is put down for good. Yes, these are classic, iconic characters, but I feel like, at this point in time, it cheapens the heroes when writers have to contort themselves into incredibly banal justifications for why "I just won't stoop to your level by killing you! It's letting you off easy!" Like, word to the wise, superhero: they're fucking sociopaths. They literally don't prescribe to the same level of empathy and compassion as you do, so they don't suffer from, say, the guilt and anguish from doing the horrible things they do, so at no point are they ever going to really get some kind of "karmic retribution," or eye-opening moment of clarity where they ask "Am I the baddie?"
At some point, the reader is like, "Dude, he murdered your wife/husband, child, grandparents, in-laws, your great uncle Jed and his prized horse, your dog, trampled on your flower garden, oh, and murdered hundreds, thousands of people with his latest scheme to poison the city's water supply because he thought it'd be funny or some shit. Just end his ass already!"
I think, considering that these iconic heroes are most certainly meant to be inspiring for young readers, showing them that doing the right thing isn't something to shy away from, and being a good person at your core is what matters, I don't want Peter or Bruce to directly kill Norman and Joker. Keep their morality intact, but stop blueballing us when it comes to these fuckers never getting their comeuppance. As if the real world isn't full of that shit already. Some character, sure, lock them up. Rhino, Kraven, Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, whatever, those guys can stay behind bars. But people like Norman and Joker? Either give them the chair, or have someone who were victimized by them take matters into their own hands and take them out for good.
Then, when you want to bring that villain back, dip into the countless parallel earths and drop him off in the 616 and Prime universes, and maybe have some fun with a new version of an iconic villain, perhaps establishing his own rivalry with Peter and Bruce, not retreading the same tired tension that's been simmering like some twisted episode of Moonlighting for 70 years. In the world I comics, I actually do feel like you can have your cake and eat it too when it comes to the "iconic" villain getting justice, but still able to continue stories with said character.
Hell, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker had a fantastic execution of that concept now that I think about it.
So I'm not so much on #teamspideyshouldkillnorman, but more #teamcanwejustoffthesepsychoticsociopathsalready
