posted 19 years ago
I think part of the issue is the legacy of Batman, as legend. This is hard to explain, but Batman is meant to be Really Menacing. There is something less then menacing about actually seeing him engage in hand-to-hand combat, vs., say, watching him walk into a dark room, hearing a few thuds, and seeing a dozen people knocked out.
It works the same way that unseen horror in a movie can be more chilling them lots of blood & gore. I think the mythos of Batman demands that we view him as a BMF: we don't know exactly how he does what he does, but there's not question that he does it well, and he could probably do it to you.
The only thing that really bothered me, to be honest, was his refusal to save RAG. That definitely wasn't in character.
[ June 20, 2005: Message edited by: Max Habibi ]