Scott Snyder is one of the most influential Batman writers in recent memory, and Tom King is following suit with his own best-selling run on the Dark Knight. Monkeys Fighting Robots had the chance to speak with the two of them at MegaCon this past weekend, and we cut right to the chase. We asked them 1) what core elements they think make up Batman, and 2) if there’s a line that they would never cross with the character as writers.
Watch their full response here:
“We each have our own version,” Snyder began. “I know what he’s about, you know, and I know Tom knows what his version is about, and you sort of push at the boundaries of those things. Like, I like him being more of a character of inspiration than he was when I was a kid, where he was a little bit more about intimidation, which was important for that moment [in time] … But that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t kind of put him up against the things that kind of push the limits…”
“He’s the good guy, and he wins,” followed King. “Those are the two things to me. He’s the hero of the story. Life is too hard man, like people need a hero and Batman should be that hero. On the way to winning, he’s gonna sacrifice, he’s gonna get hurt, he’s gonna make the wrong decisions, but at the end of the day Batman comes out on top.”
On lines he won’t cross, Snyder said, “I still can’t figure out a way that I would have [Batman] kill and have a story out of that that doesn’t really break him in some way.” Guns were also a gray area for the writers. The character is famously anti-guns, but Tom and Scott were both able to recall stories where the Caped Crusader used the weapon effectively: “I can kind of see him using a gun like the way Grant [Morrison] did, the Omega bullet.”
What do you think? Is there a line that Batman can’t cross? A line that, if he were to cross it, he would cease to be Batman? Sound off in the comments below!
Keep it tuned to Monkeys Fighting Robots for more MegaCon interviews from this past weekend!
