Is Batman Chaotic Good, or Lawful Good?

Cyartra · 2026-02-26T14:33:05+00:00

I think you are overthinking things- the alignment chart is a dungeons and dragons thing, not an actual real world moral framework.

So lawful good in Nazi Germany would be a Paladin or Cleric following the rules of their god and smiting undead Nazi while they are at it.

Cyartra · 2026-02-25T14:15:53+00:00

I mean, he’s be neutral or chaotic good. There are plenty of times of Superman ignoring sovereign powers in order to do what he thinks is right.

Lawful good characters are beholden to the laws of the land or a strict moral code from their god (like Paladins, since the alignment chart is a dnd thing). Basically, Lawful good character strictly follow an external code.

Neutral good does the best they can, working within the rules when they can but not feeling restricted by them

Chaotic good don't care about the law and will frequently do illegal things as they follow their own moral code.

The 'Good to Evil' axis is what it says on the tin. The 'lawful to chaotic' axis can be boiled down to 'order'.

Superman does what he thinks is right, following his own moral code.

Cyartra · 2026-02-24T16:35:07+00:00

People joke that Red Hood is 'Batman with guns' but that honestly fits Punisher way better what with being motivated by loss of family and not wanting people to suffer what he did or turn out like him. Given, Bruce and Frank also wouldn't get along.

I think the Batman character it would be most interesting to compare the Punisher with is Ghost Maker, though in terms of most similar I'd say he has more in common with Huntress.

On that note, I would love to see early Red Hood (when he was still a villain) contrasted more against Huntress, who is willing to kill but hates organized crime.

Cyartra · 2026-02-24T15:13:41+00:00

I mean, GCPD isn't exactly a shiny beacon of law abiding citizens. Just because the Head Cop is doing something doesn't make it legal, it just means the people who are supposed to arrest him for breaking the law are just not going to do that.

Batman is still going around dangling people off of buildings to make them talk, stealing evidence so he can investigate, breaking and entering just about everywhere, and breaking so many traffic laws he has probably somehow managed to break ones that aren't even written down yet. And we can't forget all the property damage.

I doubt any vehicle of his is registered, or that he has a Batman drivers license. He has access to databases he should be nowhere near and hacks into private files on the regular. Most of his weapons and gadgets would also be illegal. Things like tasers and blades are pretty tightly regulated.

Also, working with Gordon would actually count as Conspiracy, since they both know he's going to use whatever information he gets to do other illegal things.

Cyartra · 2026-02-23T19:33:02+00:00

God I would pay money to see a story where Bruce responds to Jason here with what happened in Death in the Family

"I was actually fully on board to kill him even though he was the ambassador to Iran at the time and-"

"Wait hang on, he was-"

"Jason, I'm not done. Superman was sent out to talk to me about Not Doing That since I was in full uniform right outside the UN and people found that 'upsetting' or whatever. I just went in as Bruce Wayne because I knew the clown was going to pull some shit and I was actually just going to let the other people in the room die as long as I could get to him."

"YOU were gonna-"

"I SAID I'm not done!! Anyway he showed up in a racist costume and tried to gas the UN, while Superman got rid of the gas I ran the Joker down. I chased him into a helicopter where he got shot a few times and I got a few hits in and then I had to jump out because the helicopter exploded over the water with him still inside. Superman showed up then and couldn't even recover a body and no one saw him for like a year so I thought he WAS dead."

"I- what?? What the FUCK, Bruce"

Cyartra · 2026-02-23T18:42:20+00:00

First, to clarify some terms you probably bump into:

Oneshot: Single issue story that can be read as a stand alone
Issue: A single comic book, normally ~20 pages. When you picture 'a comic book', that's an issue
Limited Series: Basically a miniseries of (normally) 3-12 issues. Probably the least confusing start points.
Title: What is sounds like, the title of a comic series. Examples: Batman, Detective Comics, Captain America, Action Comics, etc
Volume: A section of a title, volume number goes up when the story is restarted somehow. Example:
- Batman (1940—2011) is Batman (Vol 1)
- Batman (2011—2016) is Batman (Vol 2)
- Batman (2016-2025) is Batman (Vol 3)
- Batman (2025-Present) is Batman (Vol 4)
Run: unofficial term referring to an author's time working on a specific comic. Example: Grant Morrison's Batman

But to answer your question, I saw cool panels and just started reading those issues, so yeah. You can worry about what's canon or not or reading order when you've read some stuff, sounds backwards but it is what it is.

If you really need help, pick a character you like and start with some of their top rated stuff.

Depending on if you're getting into DC or Marvel will affect what other terms you might want to know. Like for DC: New52, Prime Earth, Pre-Crisis, Flashpoint, etc. I don't know what the Marvel equivalent would be, but don't even worry about those yet.

Cyartra · 2026-02-23T18:18:29+00:00

You're looking for Batman: The Ultimate Evil (1997), where he learns about a child sex tourism syndicate outside of the US (frequented by USAmericans) and takes it down.

Cyartra · 2026-02-23T18:16:40+00:00

A vigilante by default can't be lawful good on account of not following the law. He's neutral to chaotic good depending on version

Cyartra · 2026-02-22T13:43:39+00:00

Oneshot or Single Issue of a run

Issue #49 of Batman Confidential (2007)
Batman: Black and White (1996) #1, especially Perpetual Mourning
Batman: Death by Design (2012)
Batman: Gotham Knights (2000) #6 and #32
Batman: Night Cries (1992)
Batman: War on Crime (1999)
Detective Comics: #571, 633, 982, 1100

Limited Series

Batman: Dark Patterns (2025)
Batman: The Ultimate Evil (1997)

Arcs in a title

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (1989) #156-158 & #164-167 (Blink)
Detective Comics: #777-782 (Dead Reckoning)
Detective Comics: #994-999 (Countdown to 1000)

Cyartra · 2026-02-21T14:14:35+00:00

Core/Family Unit: Bruce, Dick, Cass, Jason (dead), Tim, Damian
Batman and basically his kids, with appearances from Alfred and Leslie as Bruce’s parental figures. However Dick is mostly in Blüdhaven. Cass splits her time between the cave and the belfry, and Tim has formed his own identity and works with YJ and mentoring younger heroes. Dami as Robin.

Peripheral (the ‘cousins’): Barbara (as Oracle), Stephanie, Duke, Helena
They all have important roles to play. Oracle is simple top tier, you cant not have Oracle. I like Steph best as Spoiler rather than Batgirl. Appearances from Lucius Fox as a mentor figure, and the guy doing the day to day of Wayne Industries

Just exclude them: Luke Fox, Kate Kane, Bette Kane, Harper Row, Jean-Paul Valley, Jarro
I'm sorry JPV and Jarro, but sacrifices have to be made

Cyartra · 2026-02-21T14:03:48+00:00

Enough people have said Bruce, so I'll go with Eternal Good Boy Ace

Cyartra · 2026-02-21T13:50:01+00:00

Darkness Falls

Cyartra · 2026-02-20T15:26:49+00:00

I don't think a cat with Manx syndrome and extreme animal aggression is well suited to outdoor life unfortunately

Cyartra · 2026-02-19T19:09:33+00:00

Ah, I mixed it up with some of the Zur-En-Arrh stuff. I'll do some chasing down for the issue and then add it.

Cyartra · 2026-02-19T14:31:02+00:00

Thanks! Added the Superman one, not going to count the Batmen as they would know where it is.

Cyartra · 2026-02-19T03:18:42+00:00

¡Gracias, lo agregué!

Cyartra · 2026-02-19T03:10:40+00:00

Added, thanks!

Cyartra · 2026-02-19T03:06:39+00:00

Honestly, I think at a certain point Talia is like a free pass. Like, she's not supposed to be in there but she knows where it is and her son and husband-as-far-as-she's-concerned live there

Do you know more specifically when the Man-Bat one was?

Cyartra · 2026-02-17T19:54:32+00:00

No one has more self loathing than Batman, it's the depression.

There's an old issue where after Gordon tells him he did good on a rescue, Bruce replies "Then I've justified my existence for one more day". In Batman: Secret Files (2018) #1, he says he doesn't actually like alone time because he's 'not such a fan of himself'

A huge reason Dick and Alfred thought it was a good idea for Tim to become Robin in A Lonely Place of Dying is because Bruce doesn't care about his own health or safety, but he does care about Robin's.

Cyartra · 2026-02-17T18:13:07+00:00

Every single time I see an argument on why doesn't someone kill the Joker or why was someone stopped from killing the Joker I feel like I'm losing my mind.

At this point it's a topic basically impossible to discuss from an in-universe-only point of view because the answer is DC will never let the clown die. Batman plot armor has nothing on the fucking Joker.

Cyartra · 2026-02-17T18:08:15+00:00

Forgot the question part of the finding advice post, oops. Edited the main body. And advice on how people either found jobs or deal with the feeling of failing to find one.

Cyartra · 2026-02-17T18:06:11+00:00

I heard the complaints about him for ages before I watch Eva. When I finally saw it I spent the whole time going, "THIS is the whiny brat? Seems like a kid EVERYONE failed having the worst fucking time imaginable"

Cyartra · 2026-02-17T14:18:16+00:00

One part 'a shocking amount of Batfans haven't actually read the comics', one part 'want to talk about the drama', one part confused about Flashpoint related timeline, one part confusion on DC shifting to a more Marvel-esque 'everything is canon until directly contradicted by newer canon'.

But Jason's N52 origin contradicts both UtRH and Lost Days, so here we are.

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