Your next antagonist, how do you beat him?

time travel. kill his mother before he's born and he'll never be trapped in the intrinsic field experiment chamber.

How do you think be became the antagonist in the first place?

Claim he gives people cancer.

why not just trap yourself in the intrinsic field experiment chamber instead?

>doesn't know about causality

If you could or were successful there wouldn't be a Dr.M to stop.

At most you would just create a parallel timeline that diverges at his mothers death, but who cares about those assholes, it's this universe you want to affect.

if that were possible the US would've created a Manhattan Brigade when they figured out how it worked, right?

>At most you would just create a parallel timeline that diverges at his mothers death
is the desired outcome, yes.

Therapy

Just throw a young nubile woman his way, they have a track record of messing his judgement up far better than any tachyons have.

Because being Dr. Manhattan is a fate worse than death.

Just wait him out.

He'll get bored and fuck off to space.

I don't think you've read the comic or watched the movie

Ask him politely if he could leave us alone as we're not really worthwhile collectively.

Do nothing. Wait for him to get bored of my planet and wander off.

Superman, apparently.

>Being omnipotent
He isn't, he even admits to this.

Couldn't Manhattan just turn Supes into ash with just a thought?

I'd leave him be and just hope I don't end up on his deconstructive side.

I hesitate to write this, given the data I don't have, but here's what I can tell you:

DC recently (read, in the last 2 years or so) retconned their continuity again, creating the Rebirth line of comics. This continuity asserts that the DC New 52 Timeline was a deliberate ACT by some being, meant to tamper with the DC universe for unknown and presumably nefarious reasons.

The comic explaining all of this ends with Batman finding the Comedian's pin in his Cave, implying that Dr Manhattan did it.

There is a large arc unfolding...probably right about now, of the Doomsday Clock, and the unveiling of how the Watchmen universe and the main DC universe have become connected.

So it's entirely possible that Superman and Dr Manhattan recently fought, and Supes won, in the comics. Again, I don't know.

I miss the time when all that happened in comics was Iron man giving solid dick and Lex Luthor stealing cakes.
Shit got so high stakes it seems

Found the bard

sadly true

That, or he could turn his clothing into kryptonite

Tell him we are better off without him. He creates nothing but trouble for everyone else. Nobody loves you, Dr. Manhattan, go sob somewhere in the eternity of space.

>Vaporizes the entirety of humanity
>Our tombstone reads "Because user was a prick"

Help him achieve inner peace

There is a big draw for broader events with big arcs and continuity and so forth, but that doesn't mean they're always super dark or grim. And there are comics that subvert the ongoing trends in some really cool ways.

Like, I personally will recommend War of Jokes and Riddles to everyone I meet. It's a recent Batman arc about a time (it's a flashback story to like, Bruce's second year as Batman) when The Riddler and The Joker went to war, turning Gotham into a bloodbath. Because they both want to kill Batman THEIR WAY, and they can't allow the other to succeed.

The ending subverts the entire enterprise, in what I thought was a really cool way.

It turns out, that's not why the war is going on at all. The Riddler figured out that the Joker couldn't laugh ( this is his ongoing motivation through the arc; he keeps killing people in silly ways or weird sounding places, but he just doesn't find it funny anymore), and made the entire war happen, setting up all the pieces, so a TV Weatherman would become a stupid fucking Villain (Kite Man), and he would be instrumental in Joker's victory over The Riddler. Because "Batman and Joker stop Riddler; Kite-Man Saves the Day" sounded like a joke funny enough to make the Joker laugh.

All of it, the dozens of people dead, the lives ruined, the sides drawn, were the Riddler trying to cheer up his frenemy.

This causes a really simple but fun climax, that I'll refrain from spoiling unless asked.

>acts like the biggest jerk humanity every known
>because of one little user acting like a prick
Don't be such thin skinned faggot, Dr. Manhattan. Grow some skin and leave.

I read the spoiler, but now I'm interested. I'll go pirate it or something thanks for the suggestion m8

I'm only interested enough to read posts on Veeky Forums, spoil me bro.

Happy to help.

One of the advantages of working at the comic shop is that if there's not a ton of people in the shop, we end up reading a bunch of the comics, so we can have advice and suggestions for when people ask us things.

So, like, when it's 2 in the Afternoon, I can just plow through a stack of 6-7 comics in an hour or two.

Some other options if you want:

US-Avengers is about an offshoot of the Avengers run by Roberto De Costa, who bought longtime Marvel villain corporation AIM and is trying to make it good. His team is like, Squirrel Girl, Red Hulk, and some "Literally Who"s, and they get in some ridiculous shit.

Gwenpool can be pretty fun, as it's about a nerdy girl who is now in the Marvel Universe, so she understands the tropes and conventions. There's an issue where she and her friends end up in a D&D style world, and when the DM appears, she's immediately knows who it is and what's going on, because there's only a couple people in the Marvel franchise who could do that.

There's Gotham City Garage, which is "Woman-based Mad Max DC Future". Luthor is Friend Computer, Batman is the Thought Police, and Supergirl was adopted by Jim Gordon.

Then there's books like Backstagers and Lumberjanes, which are just "Mostly Gay teens exploring magical surroundings and learning about friendship."

Shit, even Punisher: Platoon, which is a series about the Punisher's time in Vietnam has some fun/funny shit.

Sure thing.

Firstly, the Riddler explains all this to Batman after shouting "Shut up! This isn't about you! NOT EVERY STORY IS YOUR STORY!" Which is just a fun thing to yell at Batman in a Batman comic.

And he explains his plan with Kite Man, who, it should be noted, he turned into a villain by poisoning his 8-year-old son through a kite string. He murdered a child with a dumb prop as part of a plan to get the guy to make that his symbol. We spent a whole issue seeing this war unfold through Kite-Man's eyes, how close he came to being killed, his grief and sorrow at losing his son. His son's last words being fear that, since he "said a bad word, he might go to the bad place".

This revelation, the sheer inhumanity of what the Riddler's done drives Batman momentarily berserk, and he kicks him across the room,
grabs a knife, and charges him, blade raised to fucking gut him.

The Joker catches the knife through his hand, halting the blow with his own flesh and blood.

And just starts fucking cackling.

"Joker saves Life from Bloodthirsty Batman" was apparently just the kind of joke he needed.

Batman takes them to jail, but it's the day he realized that if he didn't control himself, he'd kill them. That deep down, he WANTED to kill them. And that if he did, he'd be no better than them. "Joker saves Life from Batman".

>And that if he did, he'd be no better than them

No. A surgeon cutting out a tumour isn't guilty of murdering a cancer.

Through civilised discussion and debate. There's literally no other way, even for an epic level party.

user, I may share your sentiments but if Batman put a bullet through their heads he would very soon run out of good villains to fight

Imagine how that kind of statement reads to someone who has to live in that reality.

Meh, just rich people things

Wish

Ooh, I messed up a word there.

And that if he did, he'd BECOME no better than they were.

In that moment, it was the JOKER who saved someone. Not Batman. And yes, he'd have been justified. Few would mourn the Riddler. But how many more of those moments would he face? How justified is justified ENOUGH? Where do you draw the line, and what do you do when you find yourself standing on the other side of it? How many men can you illegally kill before you're clearly also in the wrong?

I think it's honestly a question that works better in another hero's storyline, as most of Batman's villains are played a little more on-rails. Most of them have very few moments of real empathy or pathos. But compare to someone like The Flash, where Captain Cold sees his bank heist has fucked up a shipment of Christmas toys to an orphanage, and immediately stops fighting, drops his loot, and forces his team to drop their loot, in exchange for an agreement that they just walk away, and don't pull any new shit until after New Year's.

Because being rich is great, but fucking up a bunch of orphans' Christmas wouldn't be worth it to him.

Still not buying it.

Joker and Riddler have killee between them a shit load of people among other things. Batman is going to put them in Gotham's prison which he knows might as well have a revolving door.

Removing them after they have escaped the first time and shown no inclination to reform would be entirely justified.

That's dumb because nothing will ever be as simple as it could be and if you're counting on the could be you will be left with nothing.

>immune to non magical weapons
>what he does is not magic
easy-peasy

Not that user, but that's literally what happened. Ozy outsmarted captain blue and won. Sure, Manhattan comes back and all, but Ozy still won.

kill his loved ones, he should stop caring about the rest and fuck off

Sorry but it really is that simple

>Super Villain shenanigans, people die
>Batman Kapows them
>Super Villain gets sent to Gotham Asylum/Prison
>Super Villain escapes
>Super Villain shenanigans, people die
>Batman Kapows them
>Super Villain gets sent to Gotham Asylum/Prison
>Super Villain escapes
>Super Villain shenanigans, people die
>Batman Kapows them
>Super Villain gets sent to Gotham Asylum/Prison
>Super Villain escapes
>Super Villain shenanigans, people die
>Batman Kapows them
>Super Villain gets sent to Gotham Asylum/Prison
>Super Villain escapes
>Super Villain shenanigans, people die
>Batman Kapows them
>Super Villain gets sent to Gotham Asylum/Prison
>Super Villain escapes
>Super Villain shenanigans, people die
>Batman Kapows them
>Super Villain gets sent to Gotham Asylum/Prison
>Super Villain escapes
>And again and again and again

At some point any sane man would realize that letting them get sent to such a porous holding box is a shit idea because they will be out again in a matter of hours to weeks. If a bullet had been put in Joker after his second or third escape and murder many more and better lives would have been saved. But then we aren't dealing with a sane man. We're dealing with someone who dresses up as a flying rodent and wears his underpants on the outside.

If joker is always going to escape in gotham, why not put him somewhere else? Or hell, the phantom zone.

I use all of the tachyons.

because superhero comics are not supposed to be part of a coherent setting

Sure, I get that, and in a normal context I would ignore it. The joker escaping is a conciet of Batman, that's it.
If you are going to have a character intrude on the status quo, like superman deciding to pull a Saitama on joker, I question why that character doesn't us their normal method of super villain containment.

Never knew Riddler was such a fucking bro.

Sure, but user posted Rorschach, not Ozzy

I think he tried that in his (newish) backstory comic. Kept creating alternate timelines to avoid existing, found out he keeps existing no matter what he does, ended up just saying fuck it and combining them to avoid some sort of multiversal collapse or something.

If Rory outsmarted Ozzy who outsmarted the Monad does it mean he outsmarted the Monad too?

Sounds like a boring and ultimate pointless comic.

The problem is that Batman is too weak to kill The Joker. You're right, the best possible move Batman could make is to kill that son of a bitch and save countless lives in the future. But while Batman'd definitely prefer to kill The Joker than let him live, he knows that killing will send him down the slippery slope. First it's The Joker, then it's Bane, then it's The Penguin and Clayface. Then the Riddler, then Mr. Freeze, none of his rogue's gallery will be spared. Any mercy he holds for the common criminal will be gone. You steal someone's purse? Batman will murder you. It wouldn't happen right away, but the inevitable result is the totalitarian rule of Gotham city by Batman.

This line isn't something unique to Batman, plenty of heroes face it. There's some episodes of the Justice League cartoon that show an alternative universe where Lex Luthor murdered the Flash and became president, and then Superman murdered him with his heat vision. From there, he and the rest of the justice league take over the earth and place it under their complete control, enforcing even minor laws with an iron fist. It's one of the reasons Amanda Waller is always fucking with the Justice League, because if they go rogue and there aren't safeguards in place, the earth is fucked.

When you have supervillains threatening people, superheroes are there to stop them. But when the superheroes become the villains, there's no one to stop them. Being a hero is harder than being a villain, so for heroes to consistently trump their villains while maintaining stronger morals, it means they've got more power and potential. Stop restricting that with morals and you have some of the most efficient villains the world has seen.

>he knows
He should stop believing he knows everything and give violence a try. There is no reason it would kill any mercy for common criminals. Regular criminals are nowhere near as bad Joker, they did less evil in their lives and can be redeemed.

Bruce just kinda has hang ups, regardless of how correct he is about them. He's a damaged man.

>he manipulates physical energies
>get a wizard of like lvl 20
>???????????
>PROFIT!

>stronger morals

When did cowardice become the more moral choice?

>First it's The Joker, then it's Bane, then it's The Penguin and Clayface. Then the Riddler, then Mr. Freeze, none of his rogue's gallery will be spared. Any mercy he holds for the common criminal will be gone. You steal someone's purse? Batman will murder you.
Literally nothing wrong with this.
>the inevitable result is the totalitarian rule of Gotham city by Batman.
>muh slippery slope
Nah.

Triggered

This is an ANCIENT arguement. user 2 is correct that the no kill rule simply doesn't hold up against the endless list of murder that the villains are responsible for. Time and again writers have to hammer NO BECAUSE I'LL BE NO BETTER THAN HIMMMMMM because it's the only way to keep the villain so they can bring them back again. It goes back to when the comics were just kids shit and each issue was more or less isolated. it really doesn't hold up to more coherent storytelling, and there's plenty of deconstructions of this.

The only tale that REALLY holds up as a counter argument is Supermans "what's so funny about truth justice and the american way", or Superman vs The Elite. But this only works because it's Superman, and Superman legitimately has the power and ability to do things his way and do them right, and the Elite represent something a bit more cynical and less put upon than Supermans strained "no killing" code.

Never. It's what cowards write to assuage their emotional incontinence. They don't have the personal experience to understand self-control, pragmatic restraint, or moral discernment.

Batman has even admitted that his logic is bullshit. But it's what he needs to tell himself so that he doesn't do it even once. The truth is that Batman isn't too weak, he's too scared. He's too afraid that if he stops showing mercy, he won't be able to stop because in the end he's just as insane as most of his villains. But his admittance still remains: He could, he should, and it wouldn't actually make him start murdering criminals en-masse, he knows that damn well. He's just too scared by the ever so small and unlikely chance that he WOULD to go through with it.

TL;DR: His slippery slope argument is total BS and he god damn well knows it, but he's a pussy.

I guess, he was patient in asylum before? What would it take to heal him?

More therapy than he'll ever be willing to let anyone have. Among his many issues is paranoia, and he'll likely never get any kind of therapy because it would involve letting someone know his biggest secrets. But I guess if I had to name Batman's BIGGEST mental problem, I'd say Disassociative Identity Disorder. I don't know if this is canon outside of the DCAU, but he has specifically said that he doesn't even think of himself as Bruce Wayne anymore, he thinks of himself as Batman. Pretty lame evidence for diagnosing a mental illness, but eh, if the boot fits.

No sane person is a superhero, they're all capable of snapping and turning evil.

Ah, the law of Conservation of Evil

>How many men can you illegally kill before you're clearly also in the wrong?

All of them.

With love

I wonder why manga protagonists generally don't seem to have this problem. Is it because it's a single continuous story?

I'm surprised some Gotham police officer hasn't just shot the Joker dead for 'resisting arrest'.

No. Plots and conspiracies are not a powerlevel based system. Raw intelligence and competence matter, but your matchup matters too.

It is for comics, too; barring reboots.

I know you mean "shoot him anyway" but I don't think Joker ever has actually resisted arrest.
I think he's usually laughing the whole time.

>the inevitable result is the totalitarian rule of Gotham city by Batman.

How much worse than the current municipal government could it be?

Lay low until he gets bored and leaves.

Its not like Batman is some imaginay personality hes cooked up, though. He really is Batman. I mean, putting your underwear on the outside and runnuing around in the night fistfighting villains isn't exactly indicitive of solid mental health but it doesnt scan as an -identity- disorder, really

Punch him til he dies.

Or just given him a normal ass lethal injection through the regular legal channels. Maybe gotham is in a liberal af state that frowns on capital punishment or something, but people tend to get over that sort of thing when you bomb a couple hospitals.

Hillbilly #9 when Comic user?

Could he be trapped within a black hole? he has teleportation, but it doesn't do jack shit when the atoms he displaces can't escape the event horizon. The Doc's strength is not infinite, he simply has absolute control over matter configuration. But even absolute has a concrete ceiling. I think if we collapsed the Doc into a singularity of infinite gravity(or in other words, into a point of non-space) maybe, just maaybe, we could stop him.

Until he develops post-singularity non-physics I guess.

Call for Stardust!

Explain how murdering all his men (if any) and destroying all his plans, and maybe even killing him is perfectly logical.

You don't actually need it to to be logical, you just need to make it sound like you've thought about it for maybe 10 min, and you are convinced it's a good idea. - Regardless if it runs counter to his ideas or not.

Killing the Joker is a one-way ticket into a Bad End storyline. See Kingdom Come, the Batman who Laughs, Injustice, etc.

Besides being iconic, it means that whatever killed the Joker became something even worse than him. Usually with superpowers.

What if the Joker killed himself?

The you get our timeline.

So, the moral of the story is, you can't stop bad people doing bad things even though you have the power to do so, because something convoluted will happen to make things worse?

Sounds like a pretty shitty moral.

Batman wouldn't even need to kill the Joker if the justice system in Gotham did its fucking job and actually protect its own society.

There's a reason one man having the moral and legal authority to be his community's judge, jury, and executioner is a terrible idea. It's because society has to share the burden of that decision collectively.
Telling someone like Batman, who is a hero in every respect, that he has ultimate power in deciding who lives or dies is not only not fair, it's immoral. It's society saying "we're too fucking stupid/incompetent/pussy to take responsibility for the future safety of our society and collectively decide to kill this murderous psychopath, so you do it!"

Dude, I play Exalted. He's small fucking potatoes.

>But then we aren't dealing with a sane man
>because you see, sane men have cavalier attitudes about killing people

No. Sane men kill with intent, consideration and reluctance. But they do the duty

>Dude, I play Exalted.
Poor lad