As Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman reminded the world, “Batman doesn’t kill,” and comic lovers will get vicious in making sure everyone knows it. But if superhero fans thought Ben Affleck’s Batman crossed the line with his most controversial movie kill, then seeing how DC’s ultra-violent new Batman solved the same problem is going to send them into an all-out rage.

Batman v Superman’s “I Believe You” Kill Sparked A Massive Fan Debate

Zack Snyder Recreated “The Dark Knight Returns” (With One Change)

As has been well-documented, Batman v Superman showed the dark knight playing fast and loose with his enemies’ safety, blasting goon guns and vehicles to pieces with impugnity. And while director Zack Snyder wasn’t too bothered to admit that Batman probably killed some people, one death scene stood out from the rest, drawing controversy like no other.

Recreating a scene from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, Batman finds himself in a standoff: facing an enemy with a hostage, gun in hand, promising to kill them. With a gun in his own hand, Batman decides that “I believe you,” and fires a shot that instantly ends the thug. The hostage is saved, but Batman’s use of deadly force was pointed to by many critics as a perfect example of how Snyder’s Batman failed the character.

Batman Kills in Dark Knight Returns Comic by Frank Miller

Those who defended Snyder and Affleck’s version would claim that shooting an explosive weapon wasn’t the same as shooting the actual thug, as Dark Knight Returns showed. While others would claim the bullet hole and splatter behind Miller’s goon was not evidence of being shot, so Batman’s immediate “BRAKKK” was unproblematic.

Regardless, the return of the scene in question has given DC’s new Absolute Batman a chance to try his own hand at the problem. While also raising an overlooked question: does Batman need a gun to instantly kill an enemy?

The New Batman Deals With This BvS Hostage Scene Differently

Absolute Batman 2025 Annual #1 by Daniel Warren Johnson & Mike Spicer

Absolute Batman Recreates Dark Knight Returns Scene

Things go quite differently when the new, Absolute Batman finds himself in the same scenario (with writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson even echoing the dialogue seen in Miller and Snyder’s renditions). Instead of hesitating, though, Batman unleashes a jaw-dropping assault that blasts the line between lethal and non-lethal force into dust.

What makes this version of events so uniquely brutal is the obvious rage and hunger for violence behind Bruce’s attacks. Playing the same game if ‘what Batman could’ve done,’ there is no question a batarang to the hand would incapacitate the shooter just as well. Instead, Bruce embeds three batarangs into the man’s eyes, followed by a fatal-grade knee to the face.

Batman Batarang Attacks And Knees Thug in Face in Comic Art

While Bruce gathers up the keys to his new Batmobile , readers witness no motion, no sound, or any other sign of life from the man in question. But then, why would they, having seen him so devastatingly dispatched in just two panels.

Even if fans try to chalk the multiple projectiles up to ‘making sure one hits,’ or blame the head-imploding kick to the artistic style of Daniel Warren Johnson, the point is made. This Absolute version of Batman is one even Zack Snyder and Ben Affleck’s version would avoid in Gotham’s darkest alleys.

Absolute Batman 2025 Annual #1 is available now from DC Comics.