Comic and Morality Morality in the Dark Knight Returns

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Morality in the Dark Knight Returns
The Dark Knight Returns comic is a 1986 four series comic book written by Frank Miller. Frank miller is an American comic writer and a novelist. In the comic, Dark Knight returns, when a menace known as Joker emerges from its past, he creates havoc and chaos among the people of Gotham. As a result, Batman must deal with the different physical and psychological tests of his ability to fight the injustice taking place despite of his old age. The comic is a representation of the moral complexity in our society whereby people have to justify their actions for them to seem right. Frank presents batman as a character whom the reader has to interpret his actions as being the lust for revenge or the desire to do what is right. Therefore, Ross, in his theory of “what makes things right” highlights ideas that explain the morality and course of action of Batman as also backed up Mill Stuart’s theory on Utilitarianism.
Ross’s theory on what makes things right argues out that whatever that produces maximum good is considered to be right. The pleasure in producing that goodness is the only thing considered to be good. Therefore, the theory focuses on the feelings involved in doing an action.
Mill Stuarts utilitarianism theory is based on the fact of whether something is wrong or right. An action is considered to be right if it is done with the aim of bringing happiness. On the other hand, an action is considered to be bad if it is made to bring sadness.
In regard to Ross on what makes things good, whatever that produces pleasure is good and, hence, Batman acts to do good by destroying the gang that was terrorizing the city of Gotham. Batman seems to be living a double life because he is disturbed by the murder of his parents and at the same time, is ready to do anything that would ensure the safety of the people of Gotham. As Ross would argue, killing is not the right way to create justice as evidenced by the fact that the police are looking to arrest Batman and his team. However, Batman feels that whatever he is doing is made to protect the people and therefore, it is the urge to do what is right according to him that makes things right. The government believes that criminals such as Two-Face should be arrested and persecuted for their crimes, but on the other hand, Batman sees that as a slow process and prefers deal with the gangs. According to Ross, when a man does an act based on his past, he does it in good faith without thinking about the consequences that it would cause in the current world. In the case of Batman, the murder of his parents pushes him into dealing with the gangs that were terrorizing the city of Gotham. His actions are guided by the pleasure to do what is right and I think that they should be acceptable in the society. The actions act as a lesson to the police that had struggled to eliminate the gang with no success.
In addition to the thought of Ross on what makes things right, commissioner Gordon deliberately releases the leader of the mutants and shows him an escape route that would lead him to the sewer outlet. It is at this sewer outlet whereby Batman was fighting and killing the mutants. According to the law, what commissioner Gordon did was wrong. However, after evaluating the situation whereby the leader of the mutants had killed the mayor during a negotiation, he deemed it right to seek the help of Batman by directing the mutant leader to him. The pleasure of having the leader killed and bringing back sanity in the city was the motivating factor of making things right. Therefore, according to Gordon, his acts were against the rules of the land, but at the end of the day, he played a big deal in saving the people of Gotham from the killings that were being done by the mutants. It is through his acts that the whole Batman story was televised hence driving the joker out of his catatonic state and also creating peace in the city.
As well, the actions of the mutants can be regarded as wrong because they get pleasure in killing people which is a bad act. For instance, their leader is stubborn enough to the extent of killing the mayor during a negotiation. In a real-world situation, negotiations are aimed at reaching an agreement that benefits both parties or is for the good of the people. Therefore, given the fact that the leader pretends to be up for negotiations but ends up killing the mayor is a reflection of his pleasure in doing evil. He doesn't care about the lives of the people of Gotham City but his own fame in the killings. Ross could refer to his character as a person who is self-centered because he does not care about the well-being of the other people. Also, the joker presents the pleasure of doing what is wrong with the aim of branding Batman as a murder so as to end his activities. The Joker and Batman engage in a fight and after realizing that Batman is in the process of defeating him, his twists his neck hence killing himself shortly before the arrival of the police. However, the good thing is that Batman is able to escape that trap to continue killing more mutants. The pleasure of the characters to do what is right or wrong has played a substantial role in propelling the narration of the comic. It has also helped the creator in coming up with different themes such as death, which help in revealing the various characteristics of his characters.
According to Ross, if a man chooses to fulfill a particular promise, he does so because it feels right but not due to the fact that he has evaluated the consequences.” That his act will produce the best possible consequ...