For the most part, superhero origin stories are about as ridiculous as the powers that the characters end up with. Whether it’s being bitten by a radioactive whatnot, stumbling upon a magical MacGuffin or simply being an alien from outer space, costumed crimefighters don’t tend to come from particularly realistic backgrounds.
And then there’s Batman, traumatized child who witnessed his parents being murdered in an alleyway right in front of his very eyes, causing him to dedicate his entire adult life and extensive resources to making sure Gotham City doesn’t become overwhelmed by crime, all while dressing as a huge version of the thing that scares him most.
In short, the guy is nuts, and in a new interview The Suicide Squad star Nathan Fillion not only echoed that sentiment, but explained why the Dark Knight is much better off going to therapy for his issues, as opposed to beating people to a pulp with his bare hands on a nightly basis.
“When you look at the origins of heroes, something like Batman, and you think, ‘Oh, that’s great, his parents were killed, so now he dedicated his life to solving a crime’. No, that kid’s traumatized, and that man’s fricking crazy. He dresses up like a bat and he beats the crap out of people, that’s trauma. I mean, what if it were real, that guy should talk to somebody, he needs a therapist, he doesn’t need a Batmobile, he needs to get some thoughts out of his head, I mean that guy is haunted. Batman is not a crime fighter, he’s a traumatized child beating the crap out of people.”
Of course, Fillion’s character in The Suicide Squad is hardly in line for the dark and gritty treatment, with The Detachable Kid one of the silliest figures in a movie full of them. TDK is based on Arm-Fall-Off-Boy, who can detach his own limbs and use them as weapons, which doesn’t end up going very well for him in James Gunn’s R-rated DCEU blockbuster.
Ben Affleck’s Batman may have made a cameo appearance in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, but for someone with such a troubled past of his own, it’s hard to image Zack Snyder’s Caped Crusader sharing the screen with the wacky bunch of misfits that Gunn assembled for his irreverent adventure in Corto Maltese.
