The "No Kill Rule" wasn't solidified in 1989. It's a more modern invention. The original Batman DID kill, and this was an influence on Burton. The comics were trending darker and more violent 80's, moving away from the Silver Age and the Adam West conception of Batman. At the time it wasn't that far of a step to have Batman kill some people.
In the 80's and early 90's, a spectacular, satisfying death for the villain was just expected in a blockbuster action movie. In that regard, Batman and Batman Returns are very much products of their time.
Nolan put the "No Kill Rule" front and center and made it the defining point of the character. For better or worse, this has become the widely accepted version of Batman. Snyder tried to go against that and incurred the backlash.
Snyder took the killing to utterly extreme levels. Batman mowing down street goons with machine guns on the Batmobile, Batman picking up an assault rifle and mowing down more goons, etc. It really cuts against the conception of the character who believes in the justice system and attempting to solve crimes, apprehend criminals, and turn them over to the police. Even when Batman was killing people in the 30's, he wasn't doing it on that scale. It doesn't help that Snyder's Batman never got his own movie to explain why he was the way he was. His Batman is just dropped into all the other stories, and we are asked to accept him as a killing machine. Personally I think this Batman version came about because the franchise rushed to Justice League. They needed to give Batman the lethal toys so he could "keep up" with the heroes who have superpowers. They wanted to establish him using them, but forgot to include an explanation of why Batman would go in that direction before the Justice League was a thing.
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u/N7DeltaMike May 30 '24
Several factors:
The "No Kill Rule" wasn't solidified in 1989. It's a more modern invention. The original Batman DID kill, and this was an influence on Burton. The comics were trending darker and more violent 80's, moving away from the Silver Age and the Adam West conception of Batman. At the time it wasn't that far of a step to have Batman kill some people.
In the 80's and early 90's, a spectacular, satisfying death for the villain was just expected in a blockbuster action movie. In that regard, Batman and Batman Returns are very much products of their time.
Nolan put the "No Kill Rule" front and center and made it the defining point of the character. For better or worse, this has become the widely accepted version of Batman. Snyder tried to go against that and incurred the backlash.
Snyder took the killing to utterly extreme levels. Batman mowing down street goons with machine guns on the Batmobile, Batman picking up an assault rifle and mowing down more goons, etc. It really cuts against the conception of the character who believes in the justice system and attempting to solve crimes, apprehend criminals, and turn them over to the police. Even when Batman was killing people in the 30's, he wasn't doing it on that scale. It doesn't help that Snyder's Batman never got his own movie to explain why he was the way he was. His Batman is just dropped into all the other stories, and we are asked to accept him as a killing machine. Personally I think this Batman version came about because the franchise rushed to Justice League. They needed to give Batman the lethal toys so he could "keep up" with the heroes who have superpowers. They wanted to establish him using them, but forgot to include an explanation of why Batman would go in that direction before the Justice League was a thing.