Poll: What Alignment is Batman?

[Doom972]

Neutral good. His primary goal is to protect the innocent regardless of the law. He sometimes strays from his alignment (like any interesting character) - but that doesn't mean an instant alignment shift.

 

[shrimpcel]

Well, since we have all these possibilities, I'd say that makes him Neutral-Insane (just kidding, I know they don't necessarily represent the same person).

 

[MoreThanANoob]

That's a nice little bell curve you've got there on the poll.

I'm not entirely sure where I'd place him. I haven't followed the comics, so my knowledge is sketchy at best regarding the intricacies of the Batman mythos. If I had to choose, I'd say Chaotic Good. Yes, he fights crime, but his participation in the crime fighting continues a vicious cycle of "bad guy gets beat by Batman, other bad guy thinks he's better than first bad guy, gets beat by Batman, repeat". Or something like that.

Like I said, I don't follow the universe very closely.

 

[natster43]

Lawful good or neutral. He follows his own strict moral code, which can be considered lawful, but he also works outside the law (at least in some iterations and such) so yeah one of those two I'd say.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

As little as I know about/like assigning to other things, D&D alignments, I'll say Chaotic Good. He stops crime, which is a good thing, but his motivations are not entirely altruistic, he isn't constrained by the law or sanctioned by it and his methods are sometimes questionable. I'm mostly going off the most recent Batman if you haven't guessed, none of that family friendly crap. There's also the fact that his existence is at this stage sort of promoting crime as villains like the Joker appear who aren't really trying to actually commit crime so much as screw with Batman, meaning to an extent he is counterproductive, but for selfish reasons won't admit it. His refusal to use guns almost puts him in Neutral Good, but...nah. CG.

 

[Lunar Templar]

easy easy.

Batman is all of them, varying more on the moment then incarnation

 

[synobal]

Lawful good, he has a code he doesn't break it, specifically the 'don't use guns' portion of it. So ya Lawful good hands down.

 

[fletch_talon]

Lawful Good.
He maintains a strict moral code which revolves around the protection of the innocent.
You don't have to follow "the law" to be lawful. Otherwise there wouldn't be many characters who were lawful evil. Unless being lawful/chaotic changes depending on where/when you are since laws change.

 

[spartan231490]

His alignment is Deus ex Machina. Really, how is there any debate.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Not sure, but considering he has a green lantern ring, I'd say lawfully good.

<spoiler=EDIT: This seems appropriate>http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/7/72188/1635841-1294698_green_lantern_batman1_super_super.jpg

 

[Mr F.]

Well, I will put it like this. I am a DM, if I had current film era batman in my game and he was a paladin he could kiss goodbye to his power.

Its down to which batman and personal preference though. I consider Carrot in Pratchetts books to be lawful good, Vimes to be more Chaotic Good. But as someone has said, do not try and break down things that are not contained within DND using this system. It makes very little sense.

Good, evil, neutral, they are all the same side of the same coin.

I prefer cosmic horror.

 

[Altorin]

i don't think he is lawful, because batman doesn't always uphold the law.

however he always tries to do good while balancing out everything, and he never kills, therefore i wouldn't put him at chaotic either, so neutral good is my guess.

The Adam West batman was very Lawful. He worked very closely with the police and was a positive societal rolemodel.

however, in general, he's Chaotic Good

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

i don't think he is lawful, because batman doesn't always uphold the law.

however he always tries to do good while balancing out everything, and he never kills, therefore i wouldn't put him at chaotic either, so neutral good is my guess.

The Adam West batman was very Lawful. He worked very closely with the police and was a positive societal rolemodel.

however, in general, he's Chaotic Good

true, that was before my time, so i forgot about that batman

but yeah i'd place him between neutral/chaotic, depends on the author/writer of the series/adaptation.

 

[WoW Killer]

Anything other than Lawful Good is wrong. Talking mainly of the Nolan interpretation here. The whole theme of the second film is overwhelmingly Lawful Good. He could kill the bad guys straight up, but that would be giving in to vigilantism. He wants Gotham to be able to fix its problems for itself through the courts, hence the whole thing with Harvey.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

That depends on the movie/show/game, doesn't it? But generally speaking he would be either Lawful Good or Chaotic Good. "You're truly incorruptible," says the Joker (hence the lawfulness). But he does use that illegal gimmick to trace the Joker's call at the end of Dark Knight (as pointed by Lucius). So... bleh, I dunno.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Batman is ridiculously lawful and arguably good. He never breaks his code under virtually any circumstances, and often opposes others not based around how they are harming innocents, but around how they are breaking his code. As far as his goodness is concerned, his intent is mostly to help better society and stop crime at an extreme cost to himself, which is quite obviously good. On the other hand, he is primarily motivated to do so out of revenge in many cases, which is not so good. He also is quite willing to utilize underhanded tactics as long as they don't break his code, which is also not very good. So he's definitely lawful, and either good or neutral depending on what aspects the writer or reader wishes to focus on. For me he's lawful good though.

Edit- and people really shouldn't equate the Paladin code with lawful good, or lawfulness in general. Otherwise, as others have pointed out, the idea of lawful evil makes very little sense.

 

[DoPo]

Well, I will put it like this. I am a DM, if I had current film era batman in my game and he was a paladin he could kiss goodbye to his power.

While true, I guess that'd be because he doesn't follow the paladin code more than anything. In Batman TAS he is mostly LG with some slip ups but clearly LG. Or maybe he's like...80% Good and 20% Neutral or so. He still won't be getting paladin powers, though.

 

[Souplex]

Depends on which iteration of Jason Batman. (Someone on the internet needs to make a funny image of Jason Bateman dressed up as Batman)
Silver-Age Bateman is Lawful good due to the morality restrictions on old-timey comics.
Timmverse DCAU Bateman is Neutral Good. He cares more about helping people than the law itself, but still tries to support the law.
Nolanverse Bateman is Chaotic Good, regularly bucking the system but still trying to help people.

Bateman as written by Frank Miller is a chaotic evil psychopath.

 

[Mr F.]

Well, I will put it like this. I am a DM, if I had current film era batman in my game and he was a paladin he could kiss goodbye to his power.

While true, I guess that'd be because he doesn't follow the paladin code more than anything. In Batman TAS he is mostly LG with some slip ups but clearly LG. Or maybe he's like...80% Good and 20% Neutral or so. He still won't be getting paladin powers, though.

Which, honestly, is why I try and nudge people away from paladins. Everyone plays them as Lawful Stupid http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Quotes/LawfulStupid

That said, in my current game there is a Lawful Good mage. Now, that guys is badass. It is his first game and he is trying to follow the wording of his alignment realistically. He thought up something which the others had ignored, after a battle if you want to show human dignity you bury the dead, regardless of who they are. He also took issue with the bodies being looted by the rogue and gunslinger (Pathfinder). He would have been able to make a good paladin. Its good fun, he is lawful good yet weak willed. He told them off for looting the bodies, told them to stop, they said no so he bailed on telling them off. Works within the alignment, makes a more interesting character.

OR: Uh, I love Batman. But he is not really a good guy in the current films. He is an asshole, its why I like him.

 

[Angie7F]

Chaotic Neutral for me.
I think that is why the story is interesting and makes the character more relate-able.