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Batman’s latest adventure with Ace the Bat-Hound revealed what he thinks makes someone a perfect superhero – and it isn’t vengeance.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the story “Hounded” Part One from Batman: Urban Legends #11, on sale now from DC Comics.
Thanks to the iconic line from Batman: The Animated Series, the Dark Knight is known for vengeance. Ever since his parents were gunned down in Crime Alley, it’s been a major motivation for the hero. However, a hero can’t be sustained by vengeance alone. Batman’s true motivations for being Gotham’s guardian are much more altruistic than that, and he just revealed it in the perfect way.
Batman takes Ace the Bat-Hound out into the field in the “Hounded” Part One from Batman: Urban Legends #11 (by Mark Russell, Karl Mostert, Trish Mulvihill and Steve Wands). As they traversed an abandoned Gotham hotel, the Dark Knight talked about how he loves his city. However, he acknowledged that he feels like he’s fighting a losing battle with it. No matter how hard he fights to save the city, the darkness is still there. He revealed that he sometimes wonders why he doesn’t just give up on Gotham altogether and finds that the perfect reason to keep going is exemplified by his furry companion.
That reason is Ace’s nature as a dog. Whilst humans often try and find reasons to justify what they do (for example, avenging the murder of one’s parents) a dog needs no reason at all. Dogs make the perfect superheroes because of their unconditional love. They never question why they love, they just do. So when Batman starts to question why he does what he does, he remembers that, as a hero, he has to be fuelled by that same unconditional love. If he knows he has it for Gotham then he’ll never give up on the city.
This philosophy applies to heroes in general. What motivates the best of them is something inherently altruistic and not dissimilar to the love of a dog. Superman, for example, doesn’t have any kind of vengeance to motivate him. It could be argued that the destruction of his home planet could motivate him to save others but it’s more than that. The Man of Tomorrow may want to save Earth from Krypton’s fate but that’s not why he helps humanity with the little things, like saving a cat stuck up a tree. Superman is driven by an unconditional love for humanity. That’s why he’s a hero for both the big things and the small, and for everyone, whoever they may be.
It’s not just DC’s heroes either. Spider-man is a great example of that unconditional love shining through. Though his origin story was a cautionary tale about greed and the responsibility that comes with amazing power, Peter Parker has shown that he does what’s right for reasons beyond his powers. J. Jonah Jameson always criticizes the webhead and how he operates but that doesn’t stop him. Though guilt over Uncle Ben’s murder spurred him to become a hero, he remains one because of his pure heart.
There are so many heroes motivated by unwavering unconditional love for all life, just like dogs. Wonder Woman and Captain America are symbols of hope and valor but their ideals are motivated by a desire to right the wrongs of this world out of love for it. Many heroes who fail or stray from their altruistic origins don’t have that same unconditional love or lose touch with it, like Hal Jordan when he became Parallax or Bucky Barnes when he was turned into the Winter Soldier.
The unconditional love of all dogs is probably why Batman trusts Ace with his life in the field. Though he used to be owned by the Joker, he saw that purity in the Bat-Hound and he was right. Dogs make perfect superheroes because they will never question why they do what they do. They know exactly why they do it, like any true hero – for love.
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