Yea true but you know what, life goes on.
I long stopped pitting the DC universe characters because of their one tragic moment. Know why ?
Because life goes on, & apparently in the DC universe they are well excepted by the world over.
As i said i understand the tragic circumstances involved with Superman & Batman however life goes on.
Neither were able to prevent what happened from happening.
If Batman refuses to live his life because of that moment in time then that's on him, the same with Superman.
Batman fans wanna always play that tragic past card & it gets tiresome & old.
Many DC universe characters have the means & opportunity to live a full life but choose not to, & i don't see them as people to feel sorry for.
Superman lost his parents who obviously loved him and were raised by foster parents who loved him as well. The only thing he had to burden was his Kryptonian biology and the fact that he was one of the last Kryptonians alive. Also, secret identity. Still, it must be hard to be the last of your race, but Superman is surrounded by people who love, adore, admire, and respect him. Superman can be broody at times like the rest of us, but he usually does cheer up since he accepts the people around him. Man of Steel, I guess was trying to be an origin story - haven't seen it yet, so I can't judge it entirely. At that point, Superman is trying to deal with who he is, what he is, and what he should do with himself.
Ratchet from Ratchet & Clank has a similar story. Father and mother were killed by Percival Tachyon and almost every Lombax, his race, fled to another dimension. Ratchet, like Superman, grew up loved by people around him. Sure he was arrogant and self-centered in the beginning, Ratchet grew to be a kind, loving, brave, if not a humorous hero to those around him. At one point, during Tools of Destruction, Ratchet was given a chance to live with the Lombaxes who fled years ago. Ratchet could choose to live with his own kind or stay with people who know him and risk his demise. Ratchet chose to stay, though it was mostly motivated by everyone knowing how much of a backstabber Tachyon is.
Speaking of Percival, he and Ratchet shared similar childhoods. Though Percival's race, the Cragmites, were sent to another dimension since they were the top one nastiest creatures ever to exist, the Lombaxes who did this, still cared for him and loved him, disregarding his race's past deeds. Percival became blinded by hatred and couldn't understand the love the Lombaxes gave him. So he was hellbent on returning the Cragmites to their former, bloody, and stupid glory. Ratchet and Percival shared similar histories, but the persons who they were were different. Same past, but different understandings and decisions. One chose to accept the love around him and became compassionate while the other became a twisted, little bugger.
Batman being who he is might be due to age. Bruce Wayne lost his parents at a very young age and to make it worse, he was right there when they were killed. I remember reading something saying trauma at a younger age causes more problems. Say, if Bruce's parents were killed right in front of him when he was teenager or when he was an adult. Both would lead to different Bruces. The kid who lost his parents became a vigilante who always carried his past with him. The teenager might become a vigilante, but he might become more lenient with his past and might be able to let it go. Or maybe he might become a crazed, murderous vigilante. Maybe the head of the law enforcement. Or maybe he would be able to let go of the incident entirely and just continue Wayne Industries. Maybe he wouldn't have given a damn - you know how teenagers are. The adult Bruce might do similar things even though he would be considered much more mature than his teenager and child selves. He might become a vigilante, a law enforcement member, or remain himself.
Like Ratchet and Tachyon, different people do different things. There was an "anti-Batman": Wrath. His parents were criminals killed by law enforcement. Like Batman, he wanted to "avenge" his parents by being the opposite of Batman and taking down law enforcement personnel who he felt were all corrupt. Maybe if Wrath was a different person he could have been someone else. Maybe if he understood that his parents were bad and didn't want to be them. Maybe age could have factored it and changed who Wrath could have been. At the same time, The Punisher, despite being a grown-man, becomes a harsh vigilante, hellbent on taking down criminals. Frank Castle did go to war, the Vietnam War to be precise, so the horrors of war probably traumatized him. His family being killed took Frank over the edge. What if Frank never went to Vietnam, but his family were still killed? Would he be the same Frank we know as The Punisher? Maybe he would have been another Batman, a vigilante who fought crime without killing criminals, unlikely but maybe.
Spider-Man lost Uncle Ben. He recently gained his powers, and knew full well that he could have stopped that from happening. Peter Parker didn't become a crazed, blood-thirsty vigilante. Instead, Peter became our friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man. Peter wanted to stop others from experiencing the lost of a family member from murder, but he didn't want to kill to do that. At the same time, Peter is probably one of the most cheerful superheroes in the world; still he does have his dark times like all of us - he's human after all, but with powers. Peter became a role model to many. He was able to let go of Uncle Ben's death, but he kept the memory as a reminder of why he's doing this: "With great power comes great responsibility." Peter has the means to do things few can. He can stop crimes and other superhuman beings when others can't. So why not and try to make a better place. On the other hand, he could find a way to make everyone else Spider-people. After all, Peter's a brilliant scientist. He could screw around with his powers. He could become a villain. He could be many things, but he chose to become Spider-Man.
As for feeling sorry for characters, well, sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. I pity Batman as much as I admire him. He had so many chances to stop crime permanently by just killing criminals. The Joker killed countless people and destroyed many things, but guess what? Batman still lets him live. Jason Todd even questions Batman about why he lets an animal run about and do as it wishes. Even if The Joker were to die indirectly because of Batman, he probably would have saved the madman. Batman clings onto his past like a fiend. He doesn't trust many people and he doesn't let many people become close to him. Even though Alfred has known Bruce longer than anyone else and is to Bruce, a surrogate parent, I bet Alfred doesn't completely understand Bruce. The Joker, funny and ironically, probably understands Bruce. You could even say The Joker and Batman are friends. Batman's will and ability to cling onto his moral code are probably one of the most amazing things about him. Batman could have taken the easy way out and spare him and others the pain and suffering of letting criminals live, but he doesn't. For Batman, eventually those guys will stop. For Batman, killing them would make him just another criminal. Batman's pathetic and incredible.
Wonder Woman, The Flashes, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Red Robin, Nightwing, Martian Manhunter, the Green Lanterns, Superman, and many other superheroes either were able to let go of their past or didn't have traumatic pasts to begin with. They just chose to be heroes and heroines to people. They weren't obligated and they don't owe anything to anyone. Batman didn't owe anyone anything nor was he obligated. Batman felt the need to do something because of his past. Others maybe felt like the world needed saving. Or maybe they should make use of their abilities and/or powers. Or maybe just for the hell of it. The fact that there are crazy supervillains doesn't help.
