Warner Bros. recently The Batman. The movie featured a gritty take on the character, displaying Gotham’s fear-based environment in its entirety. While there are scary denizens of the city, Batman himself can be a terrifying force of nature despite being the hero.
In fact, there are several versions of the Dark Knight that have been downright terrifying, with some even becoming villainous as a result. Whether it’s Pattinson’s Batman who doesn’t feel guilt or an outright antagonist such as the Batman Who Laughs, it’s fascinating to see how frightening the Caped Crusader really can be.
DCAU Batman
This version of Batman remained steadfast to his no-killing rule, but he was likely the most intimidating one in face-to-face confrontations. DCAU Batman’s “Bat-glare” was so daunting that he could scare the likes of powerful characters such as Superman and Orion without saying a word.
Batman was also a feared interrogator, capable of getting people to spill their guts at the slightest hint of aggression. Incredibly, he became scarier as he got older, as the aged Bruce Wayne was much more intimidating during interrogations, which unsettled the time-traveling younger Batman as well.
The Batman
There were many The Batman, with the titular character’s emergence from a fire in the rain being one of them. This version of the Caped Crusader was essentially dead inside, as the loss of his parents led to him pretty much giving up the Bruce Wayne persona.
As a result, the Batman identity had no qualms with brutalizing his foes, best seen when he absolutely manhandled the goons in the street to a bloody pulp. Although he also stood by his no-killing rule and was less experienced than others, this Batman didn’t have a guilty conscience until much later.
Prime Earth Batman
While there are plenty of multiverse versions of Batman, this is the prime incarnation across the DC Universe. This Batman doesn’t like crossing moral boundaries and finds ways to remain scary within its confines. What makes him terrifying is his vast knowledge of the DC characters.
Batman has extreme contingencies in place for everyone, including his own allies. It means he can bring the entire Justice League to its knees if he wants to, which makes him ively the most aggressive version yet. In addition, Batman has enough dirt on his enemies that he can scare them off by threatening to destroy their lives.
The Dark Knight Trilogy Batman
Another Batman with a strong dislike for killing people, he was nonetheless the most willing to use fear as a weapon. Trained by the League of Shadows, Batman took to stalking criminals and striking such fear in their hearts that they mistook him for an actual creature.
This Batman took his intimidating tactics to the limit, such as when he threw a mob boss from high up to shatter his legs, grappled a corrupt cop across several storeys, and beat down The Joker in his anger. It only took someone who understood his moral limits to overcome his fear-based persona and there were hardly any characters who figured that out.
Flashpoint Batman
In this universe, Bruce was killed as a child and his parents were spared - the consequence was that Martha became The Joker and Thomas Wayne took on the mantle of Batman. Unlike his son, Thomas had no compunctions ing lethal force and was known for being brutal in his methods.
He was cynical and bitter, which made him a nightmare for his victims since Thomas took out his anger on them. While he wasn’t outright cruel and didn’t kill for no reason, he didn’t have problems with taking lives and even his appearance had a haunting quality with how he’d let himself go.
Arkham Batman
Batman doesn’t need to kill when he scares people enough for them to beg him to kill them. The Arkham series Batman was along these lines, using interrogation tactics that would have gotten him criminally sentenced. After all, someone who crushes a person’s head under the wheel of a whirring Batmobile is far from innocent.
Batman was also known for leaving criminals in extreme pain and broken conditions, such as when he broke goons’ arms and legs just to incapacitate them. He’s known to have left his victims in delirious states out of the fear he struck into them, which usually came through his knack for manhandling them.
The Grim Knight Batman
The Grim Knight never let Batman’s many famous villains from launching their criminal careers because he killed them on sight. This version killed Joe Chill for what he did to Bruce’s parents, leading him to become something like The Punisher with his use of lethal force.
The Grim Knight kept Alfred as something of a hostage, keeping a device implanted in his neck that will kill him if he doesn’t do as the former wanted. Moreover, the Grim Knight executed any criminal swiftly, to the point where crime was almost nonexistent and the Grim Knight himself became a feared figure.
Vampire Batman
As hard as it might be to believe, there’s a Batman & Dracula storyline that took place in an alternate universe. Here, Batman was turned into a vampire and gave in to his new desire for blood, making him the terrifying persona that many criminals used to mistake him for.
This Batman became bloodthirsty enough to brutally slay his victims to feed on them. He became deformed and grotesque, looking like a true monster in every sense of the word. The fact that he liked to dismember his victims to feed on their blood only made him scarier.
DCEU Batman
While fans haven’t seen too many villains in Ben Affleck’s DCEU Batman mythos, it’s clear that not a lot of them remain because of the way he dropped his morals. The DCEU Batman became unhinged after the death of Robin, leading to him using lethal force to the point where even cops considered him to be a monster filled with bloodlust.
Moreover, he was terrifying for the way he brought an all-powerful character like Superman to his knees, using his wits to cripple the Man of Steel with a Kryptonite spear. This Batman killed thugs in creatively horrifying ways like bashing their brains out or setting them on fire, which made him a chaotic representation of justice.
The Batman Who Laughs
Simply taking a glance at this character can fill a person with intense fright and that’s what the Batman Who Laughs wants. Having been poisoned by The Joker’s laughing gas, this version slowly transformed into the Clown Prince of Crime himself, complete with Batman’s intelligence and skills.
In the end, he killed all of his Bat-family allies and the Justice League, all the while laughing maniacally just as The Joker would. The Batman Who Laughs is basically what hell on Earth is supposed to be like, with anarchy on the menu on a daily basis.
