I both watched and read Under the Red Hood again recently and found myself musing a particular question; why hasn't Batman killed The Joker? Putting aside metafictional reasons like wanting to keep popular characters around and general thoughts about content, the idea that Batman has so much blood on his hands for letting Joker continue to run around is pretty hard to escape. Now, I think it's pretty clear that Batman can't just kill Joker himself; there's the whole moral code thing, and the fact that he is invested to the point where he wants to torture and maim the Clown Prince of Crime kind of means that it's generally a bad idea for him, but that shouldn't be the end of the conversation, right? Undergraduate arguments about utilitarian maths being put aside, (because we're pure postgrad here baby!) even a strident humanist would be hard-pressed to argue that Joker being dead wouldn't be a net gain for society.
In a world where Batman decided he needed to kill Joker, for whatever reason, is there a way he could feasibly get it done? Now, he could just do the job himself, and has in some interpretations, but if he's so concerned about the "slippery slope", then why take the risk? Though his time as a superhero, Batman has connections with plenty of assassins, vigilantes and bounty hunters, from allies like Vigilante (not the cowboy one), Peacekeeper and Huntress though to outright antagonists like Lady Shiva, Deadshot and Bane that could probably take the job on, a few I feel would even have a decent chance against the Smiling Psychopath, or even rival his body count. But Batman can't just ask a friend, colleague or enemy to kill Joker for him, it would wound his credibility pretty badly and remove the moral high ground that enables him to be such a jerk to everyone. Though if Batman can't, maybe Bruce Wayne can?
So I guess this was a "The Pitch" all along, but this is kind of where I ended up with this question. If Joker isn't a problem that can be ended by Batman, why not have Bruce Wayne try? Say Bruce put himself somewhere where he could be potentially be harmed by Joker deliberately, though of course gives himself a decent out and minimises the risk. After surviving the 'attack', Bruce plays up being shaken and works to get Joker put away properly whilst "secretly" putting a reward out for his death. There's no reason Bruce couldn't be genuine in wanting to put Joker away more securely, but if an assassin actually manages to claim the bounty, hey, why not? In most media, the circle of people who know Batman's identity is pretty small, so whilst there would be major personal fallout for him, professionally as a hero, he would still be held in high regard. Being comics of course, any story like this would only last until the next writer wanted Joker back, but I still think it would be a fun story for a little while, and certainly nothing much like your traditional Batman fare.
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