If you try to dissect The Dark Knight Returns, the seminal comic book by Frank Miller that not only imbued Batman with the weight of mortality but rewrote the rules of what many consider to be a good superhero story, through a political lens, you’ll likely find a ton to chew on.
I’m a bit surprised you didn’t touch upon what always seemed to be Batman/Bruce Wayne’s defining character trait in “The Dark Knight Returns”—his deep self-hatred. This is not a man in his prime, but a bitter middle-aged man in a state of physical decline filled with bitterness and regret. He’s “mad as hell and [he’s] not going to take it any more!”
I’m a bit surprised you didn’t touch upon what always seemed to be Batman/Bruce Wayne’s defining character trait in “The Dark Knight Returns”—his deep self-hatred. This is not a man in his prime, but a bitter middle-aged man in a state of physical decline filled with bitterness and regret. He’s “mad as hell and [he’s] not going to take it any more!”