That whole clip with Superman trying to be the bad cop reminded me of this bit in a comic (which comic, I can’t remember), in which the Joker came to Metropolis and, after being caught and stopped, was confidently telling Superman, “You can’t kill me, you’re Superman! You have a code!” And Superman responded, “Actually, that’s Batman who has a code against killing. I just usually don’t.”
I think that that is the most accurate summation of the difference between them. Batman follows a code to be good: Superman is just (usually) good. I would posit that Batman is the constant man, Superman is the virtuous man.
The thing about being virtuous is, if you’re truly a virtuous person, being good comes easily. You are happy to do the right thing, and you don’t need to force yourself to do what should be done. Your passions are ordered rightly, so you don’t need to stand against them. It comes down to, “Will what is good, and then do as you will.” And I believe that’s the appeal of Superman: he is a good man who does what is good because that’s who he is. Obviously not every writer of Superman agrees with that assessment, but I think that the story of the virtuous man is a story that, at our core, we want to hear. I’ll sometimes say that something is a “Superman Story,” and by that I mean that it’s a story about the virtuous man and the joys of virtue.
Most of us are not virtuous, however. For the vast majority of the human race, our goodness is mere constancy: being good does not come easily, our passions are not ordered rightly, we do not will what is good, and so we cannot do as we will. So we discipline ourselves. [Discipline comes from discipulus, meaning disciple, pupil, or student. Discipline, while important, is not a goal in and of itself, any more than learning is: the goal of learning is to know, and the goal of discipline is virtue. If you are virtuous then you don’t need discipline, because you’ve already been disciplin-ed. You know what it is you were trying to learn.] That is what Batman does. He overcomes his nature, turning his fear and trauma into a force for good, not allowing himself to kill, fighting against himself in a way that Superman doesn’t. His various compatriots and sidekicks often highlight this struggle, pointing out the ways in which the constant man is not the virtuous man. Again, not every writer writes in accord with this interpretation, but when I say that something is a “Batman Story,” I mean that it’s a story about the constant man and the struggle of constancy.
Being good is easy and joyful. Becoming good is hard and a valley filled with tears. We need to understand both of these facts, and that’s why we tell both Superman and Batman stories.
And on the other side of the spectrum there’s Donald Duck, the inconstant, and Daffy Duck, the vicious.
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