4Drawing on previous research in the field of superhero narratives, I have read these films in the context of legal and political developments after 9/11 in such a way that they visualize the “state of emergency” in Agamben`s sense as a permanent state of the attacked (Western) world.7 Therefore, I describe below the ambiguous representation of the “terrain of justice” in a world of fear and risk. An extreme – and extremely dangerous – world in which only extraordinary measures seem to promise security. On the one hand, these films problematize the fact that civil liberties (the usual judicial procedures and laws at work in Western democracies) are undermined and criticize – most visibly in Suicide Squad – an executive power that can remain unsupervised and therefore out of control. On the other hand, they all demonstrate the need to override laws in crisis situations, effectively supporting recent developments in law and policy, particularly in the context of national security, aimed at suspending and abandoning civil liberties that appear to stand in the way of the nation`s protection.8 As a framework for my analysis, I begin with a commentary on the entanglements and interpenetrations of popular and right culture, focusing on the superhero character and what superhero stories in general have to say about justice and crime. I then turn to the analysis of selected scenes from the above films to show their ambiguity in the commentary on the creation of states of emergency in which the law is permanently suspended. In answering this question, I am looking at a concept that predates U.S. law. Batman and the world he lives in exemplify the concept of natural law – a law that stands above the laws of man (human law) – and how its appeal remains strong in a society that we might recognize as our own, because man-made law (according to a natural lawyer) does not always produce results that we might consider just or just. This becomes clear by examining Bruce Wayne`s character, the Batman, and the characters he often interacts with who have played an active role in the justice system: Harvey Dent (also known as the villain Two-Face) and Police Commissioner James (Jim) Gordon. While Batman can be seen as an agent of natural law, both Dent and Gordon are characters grappling with the inability of human law to live fully to the higher ideals of natural law. Dent, who sees the failure of the judicial system as a district attorney, loses confidence in any notion of justice and assumes the character of “double face”. Gordon, on the other hand, acts as a representative of human law who must somehow find a way for human law to work hand in hand with notions of natural law. Moreover, the nature of comics, with its many continuities, reboots, and “other worlds,” illustrates the permanence of natural law, both as a concept that lasts for centuries and (as a natural jurist might argue) as evidence of the permanence of natural law and its source.

The story is that Batman and an unidentified woman observe Batman`s funeral, but all the speakers talk about different versions of Batman and the funeral scene itself frequently changes to reflect different eras in the comics. As these stories come to an end, Batman recognizes the woman who watched the funeral with him as his mother, Martha Wayne. She asks Batman (her son Bruce Wayne) what he learned from his funeral, and her answer addresses the issue of different continuities and also illustrates what Batman stands for in terms of jurisprudence, which can be described as placing the protection of the innocent above everything else. Batman and his universe illustrate the concept of natural law and how he interacts with positive law and sometimes stands above it. This becomes clear when one examines natural law, its history, and how it is reflected in a world where continuity can be fluid. The theory of natural law is necessarily based on the idea that positive law is just only to the extent that it accords with more eternal notions of good and evil. Therefore, it is important to see how the characters of this world deal with the defects of man-made law and the apparent existence of natural law. As Bruce Wayne becomes an agent of natural law (trying to protect the innocent from evil) by assuming Batman`s identity, Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon must decide what potential loopholes in man-made law mean for justice. For Dent, this reality leads him to completely abandon any notion of justice, claiming that the world is fundamentally determined by chance and chance alone. Gordon, on the other hand, argues that it is necessary for natural law and man-made law to work hand in hand.