one thing i love about bruce sitting with joe chill at his deathbed is the like. symmetry about it?
the worst moment of bruce’s life atp is sitting in his parents blood, holding their hands as they breathe their last. it’s the reason bruce does what he does, it’s what fuels his compassion for others, and it’s what created his life’s mission.
and when bruce is older and at joe chill’s hospital bedside, he’s holding his hand as his heart slows and stops. but its also representative of the solution to bruce’s mission - a belief in people’s ability to change and want to make amends, a hand extended to those who need it most, restorative justice for gotham.
it is very full circle!
it's been forever since i've read it so i'm fuzzy on the details but i remember thinking it seemed like a really good way for Bruce to more neatly tuck away the grief from his parents death while affirming the correctness of his path as Batman
if Bruce can look his parent's murderer in the eye and comfort him as he dies than he can truly say he's outgrown that particular anger, that as angry and grieving as he might always be he has deliberately grown a larger shell of compassion and kindness around it. he has chosen, again and again, restorative justice over destructive revenge












