ABSTRACT
The author believes comic book narratives, offer rich ground for examining the interrelationship between real and fictional worlds, with Batman in particular examining the notions of vigilantism, ethics, and justice. Several narratives released since Batman's 1939 creation draw attention to lawless aspects of the character's practice, as well as scholarship examining the role of Batman as a representation of vigilantism, prominent popular culture figurehead, and significantly as an enactor of a state of exception. This chapter's discourse, on Batman Incorporated's narrative, is situated within the concept of the state of exception. It proposes that Batman enacts his own state of exception through vigilantism. Todd McGowan analyses that necessitous aspect and Batman's explicit connection to Agamben's work, the state of exception through Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight film, and the use of Batman as 'a figure of exception' and the issues inherent to that aspect.
