Simon_Jester wrote: ↑2017-07-29 03:52am
Hm. I can't comment on Scenario Three, buuut...
Haven't read up to
Death Masks yet?
Well, you're in for a ride. I'll try to avoid spoilers, but suffice to say that Nicodemus is, in my opinion, probably the series' most impressive individual antagonist.
1) In a fight between Batman and Donald Morgan, um, my opinion might be changed as I read more Dresden novels, but my money's on Batman. If Morgan could use magic against Batman he might well win, but if Morgan could use magic against Batman he wouldn't be Morgan. Not when he knows damn well Batman isn't some kind of supernatural creature. There's a fight, I'm pretty sure Batman wins, and I'm sure he'll do well enough for himself that the kid gets away.
Morgan can't use magic
to kill, because doing so would break the Laws of Magic, corrupt him, and result in a more or less automatic death sentence. Plus, like you said, its simply not in his character to do it, any more than its in Bruce's character to execute a man with a pistol shot to the head.
Morgan
can use magic to assist him in non-lethal ways, though. He could use it, for example, to throw up a shield to block a Batarang, or use his Wizard's Site to locate Batman if he's using stealth, or any of a thousand less obvious things.
Warden swords also pretty much cut through anything, as I recall, so Bruce will be in for a nasty and possible fatal shock if he tries to use the bracers on his arms to block like he did against Ras. Plus magic is sort of an Outside Context Problem for Nolanverse Bats.
So I don't think its an easy Batman win. Especially with a warlock as a loose canon in the mix.
And that's what makes this such an interesting scenario. On the one hand, you have Morgan's fanatical devotion to his duty of executing warlocks. On the other, you have Batman's opposition to extra-judicial executions (the Nolanverse version is admittedly more lax about killing than the comics one, but even he'd have a problem with the summary decapitation of a mentally kid, I think, no matter how dangerous they were).
On the other hand, as discussed in
The Dresden Files, a warlock isn't really a problem you can deal with through conventional legal means. Its a very interesting moral dilemma for Batman, and he and Morgan make interesting foils for one another. To some extent its like, as the Joker put it, an unstoppable force meeting an immoveable object. They are both hardened and ruthless but basically well-intentioned warriors dedicated to a code- who's codes happen to be in direct conflict with one another.
Though, would Morgan instantly know Batman is human? He could be a humanoid creature under that suite, potentially, and remember the hallucinations of Batman as a fire-breathing demonic creature that Scarecrow's gas caused in
Batman Begins? Its entirely possible that rumours of a supernatural bat-like creature might have lead some in the supernatural community to conclude that Batman is not, in fact, human- at least at first.
2) Marcone would be a tough problem for Batman, but I doubt he's much tougher as an opponent than, say, Carmine Falcone. It'd make for an interesting and lengthy story arc, though.
Marcone is a tough opponent, yes (supposedly he was inspired by David Xanatos of "Gargoyles").
So basically... he's Xanatos if Xanatos did the sorts of things that you can't show on a kids' cartoon (even a darker, more mature one like "Gargoyles").
That said, I actually wonder if Marcone
would try to muscle into Gotham, or if he'd think it was more trouble than it was worth between the existing mob factions, the psycho costumed serial killer crowd, and the God Damn Batman. Though he certainly has a degree of global influence, he seems primarily focussed on Chicago in
The Dresden Files, though that might just be because we mostly see things from the Chicago-based Harry's perspective.
Maybe a better time to set it would be after
The Dark Knight Rises. At that point, the mob has been largely driven out, the GCPD has been decimated, and the Batman is reportedly dead (actually retired), while Marcone is at the height of his powers if we synch up the series timelines, and I think Dresden might be temporarily out of commission at that point too.
You've also got the
Fomor moving in in the Dresdenverse, and they're enemies of Marcones'. Moving into a coastal city like Gotham makes sense for them, especially with the post-TDK Gotham power vacume to go with the global post-Changes power vacume of the Dresdenverse.
Of course, while that might or might not be enough to bring Bruce and Selina out of retirement, it would certainly mean him going up against Batman's replacement, pseudo-Robin.
Not that I think that's a very even fight. Then again, Batman has made deals with criminals before, and both want order in Gotham. Would an alliance be possible, if only a temporary one? Marcone is certainly pragmatic enough to go for it.
Though... if Batman appears to "return from the dead", might that lead to some hesitation on the part of Marcone and company, until they find out if Batman is some sort of supernatural threat as opposed to just a man?
You could get a really good story out of crossing post-
Changes Dresdenverse with post-TDK Nolanverse, actually. I'm going to put that on the back burner for after I finish at least one of my current fanfics.
I actually thought about this a while back, and figured a way to work Batgirl into the Nolanverse too. Basically, Barbara (who I guess would be the unnamed girl in Jim Gordon's family) goes back to Chicago with her mum after she leaves Jim (I think the Gordons were from Chicago in at least some of the continuities, but I might be wrong), and ends up meeting Karen Murphy through one of her martial arts classes (I could certainly see Barbara wanting to learn how to defend herself after spending part of her childhood in Gotham and being held hostage by Two-Face as a kid). Then TDK happens, and after finding out that Jim Gordon survived, she moves back to Gotham to try to reconcile with Dad and ends up getting drawn into Bat-related adventures. And, naturally, calls on Karen Murphy and the Chicago crowd for help at some point.
Plus, I've always thought it would be interesting to explore what happens in the Nolanverse after TDK, difficult as it would be with a retired Bruce. Partly because its difficult, really, and because a continuity where Bruce wins and gets a happily ever after is so rare.
Edit: Fucking spoiler tags...
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver
"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.
I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
