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Hello and Welcome to In Too Deep, whereI over-analyse a certain section of pop culture.

Now I've already done an article onwhich Disney villain would use the Death Note the best (one of thevery first articles I wrote all those weeks ago). So lets do the samething again (because it worked so well last time; and it'll be a goodlaugh) and ask ourselves: which Batman villain would use the DeathNote to its full advantage?

Lets start with a brief bit of set-up.A death note, based on the his anime Death Note,is a notebook owned by a Shinigami, a God of Death (don't ask me whata God of Death actually is, I'll leave that for the people on thecomments to enlighten me). It's a simple enough concept: whatevername you write (while picturing their face) will die in 40 secondsfrom a heart attack unless you specify otherwise. So let us look atwhat Batman villains would do what with it.

Well lets startwith those that don't need the Death Note because they're alreadypretty powerful to begin with. Characters like Mr Freeze,Clayface, Poison Ivy. These are characters that alreadyposses a large degree of strength that means that they don't need aDeath Note to complete their goals. Mr Freeze can freeze anyone thatstands in his way, while Clayface has the ability to survive anyattack. There's little reason for them to go out of their way to useit. Same with Poison Ivy, who can control plants. What would she needa Death Note for when she can strangle people with vines. While yes,you could argue that they would use it occasionally, it's not enoughto justify them having it.

So what about thosecharacters that would have the ability to use it (that is to say,having no real superpowers), but not the motivation to. Well a goodexample of this would be the Joker. Sure he could write thatsomeone dies laughing, but that takes away all the fun from it. He'drather administer the Joker Venom personally. Another example isCatwoman. While there are people she'd want to kill, shewouldn't go through the lengths of using it. She's too much of ananti-villain to consider using the Death Note. Likewise the Scarecrowwouldn't use it because while yes, he could make the victims diescared, where's the fun in that? So those that like getting theirhands bloody or don't have enough motivation to kill wouldn't use theDeath Note.

Then there arethose that wouldn't use the Death Note because they don't have theability to know how. Characters like Killer Croc, Man-Bat,Solomon Grundy. These characters are either too stupid to useit or just don't have the ability to grip a pen properly. So whilethey'd probably love to use the Death Note, they don't have theability to actually use the thing.

So we're comingnear the end. I've listed characters that wouldn't use the DeathNote. Well which ones would? Well I'd argue that both Bane andthe Riddler are strong contenders. Both are super-smart, beingone of the few characters capable of outwitting Batman. Furthermorethey'd find it incredibly useful to manipulate people into some grandscheme that even the dratted Batman couldn't solve. But there's acatch: in order to use the Death Note to the full the user would haveto gain the Shinigami Eyes. For a cost of half your lifespan you cangain the ability to see people's names and lifespans above theirhead. Though an interesting question does arise about what wouldhappen if you took a dip in the Lazarus pit... Anyway, thesecharacters don't strike me as the type to give up half their lifespan when they're smart enough to work out who people are anyway.

So it comes down tothis: who would not only use the Death Note a lot, but also make thedeal for the Shinigami eyes?

Wellit's a draw, but only because the characters are very similar. Thosecharacters are the Penguinand the Black Mask.Both are criminal overlords that run gangs (though if memory servesme correctly Penguin tried to go straight). Regardless they arepowerful mobsters that tend to find people get in their way. They'dhave no qualms with just writing a bunch of names in a notebook toget rid of them. Furthermore they'd take the deal because they strikeme as characters who'd rather take the easy option then have toresearch. They'd keep it secret, naturally. But they'd end up beingthe head honchos by being able to kill any superhero that got intheir way, as well as any petty cop. All it'd take is a look and apen.

So there you haveit. A quick analysis of which Batman villains the Death Note and why.If you have any disagreements, or want to add any I missed, feel freeto leave a comment. If you want to do a crossover with me feel freeto send me a message. Till next time.