@ChristiJunior @jimmybuffettfanaccount @monsterislandcolonizer Fair enough, but having the "heroes" straight out kill villains changes the setup and here's why:
1. from a business standpoint, other writers who had planned stories with that villain can no longer use him. That's a problem from the perspective of building a big sandbox that writers can continually use. Up until the decline, the continuity of the comic universes was one of the selling points for potential readers.
2. In the comic book universes, many of the superheroes, especially the DC ones, are close to demigods in terms of how much raw power they have. In the comics, they got ordinary people to accept the idea of having them around by agreeing to follow laws, protect citizens, etc. How long would that arrangement last with them carrying out summary executions? (And yes, there are things like Suicide Squad in DC and X-Force in Marvel but those do covert wetworks. That's very different from what Batman and Superman are supposed to be doing.)
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