Blake Lacks The (Cat)Guts To Do The Right Thing

'Are you to be the worst hero on this planet, with a conflicted heart and no allies on either side. . . Or the world's deadliest free man?' - Bane, to Catman, Secret Six #35.

'No one elected Batman, or any of those bastards. I don't want to live in a world where those people make the rules.' - Catman, to Deadshot, Secret Six #36.

Catman could be a hero. I think he wants to be. But he won't commit, and blames it on the people who are being heroes. He could be a hero. Use his tracking skills to find abducted children, then his abilities with blades to slaughter their abductors, if he felt like it. Knowing Blake, he would feel like it. This would cause problems, because heroes in the DCU tend to be less accepting of that sort of thing than in the Marvel Universe*. Batman or someone would hunt Blake down eventually**, and there'd be trouble for Catman.

But so what? Being a hero isn't about being loved, or even respected. It's about doing the right thing, regardless of the consequences to oneself. The members of the Justice League don't do what they do to be loved. Even the members of Section Eight understood that. Eventually Catman would get caught, and pummeled, and thrown in jail. But until that happened, he could do a lot of good, if he chose to.

Instead, he opts to try and destroy someone who does try and help others, because he doesn't like how Batman and his ilk go about it. That's what Bane knew about him, that Blake wants to be a hero, but doesn't have the fortitude to go for it. I think it's more likely he's afraid of failing, but it could also be what Bane suggests, that Catman's afraid he'd be alone. The heroes wouldn't accept him, and I can't imagine the rest of the Six are going to be his best pals if he's consistently playing do-gooder (though they might, as long as he didn't get in their way). Whether he admits it or not, he found a place with this group, people who care about him, and it's harder for some people than others to throw that away on a plan that may never pan out.

That's the difference between the heroes and the rest of us. The heroes do their best to try and make the world better. The rest of us sit around complaining about how the world isn't better, or how the people trying to make it better are doing it wrong.

* Though heroes at Marvel are kind of picky about it. Killing marauding Skrulls, OK. Killing Norman Osborn or Dr. Doom, not OK.

** If the amount of time Tommy Monaghan ran free is any indication, it wouldn't be anytime soon.