1063: Kill Hitler

2019-11-23T01:35:18Z

EpicE24: /* Trivia */

{{comic
| number = 1063
| date = June 1, 2012
| title = Kill Hitler
| image = kill_hitler.png
| titletext = Revised directive: It is forbidden for you to interfere with human history until you've at least taken a class on it.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] creates a one-use time machine. [[Cueball]] selects a common suggestion for using a time machine: killing {{w|Adolf Hitler}}. Black Hat has other ideas about how to use his time machine, but relents and goes off to kill Hitler. He returns, commenting that he found Hitler in a very noisy bunker in the year 1945.

In the real world, {{w|Death of Adolf Hitler|Adolf Hitler committed suicide}} on April 30, 1945, in the {{w|Führerbunker}} in Berlin. Berlin was under assault by Soviet forces and it was clear that the city would soon be taken. Germany surrendered to Allied forces almost immediately afterward, bringing an end to the {{w|World War II}} in the European theater. The fact that Black Hat killed Hitler in 1945 means that the war was nearing its end, the Holocaust had already resulted in the murders of millions, and little would be accomplished by Hitler's death. The fact that the death took place in the Führerbunker and the comment that "1945 was loud!", suggesting that Berlin was already under attack, imply that the killing took place around the time Hitler would have died anyway, possibly immediately before. Cueball's intent was clearly to kill Hitler before the start of World War II (possibly long before) in the hopes of preventing both the war and the Holocaust. He's horrified by the realization that Black Hat had used his sole opportunity for time travel and probably made little difference at all.

This is typical Black Hat behavior, going out of his way just to troll people like Cueball and cause horrible things to happen, in this case deliberately ''not'' changing any history or avoiding any of the atrocities carried out by Nazi Germany. That might be for the best, however, since killing Hitler early {{tvtropes|HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct|might cause more problems than it would solve}}.

Incidentally, there are conspiracy theories that Hitler was shot by someone other than himself. Also, if the {{w|Novikov self-consistency principle}} is true, Hitler's suicide was interrupted by Black Hat in the first place, and Black Hat was merely going back in time to do the thing he already did.

"BRB" is an abbreviation for "be right back".

The title text refers to the time travel theme from the {{w|Superman}} movie in which Jor-El states, "It is forbidden for you to interfere with human history." Here it is suggested that Black Hat needs to know some history before going back in time to interfere with it, perhaps so that he would do the right thing and kill Hitler ''before'' the Holocaust and World War II.

==Trivia==
* Hitler was also the subject of Black Hat's [[29| third appearance]].
* In [[1617: Time Capsule]], [[Beret Guy]] has the same mission, but has instead "traveled" forward in time, and when he arrives Hitler is long dead.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat and Cueball stand in front of a double door, which bears the label 'TIME door'. Black Hat has his hands on his hips.]
:Black Hat: I finished my time machine, but it's one-use-only.
:Cueball: You ''gotta'' kill Hitler.

:[Close-up of Black Hat, one hand palm upward.]
:Black Hat: Why are you so obsessed with this Hitler guy? We have ''all'' of ''time'' we could explore!

:[Close-up of Cueball with both hands palm upward.]
:Cueball: He's evil incarnate! He murdered millions and sparked global war! ''Everyone'' agrees—if you get a time machine, you kill Hitler.

:[Black Hat enters the now open Time door as the other man looks on..]
:Black Hat: Fine, fine, I get it! Calm down. BRB, killing Hitler.

:[Black Hat returns, shutting the door with one hand. Cueball has outstretched arms.]
:Black Hat: There. Done. Are you happy?
:Cueball: ''Thank'' you.
:Black Hat: He was in some kind of bunker. 1945 was ''loud!''
:Cueball: '''''NO!'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hitler]]
[[Category:Time travel]]

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1063: Kill Hitler