Well, the characters were trying to knock them out, because the creators couldn’t show them killing people.

Even in GI Joe where everyone had deadly weapons and their own attack jetski submarine, nobody died.

So it’s not like they always decided knocking out was the best plan, it was just a replacement for killing them.

Actually makes sense, cuz the crazy person was liable to mix up the plot and think their team were the baddies and they needed to “save the day”