Superman vs. Batman


My friend Marie just asked me if Batman could beat Superman. She and a friend were arguing and she said that Batman is more badass and could beat Superman. I figured it is time to discuss this battle.

The first thing to remember is that these two heroes have no real reason to fight each other and neither individual would choose to kill the other. That being said, let’s look at the times they have fought.

Batman Victories
In Dark Knight Returns, Batman is an outlaw and Superman works for the government. Superman is sent to stop Batman. Bats uses gauntlets that amp his strength up to equal Supes. He easily beats the crap out of Supes.

Another time is during Jeph Loeb’s Hush series. Superman is controlled by Poison Ivy, and she wants him to kill Batman. Superman fights the control and will not kill Superman, which gives Batman the opportunity to use kryptonite and stop Supes.

My favorite comes from JLA, when Ra’s Al Ghul uses Batman’s files to defeat the entire JLA. It turns out that Batman has a dossier on each member and a method of how to defeat them.

That brings us to how Batman is able to defeat Superman. Planning. If he has the time to come up with a strategy, then yes, he can beat Superman. He would need gadgets and surprise to defeat Superman.

Superman Victories
Recently at the on-set of the whole Infinite Crisis storyline Maxwell Lord took control of Superman’s mind. He made Supes see things, and one of those was that Doomsday killed Lois Lane. The person he was looking at was not Doomsday, but instead Batman. When Supes comes to the cave, Batman is completely off guard and is almost killed by Superman.

Well that is one of the only times I can remember. But, what does this tell us? If Superman attacked Batman unaware, Bats would not stand a chance. If Bats could not get to his kryptonite or some other weapon, Supes would easily kill him.

Hell, Superman could hover high above Gotham City, spot Batman and hit him with heat vision and just melt his body. Even Batman acknowledges this on many occasions. He usually thinks things like “if he ever attacked me, he could disable me before I had the chance to move.” This is usually after they team up and fight some super-villain.

I guess my final verdict is that it would depend on the context of the battle. Has Batman decided to take Superman down? Does Superman know it is coming? Then Batman would win, but if Superman just shows up at the cave one day with the intent to kill Batman, well then, Superman has the upper hand. He could grab Bats and fly him up into the sky and just drop him.

This reminds me of a Superman story I thought of before. It revolves around the idea of Superman snapping and finally turning into the monster Lex Luthor believes him to be. Superman realizes the Earth needs ruled over by someone like himself. He knows the one man to stand in his way will be Batman, and so he visits the Batcave and kills Batman without a fight. Batman never sees it coming. After that he starts taking the other heroes down, one by one. This idea was kind of seen Invincible.

Anyways, I hope this helps people out. These two would never fight to the death, and it would definitely depend on the circumstance to decide who would win.

Author: Ngewo

7 thoughts on “Superman vs. Batman

  1. you should write that story, about superman turning into what Lex thinks he is. that sounds like an interesting mini-series…

    i’d like to discuss that over games of pool when i come home!
    jason

    i got an interview with an Altoona law firm for the summer…

  2. even with the provided evidence, i dont see how batman could ever win in any situation where supes isnt high on meth or something. i mean, that must be some gadget. i always thought his super hearing could detect any oncoming projectile, and any offending missile would have to
    be faster than a bullet to catch up to him. but hey, i havent read the comics.

    i think its funny that this topic even came up since the very same debate arose a few days ago on one of the video game message boards i frequent. there was originally a debate over who would win between game characters – something ridiculous like mario vs. samus or master chief vs. goku – and one guy said its a pointless argument, itd be like superman vs. batman. then another dude brought up the very batmanious victories you mentioned.

    the thread went totally off topic from there. going into various situations wherein batman could survive a kryptonian onslaught, and spiraling into other comic related ideas (which is very rare for that particular board). the only thing i interjected with was the immense crapulence of ghost rider. id post the link but i cant find it at the moment.

  3. Gideon – Superman doesn’t get high on meth. Meth gets high on Superman, bitch. 😉

    In the book I just read, Kingdom Come, Superman had become mostly immune to kryptonite, after years and years in the Earth’s yellow sunlight.

  4. i was going to get josh kingdom come for christmas, but got him the new frontier instead. he liked that one too, you should check it out Greg!

    kacie

  5. Kingdom Come is set in the future, and is very cool. some people at DC have said that the DC universe is gravitating towards that future.

    Yeah, it does seem silly that Batman could ever take him. in the jla book i mentioned, batman’s foes used a synthetic kryptonite that batman developed. it really messed him up.

    but yeah, how could he ever surprise superman? it always seems silly that people give batman that much credit, i love the guy, but c’mon, he’s a man fighting a god.

  6. Hmm, it depends on the GL. that being said, i cannot see many being able to defeat superman.

    The ring can reproduce radiation, and could (I believe it has been done in other books) create Kryptonite. if the GL was smart enough, he would just do that and kill superman.

    BUT, what if this were the future, and as Greg said, kryptonite no longer affected superman. well, with no weaknesses, i cannot see a GL defeating him.

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