Superman vs. Batman

Posted on: 05/22/07

OK, I just need to get this off my chest...

Ever since Dark Knight Returns and the various über-comptetent Batgod depictions of Batman since then, the common claim by Batman fans has been, "If Batman has time to prepare, he can beat anyone."

Fans use this to justify Batman's baddest of the bad ass status in the DC Universe.

But people...

People!

Repeat after me: When your opponent moves at nearly the speed of light, no amount of preparation will help you! Maybe you just don't realize how fast light is. But by the time Batman even realizes he's in a fight, it's over.

Just accept it.

(Oh, and as to Dark Knight and the battle therein? Batman was in a souped-up suit of armor running off the electrical power of the entire Gotham City power grid. There's even a panel where you can see it plugged in. So all Superman had to do was unplug the flippin' suit! He knew that. As the wink at the end of the series proves, he let Batman win.)

Batman is very cool, no doubt. But can we accept that his coolness comes from his humanity, and, therefore, his vulnerability? If he's Batgod, he loses all of that.

That is all. 

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By: Samson on Sat September 12, 2009, 21:32:05
If you read the story, you'd know that Superman cried when he thought Batman was dead. When Clark attended the funeral, he heard Batman's heart start again, and he winked at Robin to let her know. He did not wink at her to know that he "let Batman win".

On top of that, on the night they fought, Green Arrow had shot Superman with a krptonite arrow to weaken him so Batman had a chance. This shows that Batman had prepared to fight Superman.

On top of that, what makes you say that Superman moves at the speed of light? The Flash has been shown to move faster then Superman, and only the Flash can reach fast-as-light speeds, and he certainly can not do it all the time.
2
Re: Superman vs. Batman
By: Barry on Sun September 20, 2009, 08:59:22
Dude, why do you say "If you read the story." Of course I read the story. Why would you even question that? Why would I talk about a story I haven't read?

I said Superman moves at "nearly" the speed of light. But pre-Crisis (and Dark Knight came out right around the time of the changes from Crisis), Superman was established as moving faster than light. That's how he traveled through time, which he used to do all the time.

The kryptonite arrow: Um, so? Yeah, Batman was ready to fight Superman. So what? What does that have to do with Superman being able to beat Batman? If Superman has wanted to, he could have used his heat vision to sever Batman's connection to the city power grid from a mile up. Green Arrow can't fire an arrow that far. He could have also vaporized Green Arrow's bow from that distance.

As to the wink: Er, the wink was to the audience -- he looks out of the panel, just as he used to in classic Silver Age comics AND just as he used to on the TV show in the fifties (when Clark would often turn at the end of the show and wink to the camera). But let's say he IS winking to Robin. Who's to say that wink isn't saying, "Don't worry, Carrie -- it's all good. He's still alive."

Given how much Frank Miller hates Superman, I'm sure none of this crossed his mind. What I'm saying is: it makes no sense to assume that Batman can beat Superman in 99.99999% of cases, and there's nothing in THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS that makes me as a reader believe that Superman could not have totally spanked Batman if he'd chosen to do so. YMMV. :)

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