THERE'S A MINOR DISPUTE...

Which needs resolving. And as you're the authority here on Super Heroes and what not I'm sure you will provide the definitive answer.



Batman Or Superman -- who would win in battle? And do you agree with the head-to-head below? I'm in the Batman camp (insert smutty innuendo here) and insist that The Batman's intellect would eventually find a way to cope with and eventually overcome Supes' physical superiority.

As

Head-to-head
Batman --- Superman

6' 2" --- Height --- 6' 3"

215 lbs --- Weight --- 225 lbs

20/20 --- Vision --- Unlimited?

Very Clever --- Brains --- Very Smart

27 --- Age --- 29

Acrobatic --- Mobility --- Super-speed, flight

Expert in all known forms of martial arts --- Fighting Ability --- Super-strong, invulnerable

Proactive, at least two steps ahead of opponent --- Fighting Style --- Reactive, deals with situations as they occur

Back broken by Bane --- Major Losses --- Killed by Doomsday

A Photograph of Mom and Dad --- Vulnerability/ Distraction --- Kryptonite

The Joker --- Sworn Enemy --- Lex Luthor

Top 5 --- Popularity with General Public --- Number 1

No, probably not --- Would do anything to win? --- No

Maybe --- Would defeat Spiderman in a fair fight? --- Yes

As much as I like Batman, he wouldn't beat Superman.


And Spidey would kick his ass like it was sunday school.

YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN' ME

Spidey is/was my favourite Super Hero, certainly so when I was kid, but defeat Batman? Puhleeze!

Unless Batman laughs himself to death when he sees Spidey's special move -- spraying opponents with a sticky spider's web. Batman would bust an array of moves on his puny ass.

jerseykrs said:

In a fair fight, there is NO way that Batman would win. However, a number of years back, Superman entrusted Batman with Lex Luthor's krytptonite ring. So, if Batman was to use that in the fight, he would probably win based on the fact that not only is he a master strategist but he is also proficient in so many forms of hand to hand combat.
[Edited 7/12/06 17:18pm]

Ur all wrong, this dude would win






tell 'em where u live hammer

Superman would win

papaa said:

Spider-Man easily wins: (1) he has at least as much experience as Batman (don’t forget he began his carreer as a superhero as a teenager, much younger than Batman), (2) he is way stronger being able to lift ten tons, (3) he is faster and more agile, and (4) he has a built in alarm system.

IMHO, he is also tougher. Batman can throw whatever he wants at Spidey, but Spider-Man could simply avoid it. Remember, all Spiderman needs is one good punch, and it's exit Batman.

And please, don’t tell me that “Batman thinks ahead and plans his battles like a game of chess”. I know he’s very smart and quite tough, but Spider-Man isn’t too shabby himself. He has fought every villain in the Marvel Universe and even a good deal in other universes. Spider-Man uses his superpowers as well as his intelligence. There are some people who really think that Batman is some kind of analyzing computer who just has to see his opponent to know his weaknesses and so on… That’s not true.

Besides, Batman will have a hard time spying on Spider-Man (and following him), because Spider-Man will feel it if someone is watching him.

In a fight mano a mano against Spider-Man, Batman wouldn’t stand a chance. Of course, if Batman starts building traps and hiding weapons and so on, then he may actually win the fight.

Don’t forget that Spider-Man can build traps, but of course, he won’t do that, it’s not his way of fighting. I respect Batman because he has taken on very tough and dangerous opponents while he’s only a human with no superpowers, but Spider-Man is really out of his league.

It doesn’t mean a thing that Batman knows hundreds of fighting styles, because he never will be able to actually hit such an extremely fast and agile hero as Spider-Man. And even if he does manage to hit him a few times, I don’t think Spider-Man will go down! He has had his butt kicked by much stronger than Bats, and kept coming back for more, until he won.

YOU GUYS ARE PROBABLY RIGHT...

But I've always found Superman (and Clarke Kent) a bit too soporific.

BobGeorge67 said:

Spidey beat up Firelord, he's in the same class as the Silver Surfer. I love Batman and all, but please, 'tis not even a contest.

WELL, WHEN YOU PUT IT LIKE THAT...

Perhaps it wouldn't be the thrashing I envisioned. I think Batman would come out on top in one out of five battles between the two...

OK, how about Spiderman vs. Superman. That's almost like a cruiserweight going up against heavyweight. I'll give it to Superman by knockout in three rounds.

jerseykrs said:

Oh, Supes beats my boy Spidey any day.


The Silver Surfer now, um, he kicks the shit out of Clarky boy all the livelong day.

jerseykrs said:

I remember this comic from back in the day.

[Edited 7/12/06 20:26pm]

While Superman is stronger and what-not, Batman is waaaaay smarter.

In John Byrne's legendary Man Of Steel mini-series, we saw the first meeting with Superman and Batman. Before even meeting him, Batman realized he would one day be confronted by Supes, and began to study him. Now, at this point, Kryptonite wasn't even a known weakness, so Batman had to get more cerebral than all that: he warned Supes when they finally met that he had rigged himself to a detonator for a bomb. If Supes so much as touched him, the bomb would go off, killing an innocent civillian (unbeknownst to Supes, Bats had rigged the bomb to himself, so the "innocent civillian" to die would be Bruce Wayne). Batman had already figured a way to exploit Clark's boy-scout mentality, and use it against him.

Now, after Superman and Batman became allies, Clark eventually entrusted a Kryptonite ring (formerly owned by Lex Luthor) to Bruce's safekeeping, in case he was ever taken over or went insane, etc. This alone gives Batman an advantage. He used this, in part, to take down Superman, when he was controlled by Poison Ivy, in the storyarc Hush.

In the JLA story Tower Of Babel, Ra's Al Ghul and Talia managed to hack into the Batcave computer, and discovered that Batman had files on how to take down each and every member of the Justice League, just in case they went rogue. Ra's used these tactics against the JLA, resulting in their defeat. Superman was wiped out by a synthetic, altered form of Red K.

In the classic Frank Miller graphic novel, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Batman defeats Superman using Gotham's power grid to amp up a suit of armour, effectively hitting Supe's with an entire city.

So, in a nutshell, Batman would win. He wouldn't defeat him using physical force, but rather his deductive mind. Knowing Kal-El's weaknesses and what-not gives him a distinct advantage over the man of steel. Sure, Superman is way more powerful, but he doesn't have as brilliant of an intellect.

jerseykrs said:

Well, as these are my two favourite Super-heroes, I've given this a little thought. On a toe-to-toe basis, Spidey has the distinct advantage of speed, agility and "spider-sense". Physically, he overpowers Batman easily. That having been said, Batman has taken on way more powerful foes and won. Spidey might win the first time, but it wouldn't take Batman long to come up with counter-strategies. Peter is no slouch when it comes to scientific methods of defeating his foes, but he just isn't as devious as Bats. Part of why Bruce is so good at fighting crime is that he is a detective on par with Sherlock Holmes. He is able to THINK like a criminal when necessary. Spidey just isn't devious in any shape, way or form, and that has been to his disadvantage at times (especially when dealing with foes like Norman Osbourne).

Ultimately, there is no way that either hero would go for too long without figuring out that the other was on the same side as he was. BOTH of them are dedicated to their causes, and have similar motives for fighting the good fight (survivors guilt, a desire to prevent further suffering, etc). Take, for instance, in the JLA/Avengers crossover, what happened when Batman and Captain America fought: while the members of their respective teams duked it out, they quickly figured out that they were being duped, and left the battle to deduce who was playing them. I think the same would be true of Bats and Spidey. The only way the two would fight was if one was mind-controlled, and that would automatically take out a major advantage one had.

I haven't read the Batman comics... but the Justice League cartoons gave the impression that Batman is an uber-genius that can defeat anyone simply with his intellect...

Who's smarter? Batman or Reed Richards?

Oh and BTW, what about Superman's intellect? I remember reading ages ago in a comic that he had superintelligence...

FASCINATING

Mind wins over matter. I consider Clarke's "boy-scout mentality" as his greatest weaknes, notwithstanding Kryptonite of course.

JediMaster said:

TMPletz said:

I LOVED this one as a kid!!!!

Ever see the version Alex Ross painted of this cover???

Beautiful!

coolcat said:

Reed Richards is smarter, but in a scientific sense. He isn't a detective, concerned about crime and what-not. Batman is, ultimately, a better fighter and detective than Reed.

As for the "Super-intelligence", that is more of a relic of the Silver Age. Understand, Supes IS smart, but not as much as Batman.

papaa said:

The ages are a bit off. DC doesn't really give ages, but deductive reasoning puts both of them in their mid to late thirties.

As for popularity, Batman actually came out as the #1 pick in a poll of pop-culture characters...period! He actually beats out Superman, as well as Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny or any of the big name characters!