I’ve been delaying this for ages, mainly because I think it’s a dumb question that can be answered super quickly. But the new Batman game is coming out tomorrow, so now’s as good a time as any to talk this one out.
(Of course Superman would win. GAWD.)
But let’s do this regardless. Let’s debate if we have to. Who would win in this fight? And yes they have pre-knowledge. Yes, they can pre-plan. But it doesn’t matter because he’s Superman for God’s sake!
Comments
107 responses to “The Big Question: Superman vs Batman”
I think He-Man should be an option
By the power of Grayskull!
I’ll even settle for Aquaman!
She-Ra had better thighs.
How much prep time does Batman get?
Superman wins if it comes out of nowhere, Batman with a couple of hours prep.
Agree 100%
I think multiple times this has been the case in the comics.
Look at Injustice: Gods Among Us, The Bat has a plan for everything…
“I will come for you”
Depends how plentiful in supply kryptonite is…
Well, Batman has a Kryptonite ring. He’s used it a couple of times against various Kryptonians, Superman included.
Well, in the 4th Superman movie, Superman lifts an entire continent made of kryptonite out of the ocean and hurls it into space, while kryptonite crystals are protruding right into his face, without affecting him too much. So tell me: What would one tiny little puny ring do, if massive car sized crystals can’t weaken Superman enough, to stop lifting a growing continent of kryptonite out of the ocean?
So here is the plan: Superman swoops in – he can go faster than the speed of light, as demonstrated in the first Superman movie – Batman, hit with such a force (aka over 300000km/s) that he either snaps in two, or if he is protected by some sort of bat armor, he’d be out in space in less than 0.5 of a second. Since Superman has no issues being in the vacuum, Batman would be exposed to the brutal environment of space, and die very quickly.
If Superman wants to be sure to win, he’d hurl him towards the sun, or just make sure Batman has enough momentum to travel away from earth for the next 50 days or so – traveling towards the sun preferably.
All this takes place within 1 sec. React to this, Batman!
Well, yeah, but Batman.
But Batman would be… just a crunchy piece of jerky, floating through space, with a bat-cape!
Batman has already beaten Superman. Battle is over.
I thought he threw the nuclear missiles into the sun in Superman 4 : The quest for Peace.
I thought that was in 3, but basically all these events happen within the first 5 Superman movies:
– Traveling faster than the speed of light
– lifting a continent out of the ocean
– hurling stuff into the sun
doesn’t supes also go on a double date as Superman and Clark with 2 girls in Superman 4?
That makes him even more a Super-Man!
Well, in Batman – The Dark Knight part 2. Batmang shoots Superman with a special Kryptonite arrow, it f*cks him up. Then Batmang lets him know he didn’t have to go easy on Superman, could have killed him if he wanted to.
“A different binding agent, a stronger mix. I want you to remember that.
I wanted to remind you to stay out of my way.
In all the years to come, in your most private moments…
… I want you to remember the one man who beat you.”
Yeeeah.
You’re forgetting that Superman is the sort of guy who avoids killing at pretty much all costs, even if it costs him the win, whereas Batman is more than happy to lay down as much hurt as possible if he has to, including killing if it comes to that. On top of that, Batman knows this weakness in Superman, and would exploit the hell out of it. Superman would be reduced to fighting in a way that would not maim or permanently injure an armoured human (which means 90% of his powers are useless, and the rest, like his enormous strength, would require Supes to hold back anyway), while Batman would use the cheapest, nastiest tactics possible (not limited to bringing in other powered beings, misdirection, magic as Superman is extremely weak to it, putting civilians or Superman’s loved ones in the way knowing that Superman won’t risk hurting them, the obvious Kryptonite option, etc.).
Hell, this is a guy who has preordained contingency plans for taking out the ENTIRE Justice League with ease if need be (including himself!). If there was absolutely no preparation, Supes would most likely have it, even more so if he decided out-of-character to kill Batman (although Batman always makes sure he’s prepared, so he’d have a slim chance regardless). But with prep time and prior knowledge, which is what we’re talking about here? Batman, no contest.
Batman doesn’t kill, its his number one rule.
In some cases that’s true (a lot of the time it’s just a refusal to use guns because of how his parents were killed, rather than a hard rule against killing), but it’s also a rule that he’s broken a number of times, both to protect others from being killed, and at least once or twice in anger or for revenge. There has even been instances where other members of the Bat-family have had to stop Batman from killing members of his rogues gallery. In fact, one instance of comic Batman (likely to have been retconned with the current New 52 mess) mentally tortured Joe Chill (the killer of his parents) for an extended period of time, which caused him to snap and shoot himself with the bullet which was initially intended for Bruce as a child, so Batman is not above killing, even if he’s not physically pulling the trigger.
Even the movie Batmans aren’t free of this, what with Keaton Batman killing the Joker by forcing him to fall to his death, as well as technically killing Catwoman once (although due to her ‘nine lives’, it didn’t stick) and killing a number of goons throughout two Keaton movies, and Bat-Bale was going to kill Joe Chill before being robbed of the chance, caused the death a number of League of Shadows mooks and faux Ra’s al Ghul in order to ironically avoid killing a murderer, and choose to let Ra’s al Ghul die in a elevated train crash he and Gordon caused as opposed to killing him himself.
*nerd pants on*
Technically the 3rd movie as Superman Returns was a direct sequel to Richard Donners Superman 2 and disregards 3 and 4.
Technically also the 5th movie as it’s the continuation of the Christopher Reeve setup Superman.
Technically it wasn’t pure Kryptonite either…
Technically there were so many plotholes in that movie we could hold the LeMans through its script and never touch the sides…
Just to annoy you, I picked Batman, and assumed he will be rolling with as much Kryptonite as he can carry.
Kryptonite cloak and badass Kryptonite batarangs
Yeah. My thought train was, of course Supermann, because, you know, super powers. But then I remembered he’s a useless chump when there’s kryptonite around. And Batman’s got some of that, and he’s just so much better prepared in general, because of the no super powers.
But really, Superman should get on to some kind of cure/vaccine for his kryptonite thing. He’s had a lot of time to do it, and everyone knows about it now. Maybe he could get Batman to help him?
What makes you think Batman would consider helping Superman eliminate his one and only weakness?
Good point, he probably wouldn’t.
If Supes really wanted to win he would assume Batman has prepped with Kryptonite and just laser him from space.
Or throw a car at him.
Or catch him in a fishing net thrown at super speed.
Close combat is so easy to avoid.
In a fight between man and god, always bet on the man.
Just got a msg from EB. Dilay in shipping of the joker statue.
i have always liked Batman over Superman, That and i could see Batman having Kryptonite on hand in case of Superman going crazy
Batman wearing a suit made from kryptonite, walks up and hugs Superman.
And then gets cancer.
Not if he wears a lead suit underneath the Batman suit.
lead poisoning??
Not if he wears an Iron Man suit underneath the lead suit.
Palladium poisoning?
Not if he wears a Power Rangers suit underneath the Iron Man suit.
Chafe?
Not if he wears a kryptonite Batman suit underneath the Power Rangers suit.
Not if he wears a Birthday suit under the Power Rangers suit
He doesn’t have to make a suit out of Kryptonite, he just has to work out how to turn it into a liquid, then just dunk his Bat-suit, and all his gadgets in it.
Liquid? I’m thinking he’d have some kind of Kryptonite aerosol/vaporiser. I doubt Superman would be feeling great with a lung full of the stuff.
He would have Superman repellant spray on his utility belt.
All Superman has to do is to fly at the speed of light (as demonstrated in the first Superman movie) and slam into Batman – The force would be enough to kill Batman or at least knock him into space, which would DEFINITELY kill him.
Straight fight superman wins no question.
Preplanning makes things difficult, if bats gets some kryptonite created/collected then things get interesting gadget wise. Kryptonite coated bola and Superman is down.
Although depending on the pre-knowledge if Sups know he has that, he can always just nuke from orbit.
The new Batman game is actually out on Friday, not tomorrow 😉
Yeah Superman has super powers, but Batman is badass, so Batman wins.
And as Shaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiins said, all Batman needs is Kryptonite.
As a character? I prefer Batman, my friend! I like the idea that he’s kind of an everyman. (Just rich and ambitious.) Always thought Supes was a little bland and over powered. Love the darkness, gothic-ness and theatrics of Batman’s world too.
In a fight? No question, Supes. Too over powered. *shakes fist*
“Aw, little Bat’s a sleepin’…”
but it always comes down to Superman being rendered weaker than a crippled child drowsy on antihistamines by a single nugget of Kryptonite, a weakness which just about everyone knows about and has access to apparently.
Canonically, the answer is Batman.
Superman is more than capable of winning but he holds back. Bats on the other hand, knows all of Superman’s weaknesses and is more than willing to exploit them. He also has a ridiculous hoard of Kryptonite and at least the same amount of resources available to him as Lex Luthor.
Sure, Supes could just be all like “fuck you, eye lasers to the face!” but it’s more likely that Batman would just mix some Kryptonite into Supes’s cereal.
All Batman needs to deal with lasers is a mirror
Even Batman has admitted that if Superman wanted he could kill him instantly without Batman ever seeing it coming (Superman can travel around the world in like, 8 seconds. Just clothesline Batman at Mach 50).
But the fact that Batman can lose is why people love him over other superheroes. That a normal man can defeat other superheroes/villians through ingenuity and intellect rather then brute force or superpowers.
Although, the reason why people love Superman is because he doesn’t Mach 50 everyone who annoys him. It’s why they hated the last Superman movie, because he killed everybody.
I love this discussion. For reasons such as “Just clothesline Batman at Mach 50”.
😀
Tbh, I don’t like Batman – He is not your everyday Joe Blow average bloke – he is way too rich for that. The reason he can defeat other superheroes/villains is because he can afford to buy stuff. And his wealth is reset after every encounter. I would say, at some point, his wealth should come to an end – and the last man standing would be Superman.
The reason I didn’t really like the last Superman movie was because it was nothing really than just a rehash.
But hey – The avengers destroy new york – no one cares, the joker blows up a building with a few corpses in it, and everyone loses their mind. What’s up with that?
The Avengers don’t destroy New York. They actually had 4 people working of collateral damage and helping civilians.
and I don’t remember anybody freaking out over the Joker except for what an amazing perfomance it was.
Also
http://0.media.dorkly.cvcdn.com/35/72/8392bef05f7fbff09c88cd4ec529377a.gif
Dammit I was gonna post that hahaha!
I’d call that a draw.
But then again couldn’t superman just fly to another planet super quick and just chill there for a week?
Or fly to the dark side of earth and stay there for a week?
Exactly that – chill for a week on the night side of earth.
Uh, sitting on the “night” side doesn’t mean you’re avoiding the suns radiation.
Considering he can travel faster than light, he can leave the solar system for a week, he does that after all in Superman 5.
I wish Flash Gordon was a super hero…..
http://youtu.be/9THNvldGs9Q
You’re welcome. 😀
Flash! Ah Aaaaahhh!
He saved everyone of us!
BRIAN BLESSED IS A REAL SUPERHERO!!!!
I mean he ‘did’ save the universe…….and he is also just a human.
I’ve had the argument more times than i care to admit, im not a massive superman or batman Fan… but its hands down batman would ultimately win.
He is literally prepared for ALL outcomes, even if he loses a fight he will win by having prepared something earlier, days weeks, months hell even years before, and as mentioned previously superman always holds back, even when evil.I’ve had the argument more times than i care to admit, im not a massive superman or batman Fan… but its hands down batman would ultimately win.
He is literally prepared for ALL outcomes, even if he loses a fight he will win by having prepared something earlier, days weeks, months hell even years before, and as mentioned previously superman always holds back, even when evil.
I think the two should really just hug it out. Stop promoting violence, @markserrels. >:|
That won’t sell any comics!
Everyone knows that when two superheroes meet for the first time, they are meant to misunderstand each other’s intentions and get into an epic battle. Then after the dust settles, they realise that they’re on the same side and team up to fight the real bad guy.
It’s pretty much Captain Marvel/Shazam’s entire reason for being!
What’s a Shazam?
A ten year old boy that ran into a wizard and can now hit himself in the face with lightning to basically become Superman. Except he’s even more of a boy scout and for some reason that always seems to piss Superman off.
*shakes fist at Wizards*
He’s more of a boyscout because the wizard shazzam trapped his town in a relative time bubble, so they all still act like they are from the 1950s,
I have to admit, the only time I paid him any attention was in Young Justice because that was a pretty cool dynamic. Mostly he’s just that other flying brick to me.
Im very much on the same boat, but i recently went and read everything Shazzam from like 1940 till 2005…. (after watching young justice lol).
going hard on the punisher comics atm and also NOVA (seems to be pretty much marvels version of the green lanterns)
A member of the kree race who… oh wait.
It was a mediocre Shaquile O’Neil film…
I think you mispelt awesome
Mediocre by Shaq standards is still an amazing, Oscar worthy, film…
Batman. Everytime. Superman 64. He must pay.
Batman.
Because deep down, Superman is a good person.
And deep down, Batman’s not.
Too close to call.
The Injustice YouTube channel dealt with this a lot. The consensus seemed to be that there’s no way Batman could win in a fair fight, but since Batman never fights fair, it’s a draw. Pretty much how The Dark Knight Returns calls it, from memory – they fight to a standstill*.
*
Well they fight to the point where Batman appears to have the upper hand, but pretends to have a heart attack and die. Superman returns the favour by pretending to believe Batman is dead.This is probably the geekiest thing ive ever said but…
Batman is more popular. And I like him more. So Batman. Superman would probably end up winning though. It would take Superman all of 2 seconds to throw Bats through a house and for him to come out the other end completely shattered.
As a big Batman fan, it hurts to say it: but Superman wins hands down.
Honestly, what’s to stop him flying up into space and just laser visioning Bats to death from a distance? Or just throwing a train at him from a mile away? Or carrying him out into space? Or just punching him once in the face?
And Batman has a krypotnite ring, sure. But he’d actually have to land a punch to do the damage right. Superman’s about as fast as The Flash so I don’t see that happening too easily.
Outside the physical and preparation aspects of such a battle… it’s worth factoring in their own willingness to go into battle with their closest ally.
Off the bat (pun intended), Supes would hesitate… Bats wouldn’t think twice (and might also be wanting such a showdown to take place)…
And in a universe of where individuals have the power of flight, speed, heat vision, freeze breath, super strength etc… It’s not too out there to have an individual to always have a battle plan and prepped to execute when needed…
So Bats ftw… any hint of a threat coming from Supes, Bats would know well and truly before hand and be prepped to handle…
Superman would win because he’s a walking trope with one obvious and avoidable weakness. Yeah, Batman could use kryptonite and he’s a great tactician, but don’t forget if he gets planning time, so does Superman. And since Superman knows Batman has access to kryptonite, he can easily plan around it.
This is why I don’t like Superman. When he was created it was something new and hope-filled for a world that needed it, but today he’s just a god character with too many strengths and not enough weaknesses.
For the sake of discussion; what could Superman do to plan around Batman’s access to Kryptonite?
He wouldn’t really need to prevent Batman from getting kryptonite, he’d just need to be aware that Batman would have kryptonite. There are more things Superman can do to avoid it than Batman can plan for or have the resources for. Superman could go into space, or stay constantly on the move at ridiculously high speeds, or be inside an environment that Superman is impervious to but Batman couldn’t follow, like extreme heat or cold or pressure.
That’s the thing about Superman, he can do all those things without needing gadgets, which means he can choose any of them at any time at no cost. To properly fight back, Batman needs to have all those contingencies planned for, and that would be far too expensive even for him.
That’s why really, to win, Batman needs to get the jump and use the element of surprise while Superman is unprepared. Since the challenge states they both get prep time, all of Batman’s surprise advantage disappears.
Superman should win, but Batman will always win. Why? Because relatively speaking Batman is so weak there’s no alternative. A loss for Batman means death, a loss for Superman means just walking it off. That’s why he’ll go up against Darksied and somehow make him look like a bitch. There’s just no way to write ‘Superman punches Batman’ and still have a Batman left in the next panel.
Superman should win simply because he’s one of the few people who doesn’t underestimate Batman. Everyone focuses on powers but without powers Clark Kent would be the one normal person who would consistently take down Batman.
Me thinks people are actually answereing the *other* big question: Who is cooler out of Batman and Superman?
Yeah, I think you’re right. I voted Superman, but I think Batman is a vastly superior character.
Goku.
…Wolverine fights Spiderman, Batman wins.
Batman always wins.
Does Batman have a one-armed Green Arrow hiding on a rooftop? I’ve seen how that fight ends. So did Batman.
Don’t think Superman did though. 😉
What is to stop Batman getting batgirl or nightwing across the road with a kryptonite sniper and while batman is fighting superman, just put 2-3 rounds in Superman. People need to remember Batman doesn’t fight fair, Hell Blue beetle isn’t doing much, He could use his alien tech for a large sum of money.
Batman.
I felt like a bad-ass in the Batman games. I felt like a floating plastic bag in the Superman games.
If by that you’re referring to Superman 64 then I get it. But clearly you never played lego batman 2.
Superman can just heatvision Batman from orbit. The ability to do so has been demonstrated by Ultraman (evil universe version of Superman).
For those that picked Batman and then had their scenario shattered in the comments remember you can always counter with.. Nah uh.
You mean nana-nana-nana-nana NA UH!
If this is a fight to the death the winner would be one who resorts to leathal force first. Seriously, dont they both have big issues about pulling the trigger?
Are you serious?
I have to agree with Mark on this one. Superman would win any day of the year. As much as I love Batman, (I will most definitely be getting Batman AO on steam when it comes out) but no amount of planning will let him beat an alien that can breathe in space, shot lasers from his eyes and fly around the world a million times before I finish typing this sentence. He is basically a god. Superman vs Goku would be a much more interesting discussion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_and_abilities_of_Superman
I think it would be interesting for them to fight on Kryptopn. Where Superman has no powers but Batman is probably unable to breathe. Can the choking bat kill the non-superman before he chokes out?
The question is Batman vs Superman, not x power set versus y. Which means in my opinion the characters themselves are just as important if not more so then their abilities. No matter how strong supes is I don’t believe he would ever unleash it all. He is a boy scout. Bat man would need a very good reason to fight, and would know he could not hold back. I also think it’s unlikely any justifiable scenario would occur where Batman could not prepare.
Tldr; it’s Batman vs Superman, not power sets. Unless you Redefine the question, the writer wins. (unless Batman has time to prepare then he will crush the author of course.
Aaaaaaaaand http://youtu.be/-G4Y8JtT1j0
You’re all just jealous of superman
Batman. Why?
BECAUSE HES THE GODDAMN BATMAN.