Greetings Bat-boys and girls. To spice things up for you all, my editor has asked me a superbly wonderful question: Who would win in a fight? Batman, or … ? That’s the best part. We will be looking through the best match-ups of Batman vs. another hero or villain in the DC Universe. We’ll look at several fights, some of these having been fought countless times in normal continuity as well as in the Elseworld titles. There are several match-ups that have already been considered, and I promise to bring you the best ones out there.
So, how do we judge them? We’ve come up with some criteria in order for there to be no arguments about how we decide who wins these fights. As some fights occur only once, while others occur several times, certain match-ups will be spread out over a few weeks. They’ll be evaluated per story. For example, our first fight will be Batman vs. Superman. There are at the very least four stories this occurs in, and the circumstances for each are different. Things like this have been taken into consideration. We are here to put all of your arguments to rest once and for all. So the criteria are as follows:
1) Motivation. What motivates either of them in each fight? This is a significant point to consider. Depending upon motivation, this could easily push one of them to win over the other.
2) Caution/Wariness/Vigilance. How wary is either opponent of his respective challenger? These are things that you can't prepare for, but are ever-vigilant in perceiving when they happen.
3) Allies/Rogues involved. Anyone involved in a particular fight, whether they be a Justice League member or even the intervention of a Rogues’ gallery villain from either hero. The involvement of outside parties will significantly affect the outcome of the fight. If someone is involved in a particular fight, I will consider if that significantly affected the outcome of a specific fight. If it does, then the victor should be the one who had no one aid him.
4) Abilities/Gadgets Used. This one is self-explanatory I think. This would also be a significantly important factor.
5) Environment. Does the environment hinder or help either opponent?
6) Is the story memorable? More importantly, which character makes the fight more memorable? This is kind of an odd one, but I think it’s something we all consider when reading such match-ups.
7) Preparation. Have either of them prepared for the fight, and if so, how have they prepared?
As a reminder, Batman vs. Superman will be the first matchup we look at. So, as far as some of the stories to be considered, here’s what you have to look forward to, or possibly even brush up on, Bat-children:
Red Son, by Mark Millar
The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller
Hush, by Jeph Loeb, Illustrated by Jim Lee (!)
JSA: The Liberty Files (Elseworlds), by Dan Jolley, Illustrated by Tony Harris
And a few others. This is just for starters. Just for the record, the actual victors of any fight in the stories themselves, will not necessarily be the winners after we’ve considered the criteria in each fight. The winner could change. Stay tuned Bat-boys and girls.
Posted by Chris Gering
