Batman and Superman have fought at least thirty-three times.
In the last post, I tallied the Silver Age battles. Here, I continue my look at
the history of Superman versus Batman fights.
Post-Crisis fights
17) The Dark Knight Returns (1986): In
DC's most famous Elseworlds story, Superman and Batman end up on opposite sides
of the law, culminating in a battle between super-lawman and bat-vigilante.
Facing off in Crime Alley against a Superman who is not at "full
strength" after surviving a massive Soviet nuclear blast, Batman utilizes
a carefully-prepared sequence of technological weapons and one assist from
Green Arrow to defeat the weakened Man of Steel, finishing him off with his
fists and asking him to remember "the one man who beat you." Result:
Batman wins big.
18) Man of Steel #3 (1986): John Byrne's
redefinition of Superman wastes no time in redefining the relationship between
DC's two flagship superheroes. Superman goes to Gotham to arrest the vigilante
Batman and initially takes Batman by surprise, but soon is surprised himself
when Batman escapes, then explains that if Superman touches him, it will set
off a bomb, killing an innocent person. After a tense collaboration in which
they apprehend the killer Magpie, Batman reveals that the bomb was on his own
person, making it a good thing that Superman never tried to grab Batman in the
initial surprise attack. Result: Batman looks like the boss, but there is no
fight.
19) Superman vol2 Annual #3 Armageddon 2001 (1991): Waverider spectates an
alternate timeline in which Intergang accidentally destroys Metropolis with a
nuclear explosion. Grieving for Lois, Superman unilaterally disarms all the
world's nuclear weapons, but in his rage, he's sloppy and kills some U.S.
sailors. He tells the President that if the American military tries to oppose
him, he'll fight them and win. The President asks Batman to bring Superman in,
but Batman refuses, warning Superman how high the stakes have gotten. When the
Justice League tries to arrest Superman, Martian Manhunter dies in the fight.
Now Batman feels he has no choice, and confronts Superman in a fight at Crime
Alley styled on DKR's. Despite
Superman being at full physical strength, his soul is sick and he's guilty for
what he's done. Batman wins without all the tricks, using just the kryptonite
ring Superman gave him. As Superman dies, Batman is anguished, wondering who
the authorities will send after him when his time comes. Result: Batman wins.
20) The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2002):
Frank Miller takes his most famous scene and says, "No, no… it goes like
this…" This time, instead of just a symbolic assist from Green Arrow,
Batman has other heroes doing most of the work, and the fight, like the story,
is a worse version of DKR. Result:
The Justice League wins; readers lose.
21) Batman #12 Hush (2003): Poison Ivy
takes control of Superman and uses him as a weapon to attack Batman. Although
Batman didn't expect an attack from Superman on this specific day, it's a
situation he has anticipated and prepared for. He retreats underground, arms
himself with the kryptonite ring, and contemplates, "If Clark wanted to,
he could use his superspeed and squish me into the cement. But… deep down,
Clark's essentially a good person… and deep down, I'm not." The two swap
blows – with writer Jeph Loeb reusing the hypersonic and electricity tricks
from DKR – until Superman is wrested
from Poison Ivy's control by the sight of Catwoman throwing Lois Lane from a
tall building and the need to save the woman he loves. Result: The fight is inconclusive;
the situation goes to Batman.
22) Superman: Red Son (2003): An
Elseworlds showdown between a Kal-El who happened to land in Soviet Ukraine
instead of Kansas and a Soviet Batman whose parents were shot by the Stalinist
system. Using an idea from the American Lex Luthor, this Batman crafts a trap
for Superman using a weakness to red sun that the Kryptonian didn't even know
he had. Batman beats and very briefly imprisons the powerless Superman, who is
immediately freed by the sacrifice of his ally, Wonder Woman. Batman commits
suicide rather than face punishment. Result: Batman beats Superman, but Wonder
Woman turns the tables.
23) JSA: The Unholy Three (2003): In the
Elseworlds continuity begin in JSA: The
Liberty Files, where the JSA are a collection of U.S. government agents, we
eventually find out that the Superman who helped win World War Two in the last
tale is not the Kal-El we know and love but Zod, a sociopath Kryptonian
disguising his intentions until he finds the time is right to take over the
world. His sneak attack kills some of his world's superheroes, but Wesley Dodds
escapes to alert Bruce Wayne to get the rest of the team together to stop their
world's evil Super-Man. It seems that no one can stop him when "the
Bat" swallows an experimental pill designed by Terry Sloane to give a
person temporary superpowers. A superpowered Bruce Wayne trades blows with the
evil Clark Kent long enough to let the rest of the team take him down. Result:
The Justice Society wins.
24) New Frontier (2004): Darwyn Cooke
describes, but doesn't show, a version of DKR's
Superman-Batman brawl as a result of McCarthyism in 1952. Batman wins, later
telling J'onn J'onzz that he did it with a "seventy-thousand dollar sliver
of meteor." However, a later chapter of the story indicates that Superman
and Batman are close friends and that the fight was staged, to get the
government off both of their backs. A later miniseries shows how a real
confrontation began before the heroes decided to save themselves some sweat and
fake Batman getting away. Result: No fight.
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