Best of superfriends? Not always. Like the Joker before him, if we were to compile a list of the times Batman has thumped Superman in the head, we'd be here all day. Superman being an enormous, overpowered alien has never stood in the way of Bats laying a beatdown on the Man of Steel, with comics being eager to set the two friends against one another at every opportunity. Most famous of their many fights is the climactic battle at the end of Frank Miller's 'The Dark Knight Returns', in which an aged Batman and Superman finally come to blows after a career of fragile, tenuous friendship. Employing old ally Green Arrow to weaken Clark with a Kryptonite arrow, Bruce sets about systematically beating the idealistic Kryptonian to a pulp. I want you to remember... Bruce snarls through Miller's narration, ...the one man who beat you. Okay, he 'dies' from an apparent 'heart attack' moments later, but it's as solid a victory as a mere human could ever get, going toe-to-toe with Superman. The pair have fought many times before and since, but one of the more realistic encounters between the two (until DC finally release a comic in which Superman punches the Bat's head clean off his shoulders) comes at the end of the death-of-Robin storyline 'A Death In The Family', whereupon a grieving Batman takes out his frustrations on Superman. I think I broke a couple of knuckles, an uncharacteristically pained-looking Batman groans. Not his finest moment, but a much-needed redressing of the balance, nevertheless, and a rare reminder of Batman's humanity.
A film critic and professional writer of over ten years, Joel Harley has a deep and abiding love of all things horror, Batman and Nicolas Cage. He can be found writing online and in print, all over the Internet and in especially good bookstores.
