Bruce Wayne might just be one of the smartest crimefighters on the planet, but he's not nearly as clever as he's been hyped up to be this last decade, or as combat proficient.
Yes, while the Dark Knight is able to stand his ground against the likes of Superman, Darkseid and even Martian Manhunter (for whom he only requires a penny for a book of matches), he's not the unstoppable force fans have made him out to be. He has gotten the edge over certain characters in the past, but - ignoring the fact that having heroes face off against each other is really quite juvenile - there are plenty of heroes and villains that could lay waste to Bats in the blink of an eye.
The common reply to this charge has been that the Dark Knight is capable of overpowering anyone, given the 'prep time' to do so. Books like Tower of Babel - a story where Batman's contingencies for fighting the Justice League are leaked to Ra's Al Ghul (to devastating results) - would seemingly lend credence to this argument, but it's important to remember that he's just one man.
Take away his vulnerability, and he'll never be the same.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
