10 Unbelievable Times Batman Beat Superman

1. The Dark Knight Returns

Superman/Batman The Trust
DC Comics

Despite your writer's dig at Frank Miller in the opening of this list, it could only be this fight at the top. This fight is the biggest reason why anyone remembers The Dark Knight Returns. Batman and Superman had fought in the comics before, but Miller really did sit down and ask "okay, no holds barred, both sides giving it their all, who would win and how?"

Superman, now a stooge of the openly fascistic American government - and you know we're in a bad way when America is closer to TDKR's America than Batman Beyond's corporate dystopia nightmare, and the corporate dystopia nightmare starts looking pretty good - rolls up on a blacked-out Gotham to bring the Caped Crusader in. Batman, knowing that this was always how it was going to end when he took back up the cowl, has prepared for the fight with the now iconic armored suit.

The resulting fight is one of the best in comic book history, a genuine back and forth with both sides employing a mix of strategy and brute force to try and get the other to stay down. But Batman has something Supes doesn't: Green Arrow, who hits him with a Kryptonite arrow the second he isn't looking.

The Kryptonite doesn't kill Clark, and Bruce seemingly dies immediately after this due to a heart attack, but killing Clark wasn't the point. The point was to show the world that the US government's superweapon wasn't invincible, that they CAN be defied and even defeated. That real change can come.

And boy howdy, does that sound good these days...

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Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?