Ranking All Batman Vs. Superman Fights In Animation
3. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2
This iconic Superman vs. Batman action felt straight off the page of the iconic The Dark Knight Returns comic book, right down to Bruce's bulky armor and iconic lines. New sequences were added in between so that the battle can move on from just one street to crashing through walls of apartment buildings, and then to a construction site. What really captured the spirit of the comics, is that the story retained its subversion of superhero values.
The Dark Knight Return’s argument was that classical depictions of superheroes are secretly authoritative and fascistic. The dystopian future setting was the strain of time that brought it to its extreme, that their values got eroded. The Man of Steel’s dramatically muscular form and The Dark Knight’s ogrish design were how they presented that they had become a parody of their former selves. Nuclear Fallout Superman and Battle Armor Batman were the final forms of moral decay.
This battle was the final explosion of that building tragedy. Both characters departed so much from their morals, their relationship turned from being best friends to being enemies.