With the upcoming ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice’ film hinting at revisiting the iconic battle from “The Dark Knight Returns”, lots of people have been ruminating over the question of who would win a battle between DC’s biggest caped icons. Yesterday, we addressed the problems in that theorem, in that Superman and Batman have much in common as heroes, men of valor, and proud wearers of bed sheets on their back. Of course, we also focused on the question of what character would be most suited to neutralizing the world’s greatest detective, whereas today we ruminate on who might stop the man of tomorrow. As with yesterday, we keep caveat that changes up the whole nature of the discussion, and let the folks who love to crow “KRYPTONITE!!!” have their moment in the sun in today’s turnabout query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) would probably throw him up against an angry Doctor, or maybe The Brain, depending on my mood, asking: If you were to choose someone (who is NOT Batman, Superman himself or an alternate Superman or Batman) to defeat The Man Of Steel, who would you pick and why?
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Me. I have this devious plan to absorb Superman’s powers for myself, return to my home dimension and rule over Japan.
Actually, I’d go with almost any member of the Green Lantern Corps with an exceptionally strong will. It has been shown in the past that a GL Power Ring can alter bodies (such as Arisia using it to make herself grow up), so it would probably be capable of altering Superman’s genes to no longer absorb the energy of Earth’s yellow sun long enough to weaken him. But it would have to be someone who can hold him long enough since apparently some GLs have weak wills, allowing their constructs to be shattered by superhuman strength.
Barring that, just have the Kents ground him.
Lex Luthor obviously. The man is a genius!
HE CAN DO ANYTHING!
We know it’s you, Geoff Johns…
In a one on one fight? The Anti-Monitor
Squirrel Girl.
Atom: As Shrinking Violet did many years ago during the Great Darkness Saga and Atom did in JLA 41 I think, he could enter the body of Superman and mess up his bloodflow giving him a stroke, or heartattack. He could lobotomize him without his knowledge internally or set off a nuke in his brain.
He could also alter Supes at the molecular level screwing up how he is put together.
A smart man that can literally play with ones Subatomic structure is not one to anger.
Essentially anyone that has a half-way decent, pragmatic plan, the resources to pull it off, and exists in a world where evil is allowed to triumph over good. If your plan is good enough, most anything can be accomplished in comics.
The primary argument for Batman being able to win in a fight against Superman, as I see it, has it’s foundation in Batman’s ability to be able to plan and prepare for such an encounter; because physically they just don’t stack up evenly.
If given some of the more outlandish resources, Lex Luthor certainly could pull it off if writers were allowed to let him win. Various other super-geniuses would likewise be able to pull off this feat. I like Slappy’s suggestion of the Atom as a good example (not that the Atom is evil) of a man with a plan and the resources to pull it off. Were the Atom able to get inside Superman’s body, one would hope that he might be able to do some damage. Getting inside would still take some planning, probably, given Superman’s Superduper Senses.