Throughout DC comics history one question has persisted since the gold age of comics; who would win in a fight, The Dark Knight or The Man of Steel. With Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice to be released March 25, 2016, the argument is at an all-time high. The two Titans have battled many times in comics and television but we have yet to see a fair fight between the two without the influence or help of outside sources.

Their Battle History

The two most important fights between DC’s most famous heroes occur in The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Batman: Hush by Jim Lee. In The Dark Knight Returns, Batman is prepared with a robotic bat suit designed to combat the son of Kyrpton. With the assistance of Green Arrow firing a Kryptonite arrow at Superman’s face, Batman is able to defeat Superman before having a heart attack. Because of Green Arrow’s assistance and Bruce’s health issues, in this fight it’s hard to determine if either of the heroes really won this battle. In Hush Superman is under the mind control of Poison Ivy so even though it’s Superman’s body in the fight it’s not his mind or tactics. In this fight all Batman has is his standard bat suit and a Kryptonite ring given to him by none other than Superman himself in case of emergency situations such as this. Bruce is able to land a few solid punches on Clark before Catwoman distracts Superman from the fight, despite the fact that Batman was able to punch Superman’s lights out with the ring. He states that one more punch would’ve broken his hand, so without his armor he is much less protected.

Powers and Capabilities

Batman is known to be capable of bench pressing 1000 pounds and leg pressing 2000. In the Red Sun storyline, Superman is seen bench pressing a machine weighing the same as our galaxy’s sun, needless to say Superman is beyond more powerful physically than Batman. Superman has an absolute arsenal of powers from super speed, to cold breath to heat vision and godly, super strength. Batman may be the underdog in this match-up, but he still stands a chance with a mastery of martial arts and strategy and his gadget packed utility belt that houses the very same Kryptonite ring he used on Superman in Hush.