Batman Punching Superman With Kryptonite

[T Hedge Coke]

How many times, now has Batman, in canon or otherwise, punched Superman by wearing kryptonite gloves or using the kryptonite ring, hitting him with kryptonite some other way?

World's Finest is the first time, right? Mid-Sixties. (And there was more to it, but that's a fifty year old spoiler.) And, Miller's done it twice, now with DKR and DKSA.

[Mat001]

It happened in "Hush", when Bruce is forced to use it against Clark when the latter is under the control of Poison Ivy. That's the biggest one that I know of.

[hunter_peterson]

This never really made sense to me... doesn't it require prolonged exposure to weaken Superman? He doesn't instantly become human strength, so the punching wouldn't really do much, you'd think. But, you know... people want Superman to be beat up by Batman, so it happens.

[Neutrino]

This never really made sense to me... doesn't it require prolonged exposure to weaken Superman? He doesn't instantly become human strength, so the punching wouldn't really do much, you'd think. But, you know... people want Superman to be beat up by Batman, so it happens.

Yeah, Batman should fracture his fist against Supes, Kryptonite ring or not. The Bat-fanboys may hate it, but even with lots of 'prep time' and ample stores of Kryptonite, it's going to be nigh-impossible for a human combatant to defeat Superman since, for the first few seconds, he still has most of his power available. Only through plot contrivance is anyone really able to beat Superman without having approximately the same power level as him, or at least tech which brings them close (Luthor's power suit).

[T Hedge Coke]

The only one where he's not armored up, that I can think of, is Hush. The ones I listed, he's got armor on, or at least armored gloves, which, well, superhero physics.

Realistically, Batman can't swing around on his lines, especially when he dead-drops into to a swoop.

[Neutrino]

The only one where he's not armored up, that I can think of, is Hush. The ones I listed, he's got armor on, or at least armored gloves, which, well, superhero physics.

I was thinking of Hush, yeah, but the selling point of that story wasn't really logic. So I don't mind dumping it... I just wish that fanboys wouldn't cite it so often. DKR is also a dodgy example, I feel, because a) that wasn't the mainstream Superman, b) that Superman had been weakened by a massive nuclear explosion, c) the mainstream Batman probably doesn't even have the engineering skills to make that suit (though who knows with the flying Batmobile these days), and d) Superman was holding back and the story makes this abundantly clear.

Batman just can't beat Superman in a hand-to-hand fight. He'd need to use a trap or a trick, as in Tower of Babel.

...I'm sorry for turning this into a battle-board post.

[hunter_peterson]

The only one where he's not armored up, that I can think of, is Hush. The ones I listed, he's got armor on, or at least armored gloves, which, well, superhero physics.

Realistically, Batman can't swing around on his lines, especially when he dead-drops into to a swoop.

Yeah, I know Batman's unrealistic, but realism has little bearing on what I'm saying. I said that this ever happening doesn't match up with the rules about kryptonite in the fictional DC universe. It's a storytelling critique more than a physics one. If you're going to have something like kryptonite, you've got to keep it consistent.

Pretty much every representation of K radiation I've seen shows that it saps Supes powers and strength, it doesn't make his reaction automatically like those of a normal human. Magic does, for him. If you want to write Superman that way, use a magic-related MacGuffin instead of kryptonite. (That said, the most ridiculous instance was a Loeb comic, so that basically never would count, anyway.)

[sunofdarkchild]

Yeah, I know Batman's unrealistic, but realism has little bearing on what I'm saying. I said that this ever happening doesn't match up with the rules about kryptonite in the fictional DC universe. It's a storytelling critique more than a physics one. If you're going to have something like kryptonite, you've got to keep it consistent.

Pretty much every representation of K radiation I've seen shows that it saps Supes powers and strength, it doesn't make his reaction automatically like those of a normal human. Magic does, for him. If you want to write Superman that way, use a magic-related MacGuffin instead of kryptonite. (That said, the most ridiculous instance was a Loeb comic, so that basically never would count, anyway.)

Kryptonite doesn't take away his powers. Kryptonite physically hurts him. In 1986/87 just being in the same room as a tiny bit made him keel over helpless. The effects is similar in some ways to losing his powers, and the lack of invulnerability compared to his other powers makes some sense when his body is turning to mush on him. And if he can't stay on his feet no super speed will do any good.

In Hush if I remember correctly Batman says that Superman still would have won if his head was in the game, but enough of him withstood Poison Ivy's influnce to hold back enough for Batman to 'win.'

[T Hedge Coke]

Yeah, I know Batman's unrealistic, but realism has little bearing on what I'm saying. I said that this ever happening doesn't match up with the rules about kryptonite in the fictional DC universe.

I was responding to the post directly above mine:

"Yeah, Batman should fracture his fist against Supes, Kryptonite ring or not. The Bat-fanboys may hate it, but even with lots of 'prep time' and ample stores of Kryptonite, it's going to be nigh-impossible for a human combatant to defeat Superman since, for the first few seconds, he still has most of his power available. Only through plot contrivance is anyone really able to beat Superman without having approximately the same power level as him, or at least tech which brings them close (Luthor's power suit)."

If you want to write Superman that way, use a magic-related MacGuffin instead of kryptonite.

Kryptonite weakens and hurts Superman. The hurting is probably a big help. And, that isn't really what a McGuffin is. (Except in prodding this response, maybe.)