5 Times Batman Used His Villains’ Powers

Batman is a legendary superhero. He works alongside veritable gods and goddesses, but manages to bring something special to the team with his skills, determination, and wits. Beyond working alongside the Justice League, Batman regularly demonstrates that he should never be underestimated when he goes up against villains who are always much, much stronger than he is. Batman is almost always physically outmatched or outgunned when he battles his biggest villains, from Poison Ivy’s control of the Green to Bane’s Venom-induced super strength. Batman is constantly battling villains with some kind of physical advantage, but he always manages to come out on top. 

Usually, Batman wins through outsmarting or outmaneuvering his opponents, but sometimes, the best way to beat someone is to use their own tricks against them. Even Batman needs a booster sometimes, and that has come in the form of his supervillains’ powers and equipment. Today, we’re taking a look at five times Batman used a villain’s powers or gear, and talking about what he did with all that added firepower. Without further ado, let’s banter about Batman.

5) Venom

The “Venom” storyline is an underrated classic. After failing to save a little girl from drowning, Batman started using the strength-enhancing Venom. He wound up hooked on it, becoming addicted to fighting and practically devolving into a common crook. Batman went through a lengthy, taxing battle to overcome his addiction to Venom, showing us a powerful vulnerability that we rarely see from him. Fun fact: this was Venom’s debut, and actually predates Bane by about two years. Bane started using Venom to show that he overcame one of Batman’s weaknesses and prove that he was a better man, only to become addicted himself. Womp womp.

4) The Man-Bat Serum

After the death of Damian Wayne, Batman was determined to bring down Talia and the Heretic by any means necessary. To fight Talia’s army of Man-Bat ninjas, Batman lived up to his name by injecting himself with the Man-Bat serum, becoming a monster with the ability to control bats. The Winged Crusader led an army of bats to terrorize Talia’s soldiers, depowered them, and ripped into the Heretic with enhanced physical might. Even so, it took the Bat-Family working together to bring him down. Still, it’s not every day that you get to see Batman as an actual bat, so that’s always worth a look.

3) Yellow Lantern Ring

The Sinestro Corps chooses its warriors based on their ability to inspire fear, and that’s Batman’s bread and butter. At its inception, the Corps tried to recruit Batman, but gave up because he previously wielded a Green Lantern ring. Years later, in the “Forever Evil” storyline, Bruce donned another yellow ring to even the playing field against the Earth-3 villain, Power Ring. Power Ring was chosen because he was a massive coward, so going up against a master of fear empowered by the feat he caused in others was a massively unfortunate series of events for him.

2) Bonded with Etrigan

Etrigan is a demon who has helped Batman just as often as he has tried to burn him with hellfire. Etrigan will take any and every opportunity to corrupt and destroy whoever he can, but in the Injustice universe, even he knew that evil Superman needed to be brought down. Batman was willing to give up his own soul to stop Superman, and so he bonded to Etrigan to put him on even footing with the former hero and cast a sleeping spell on the Man of Steel. We only saw this bond briefly, but Batman and Etrigan made a truly terrifying pair, with the Dark Knight and the Demon providing a perfect contrast and mixture of fear and justice.

1) Resurrected in the Lazarus Pit

Ra’s al Ghul has used the Lazarus Pits to cheat death hundreds of times over the centuries. Batman has always denied the caustic pits, deeming them unnatural and far too dangerous. He lost that choice when he died in the horrific “H2SH,” and Talia decided she wasn’t ready to lose her beloved. She carted Batman to her personal Lazarus Pit and had him revived from the dead. We don’t yet know what impact the Pit had on his psyche, but Talia commented that he was different and darker than before, implying that the Pit changed something fundamental about Batman. He came back, but he might just have left something important behind.

Which of his villain’s powers would you want to see Batman use? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts on the ComicBook Forum!

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