7 Times Batman Beat Superman (& How He Did It)

As iconic duos in comics go, there are few better than Batman and Superman. They are, after all the World’s Finest, one of the most powerful team ups in all of comics. They’re a real odd couple in a sense, with Superman being a symbol of hope and Batman being the darker, more brooding detective, but work well together. Their differences are part of what make them such a strong team and even better friends.

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But just because they make a great team and are the best of friends doesn’t mean that the don’t come into conflict. At various times in comics history — both in continuity and outside of it — Batman and Superman have come to blows and, sometimes, Batman comes out on top. Here are seven times that Batman has defeated Superman. These defeats aren’t always traditional defeats in the sense that someone dies or Batman outright wins, but Superman definitely doesn’t come out the victor and that says an awful lot about just how formidable Batman actually is.

7) Batman: Hush

Not every show down between Batman and Superman is a fight in the traditional sense. Sometimes, it’s a matter of one hero help the other regain control and that’s the case here. in Batman: Hush, Poison Ivy manages to take control of Superman using her powers and uses her control over the powerful hero to go after Batman and Catwoman. It’s a terrifying situation.

However, Batman realizes that Superman is subconsciously resisting so he uses just about every weapon at his own disposal to stall Superman while Catwoman does something insane: she chucks Lois Lane off the Daily Planet. Lois being in danger is enough for Superman to break free of Ivy’s control. He saves Lois and then he and Batman go after Ivy together. While this is technically a team effort between Batman and Catwoman to save Superman rather than defeat him, we’ll chalk it up to Batman as a win.

6) Superman: Red Son

Superman: Red Son is a classic Elseworlds story and it has maybe one of the most dramatic defeats of Superman by Batman in its pages. In Superman: Red Son, Superman’s ship crashes on a Ukrainian collective farm in the Soviet Union instead of in Kansas and thus, the hero has a very different trajectory. In this reality, the Soviet Union is peaceful and prosperous while the United States is on the verge of collapse, but Superman is also very much of a Big Brother-like figure. Batman, on the other hand, was the son of a couple orphaned when they were killed for printing anti-Superman propaganda leading Batman to hate Superman.

Batman ends up teaming up with Luthor Corp and the head of the KGB to stop Superman, using Wonder Woman as bait to lure Superman into a situation where they plan to drain him of his power by using rays imitating a red sun. The plan more or less works. Superman is lured, he’s drained of his powers. But Superman also manages to convince Wonder Woman to break free and help him and while she severely injures herself, she does so. Batman ends up killing himself to avoid Superman’s wrath, making himself a martyr to the cause. It’s technically a win for Batman, just with an asterisk.

5) Superman/Batman: The Trust

Superman/Batman: The Trust is a short, 8-page story from Chipp Kidd and Alex Ross that is really less of a case where Batman beat Superman and more of a testament to the friendship between the two heroes but it’s still really, really great. In the story, Superman has come under the mind control of Brainiac and as a result, he’s on a rampage in Metropolis. This means Batman has to stop him but how do you stop Superman? Well, Batman pulls out a gun.

What’s great about this story is that it’s clear that this is a scenario that Superman and Batman have talked about before: what would they do for each other if the worst happened? In this case, it seems that Batman would be willing to do the one thing he’s vowed not to do — use a gun — if it means preventing his friend from becoming a monster. Except, this is Batman we’re talking about and he always has a plan. Batman ends up shooting not a bullet but a Kryptonite dart out of his gun which lets him free Superman from Brainiac’s control, thus saving his friend without actually killing him. He “beats” Superman — and saves him, too.

4) Batman: Endgame

We’re counting this one as a win because, at the end of it all, Superman doesn’t win but if we’re being honest, Batman doesn’t come out so great either. In Batman: Endgame, the entire Justice League succumbs to the effects of Joker Toxin — except for Batman. By the time Batman faces off with Superman, he’s already run pretty ragged and is even in his armor to take on Superman — and that isn’t helping all that much but it’s at least keeping him in the fight.

Ultimately, it all comes down to a final moment with Superman and Batman up in the sky with what should be a final blow for Superman, but Batman has one final trick: he basically spits Kryptonite gum into Superman’s eye. It causes them both to fall into Gotham Bay, the end. This is a case where Batman may not technically win — he falls to the bottom of the Bay, too — but Superman definitely doesn’t win so we’ll take it.

3) JLA: Tower of Babel

While it’s Ra’s al Ghul who is actually behind the coordinated attack on the Justice League in JLA: Tower of Babel, the plans he uses are all of Batman’s design so this counts as an instance of him defeating Superman, even if by proxy and certainly not intentionally. Batman has secret contingency plans for how to defeat the rest of the Justice League as a “just in case” sort of situation and Ra’s takes those plans and uses them to create a distraction as he starts his real plan for global domination.

So, how does Batman plan to defeat Superman? Exposure to synthetic Red Kryptonite, something Batman created himself. It incapacitates Superman, making his skin transparent and making him feel terrible pain. It also overloads his absorption of solar energy so he ends up with overwhelmed senses. It’s extremely painful and very bad and it won’t actually kill Superman, but it definitely takes him down. The whole event shows how Batman really thought through the weaknesses of the other heroes, but it also highlights his paranoia — and it certainly is one way to take down Superman.

2) Batman: The Devastator

In DC’s Dark Multiverse on Earth -1, Superman went evil at some point. He killed millions of people, including Lois Lane which is how you know things are very, very bad. In a desperate effort to stop Superman and save humanity, Batman develops a strain of the Doomsday Virus and infects himself with it, transforming himself into the Devastator. This transformed creator gives him Batman’s mind but Doomsday’s strength and it does the trick. He soon kills Superman.

Unfortunately, it’s a pyrrhic victory. There was no changing back for Batman and, more than that, the Doomsday Virus began to rapidly spread and transform everyone into the same sort of mindless, rampaging monster. Batman is later recruited by the Batman Who Laughs.

1) World’s Finest #240

We can’t have this list without including something from the Silver Age, which is probably the most delightful and absolutely bonkers era in comics, especially for DC and most especially when it comes to stories where heroes end up in strange predicaments. This includes Batman defeating Superman and that includes World’s Finest #240. The story saw Superman agreeing to become the king of Kandor in order to save it from civil war. That means he had to live in the bottle city, but he keeps coming back out and is acting very weird and it soon causes chaos. Batman is tasked to kill Superman by the President of the United States.

Yes, you read that correctly. Batman seeks help from the Kandorians, but they’re unable to do so. Batman and Superman have a confrontation; Batman does end up killing Superman with a poison needle. However, his corpse expands until it breaks out of Kandor and it’s suddenly revealed that the reason for all the insanity is a sentient cat at Superman’s Fortress of Solitude zoo. Superman comes back to life once free of Kandor, deals with the cat, and everything goes back to normal. So, it’s a defeat of Superman by Batman… but it’s one heck of a weird story. Comics, man.

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