DC Spoilers: Batman Just Found a Way to Mimic one of Superman's Best Powers

DC Comics may have established Batman and Superman being the closest of allies and friends - but they also have a healthy rivalry that always simmers between them. It's not just their clearly opposing ideological views - Batman must always wrestle with and even prepare against, the reality that Superman has the powers of a god. However, while Batman may spend the majority of his time devising deterrents to Superman's various powers, in the latest issue of Detective Comics, Batman actually reveals that he's found a way to mimic one of Superman's powers - one that is perfectly suited to the World's Greatest Detective!

Warning - Detective Comics #1028 SPOILERS Follow!

In Detective Comics #1028, Batman is investigating the murder of Richard Gotis, a retired detective who was on Batman's list of dirty cops (or former cops) still operating. Gotis was making a shady "deposit" the night he was killed by a seemingly undead assailant. Batman attends Gotis' funeral as Bruce Wayne - one of many curiously high-profile Gotham social figures to show up at Gotis' funeral. Using surveillance tech, Bruce discerns that Gotis was indeed involved in some kind of elaborate crime operation, which could connect to other major avenues of crime and corruption. So, after the funeral, Batman returns to perform his own autopsy on Gotis.

But how to examine a corpse that's already been buried in the coffin? In that sort of situation, having Superman's X-ray vision would sure come in handy - and now, Batman has that exact sort of ability at his disposal!

As you can see above, Batman has basically developed an X-ray vision tablet, which he can amplify to various intensities. He starts out being able to see into Richard Gotis' coffin, to see the corpse inside - and then it is able to look even deeper, to examine what the skeletal and organ damage was to the body.

It's not a major advancement in Batman-tech, or some elaborate Superman-neutralizing weapon (which DC Comics revealed Batman also has), but it is pretty cool. Even Bruce Wayne's spy tech at the funeral mimics Superman's super-hearing ability. Seeing Batman taking some of the advantages that Superman has and making them his own is in intriguing notion to play with - and also a simultaneous sly recognition of the respect Batman has for Superman and what he can do. At the same time, super-hearing and x-Ray vision are pretty non-aggressive powers for Batman to copy - what would happen if he started harnessing some of Superman's more aggressive powers?

Detective Comics #1028 is now on sale.