THE GREAT CAPE DEBATE
How do Superman, Batman stack up?
Two iconic characters in capes rocketed the comic-book industry into the American mainstream: Superman and Batman, twin pop-culture monuments who, though born in the late ’30s, still reign ageless. And on Friday, these Spandex heavyweights will go (Super-)mano a (Bat-) mano for the first time on the big screen, in director Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
So who has the edge in this epic showdown of DC Comics’s most popular warriors? Sure, Superman is the stronger combatant — but don’t think Batman doesn’t have something in his utility belt to counter him. Here’s how they match up:
BIRTH NAME
Superman: Kal-El. Batman: Bruce Wayne.
Advantage: Superman, with a name so distinctive, fan Nicolas Cage even tagged his son with it.
OFFICIAL CHARACTER HEIGHT Superman: 6-foot-3. Batman: 6-foot-2. Advantage: Push.
OFFICIAL CHARACTER WEIGHT
Superman: 235 pounds. Batman: 210 pounds.
Advantage: Depends of weight of Batman’s gadget-laced utility belt.
HAIR
Superman: Signature S-curl. Batman: Potential helmet hair from the cowl.
Advantage: Superman.
LOGO
Superman: Chest-spanning “S.” Batman: Fear-inducing black bat.
Advantage: Batman. The Bat-Signal looks impressive projected into the midnight skies over Gotham.
SECRET IDENTITY Superman: Bumbling, stumbling newspaper reporter Clark Kent.
Batman: Billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne.
Advantage: Superman — those media connections pay off in times of trouble.
ICONIC CRASH PAD
Superman: Icy Fortress of Solitude. Batman: Dank, subterranean Batcave.
Advantage: Batman — better manservants.
PERSONALITY
Superman: Earnest do-gooder (a.k.a. The Big Blue Boy Scout).
Batman: Dark, moody, tortured vigilante.
Advantage: Superman. Batman’s a real downer as a plus-one.
ORIGIN STORY
Superman: The infant Kal-El’s parents rocketed him away in a capsule like a cosmos-Moses (“cos-Moses”?) before they died in the explosion of home planet Krypton.
Batman: Young Bruce Wayne saw his own parents murdered before his eyes, while old enough to remember the psyche-scarring event. Advantage for lifelong mental torture as compelling narrative: Batman.
FIGHTING ATTRIBUTES
Superman: Super-flight, superspeed, super-hearing, super-intelligence, super-near-invulnerability, super-heat vision.
Batman: Hand-to-hand combat, a street fighter’s hard-won guile.
Advantage: Batman.
WEAKNESS
Superman: Kryptonite radiation, love of humanity.
Batman: No actual superpower, Catwoman’s feline allure.
Advantage: Batman.
SIDEKICK Superman: Usually works alone. Batman: Most often Robin, the Boy Wonder.
Advantage: Superman. Poor, ever grieving Batman has had to endure too many sidekick deaths by nefarious means.
NOTABLE VILLAINS
Superman: Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Bizarro, Zod.
Batman: Joker, Riddler, Penguin, Bane, Ra’s al Ghul.
Advantage: Batman — arguably the greatest rogues’ gallery in comics history.
CREATORS
Superman: Nerdy, outsidery Canadian/Cleveland boys in the ’30s (Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster).
Batman: Streetwise, outsidery New York lads in the ’30s (Bob Kane and Bill Finger).
Advantage: Superman, for Can-con.
OSCAR NOMINATIONS AMONG BIG-SCREEN ACTORS
Superman: Reeve, Routh, Cavill et. al. = zero.
Batman: Keaton, Clooney, Bale, Affleck = 14.
Advantage: Batman.
ROMANTIC HIGHLIGHT
Superman: Flying a charmed Lois through the gentle evening sky.
Batman: Getting face-licked by a villainous, leather-loving Catwoman.
Advantage: You pick — this one says more about you. MOTTO/OATH
Superman: “Truth, justice and the American way.”
Batman: “And I swear by the spirits of my parents to avenge their deaths by spending the rest of my life warring on all criminals.”
Advantage: Superman for bumper sticker; Batman for persistence.