Superman Vs Batman

Hi there,

It will soon become apparent to anyone who reads this blog, I'm sure, that I am a comic book nerd. But more specifically, that I am a huge fan of Batman. With this in mind, please do not expect this post to be an objective discussion about the pros and cons of both Batman and Superman, because it won't be. I will shamelessly champion The Dark Knight and put down Superman (the overpowered douche bag) creating the illusion of this being a well throughout, objective group of observations.

I repeat. This is not meant to be objective. This is my opinion. (So please for the love of all thing super and fantastic do not take this too seriously. And please don't hate me if you love Superman.)

Anyone who keeps up with comics or comic book films will know that the next Superman film will be a Superman vs Batman affair with the two comic book giants facing off, again.

As a self confessed lover of the Caped Crusader and mega-fan of the Nolan Batman trilogy, I have my reservations about this. As it will be, at its core, a Superman film this suggests that Batman will be the antagonist. This unsettles me. Also who will play the new Batman? Christian Bale has refused to reappear as The Dark Knight (which I feel is the best that he could have done to spell a definite end to the Nolan trilogy and the hard, gritty Batman that I have grown to love), which means that a new Bat will have to be cast. Rumors suggest that the next Batman will be an older hero in opposition to the younger, up-and-coming Superman, played by Henry Cavill.

Names being thrown around include Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakensheild) and Matthew Goode (Ozymadias). However, part of me craves a less than perfect Batman who does look like celebrity (even though they will be a celebrity. You know what I mean, right?) to show the contrast between the 'American Dream' epitomizing Superman and the could-be-any-of-us Batman. But we'll see.

Okay, on to the ranty part. Why Batman is better than Superman, in a cute little numbered list (cause I have a hard on for order and lists);

1. Superman is too powerful. (A superhero who is too powerful I hear you cry?! Yep. It makes him boring.) It gets boring watching him fly headfirst into a situation and punching the problem until it is no longer a problem. It's no fun reading about or watching a superhero who you know is going to win. The man/alien might have super intelligence, but god forbid he ever uses it. And why bother when he can just laser-vision the villain to almost death (cause hes not allowed to kill anyone because of his moral code, or summin.) I would love to see Superman turn on humanity because he gets bored of saving our sorry asses and super-punch the moon out of orbit for shits and giggles. But he won't. Which leads onto my next point...
2. Superman is too perfect. Along with being all powerful he is perfect in every way. He looks perfect. He has the moral compass of a sainted saint. He is everything mankind/America. (Don't hate, you know its mostly true) strives to be. I'm sorry, but, I find this boring and totally unrelatable. Okay, I'll admit that Batman/Bruce Wayne has the intelligent of Stephen Hawking's as well as being amazing at every martial art ever created and builds the best gadgets, but he's mortal. Not to mention his emotionally crippledness. (The guy's got more issues than forest has trees.) But that's why I love him. He's got serious things going against him that sometimes make you wonder if he'll win through (even though you know he always will) or at least you look forward to see how he'll do it. (He can't always just fly and punch the problem in the face. But when he does, its still cooler than Superman.)
3. Batman has a cooler costume. All his costumes are cooler. (I'm sorry but you cant fight the truth. And black suits everyone. Sorry I just don't dig the blue and red 'AMERICAH! FUCK YEAH!' about it. I don't rate Captain America either, sorry.) Batman is Batman with no subliminal messaging. (Yes, I am insane.)
4. Batman has better villains. I will give Superman credit here, he does have Lex Luthor (and we all know Lex is a bad-ass) but this leads to me to back Lex over Superman. This is either testament to how good a villain Luthor is but it also tells me that Superman is not doing his job as a hero and making me like him. Batman has his rogue gallery full of interesting bad guys who have fantastical, traumatic back stories which make them as engaging as the main man.
5. Batman has a better secret identity. (I'm not saying its perfect because its not. I'm sure more than one person has noticed that Batman and Bruce Wayne are never seen in the same place and that Wayne spends mountains of his money on things the government doesn't see. It worries me how unobservant the people of Gotham City are.) But the fact remains that hipster glasses do not constitute a secret identity. Clark Kent is obviously Superman. End of story. (He should have had some cool alien cloaking mechanism that allowed him to look different. Why not? He has all the other superpowers...why not this convenient one?)

Okay, I'm sure there are many more reasons but I do not posses super-patience to write them all down now. (Super-patience would be an indispensable superpower. Would help with uni so much. But I digress, again, again.)

I guess what I am trying to say is kudos to Superman for being the first superhero and making Batman possible, but, he has a fatal flaw in being too perfect which makes him a boring and unrelatable hero. I'm not saying Batman/Bruce Wayne is the most relatable superhero, but I am more likely to become super rich and make awesome gadgets than suddenly find out I am an alien with the powers of a god. (Are gods just aliens?) Either way, I will probably go see the Superman vs Batman film, but, I don't expect much.

I am not saying that Batman is without fault. He is far too morally uptight for my liking sometimes. In many cases I prefer the villains. But that is a rant for another time. Batman isn't even a superhero hes a vigilante. But that is also a rant for another time.

Thanks, 

TheTinyBookworm

xx