I had always imagined that if Batman were to kill Superman, he would do it by some clever or awesome method, like inject himself with Bane’s venom and then snap Superman’s neck like a twig. Alas, he doesn’t. In Superman Annual 3 from 1991 (series 2) Batman uses the kryptonite ring Superman had given him and pretty much just sticks it in his face until Batman kills Superman. It’s kind of disappointing actually. We have seen Batman fighting Superman before, but this story takes their feuding to a whole new level.
The story is that through some alternate timeline (or something like that) Superman begins to turn evil. An atomic bomb blows up in Metropolis and kills nearly everyone that Superman loves. So he decides to eradicate all nuclear arms from the world. In the process, he accidentally kills seven US soldiers. Oops. The idea of Superman flipping out over an atomic explosion reminds me of when Superman went berserk in Kingdom Come.
The president of the United States (who happens to be off his rocker in this story) asks Batman to kill Superman. For the rest of the story, you can pretty much guess what happens. Batman kills Superman with kryptonite, using the toxic ring that Superman once gave him for such an emergency. I suppose the point of the story is to show that Batman would be capable of killing Superman, even though Superman is so powerful that he could probably punch out God himself.
Regardless of what happened in this story, do you think Batman is capable of killing Superman? Leave your comments below.
Yes. Batman would totally be able to kill superman. And before I get batman fanboys flipping out saying “But batman doesn’t kill”, let me start out by saying: YES HE DOES. Frequently. Namely shooting Darkseid, and leaving KGBeast to die in a small room in the sewers (which was later retconned, but still). He also frequently killed criminals in the golden age, even shooting Hugo Strange’s truck driver with a mounted tommy gun on the bat-plane.
So here’s why I believe that Batman would kill superman if necessary. In my mind, Batman is a hero who is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure justice. Even if it means taking a life. The reason Batman doesn’t kill his enemies (especially the Joker) is because he believes they can be rehabilitated. He see’s himself in his enemies, and doesn’t want to sink to their level, so he tries to avoid killing as much as possible. However, he is willing to make exceptions if the situation calls for it. For KGBeast, he knew that if KGBeast was handed over to the authorities, he’d just end up back in russia and keep on being an assassin. So Batman decides to ensure that KGBeast will never get to make another attempt on JFK’s life (yeah, that was the stories plot) by doing the only rational thing: Locking KGBeast in a tiny room in the sewers to starve to death. Cold. Or when he shot darkseid. With a gun. Yeah.
So with that being said, Batman would definitely kill superman if supes ever went evil, because someone that powerful as a villain is a scary thought. Plus, thats the whole reason supes gave bats the ring in the first place.
One thing I liked about this story is how they gave batman the anti-superman suit from Dark Knight Returns.