Who in the Bat-universe is smarter than Batman?

[MessiahDecoy123]

lets keep the debate within Gotham for now.

 

[RobC]

Superman? R'as, maybe even The Riddler...

Batman is smart in certain areas, criminology, sciences, forensics, but you could say Green Arrow is smarter because he can put an arrow into a fly's eye...

 

[Angeloz]

That isn't smart that's just good hand-eye co-ordination plus anticipation.

Angeloz

 

[November Rain]

I believe the Riddler is smarter than batman but has an obssesive compulsive disorder to get wanting to get caught.

I also think victor freis is smarter in some specific regions, as well as doctor langstrom and hugo strange and two-face.

There are plenty of his rogues that i feel are better within certain regions of knowledge

 

[Doctor Baywatch]

Superman definitely. Lex Luthor, perhaps? Mr Terrific?
Mr Freeze is the better in cyrogenic.
Doctor Langstrom is the better bio-chemist.
But in "overall intelligence" I don't know.

But who knows. Depends of which Batman we speak. The Batman before the Infinite Crisis was "the world's most dangerous man" and the best in everything (yeah, and it sucked). The Bronze Age Batman would simply admit that there are a lot of fields where others are better. Bale's Batman seems to be not so smart.

Better martial artists: Lady Shiva, Bronze Tiger, Karate Kid(?) (but before the Infinite Crisis Batman beat Amazo. Yeah, Amazo. )

 

[IRON_Lad]

How is Superman smarter than Batman? He grew up in smallville and becaame a reporter. While bruce studied science, criminology and probably a lot of other stuff I can't think of.





So no, Superman is not smarter than Batman (stronger yes but not smarter).

 

[November Rain]

It is plausible that Clark is smarter than Wayne, He probably just applies it less in comics. He did do a lot of soul searching before he arrived in metropolis.

 

[Mister J]

I like how the first post specifies 'within Gotham' and the first response cites Superman.

The last I saw referenced of Superman's intelligence was shortly after the OYL jump, which showed Clark processing incredible amounts of information and displaying near total recall of data. It was comparable to the Pre-Crisis incarnation. If that hasn't been pared down since, he'd be smarter than Bruce. As it's not one of Superman's most focused on powers, there's a lot of variance.

Specific to traditional Gotham characters, I wouldn't place anyone above him, with the exception of Oracle, who no longer operates out of Gotham.

 

[Angeloz]

I like how the first post specifies 'within Gotham' and the first response cites Superman.

The last I saw referenced of Superman's intelligence was shortly after the OYL jump, which showed Clark processing incredible amounts of information and displaying near total recall of data. It was comparable to the Pre-Crisis incarnation. If that hasn't been pared down since, he'd be smarter than Bruce. As it's not one of Superman's most focused on powers, there's a lot of variance.

Specific to traditional Gotham characters, I wouldn't place anyone above him, with the exception of Oracle, who no longer operates out of Gotham.

You mean they aren't married to each other yet (Superman/Batman)? Even with their own comic? Bugger.

Angeloz

 

[Doctor Baywatch]

How is Superman smarter than Batman? He grew up in smallville and becaame a reporter. While bruce studied science, criminology and probably a lot of other stuff I can't think of.

So no, Superman is not smarter than Batman (stronger yes but not smarter).

The post-crisis Superman was just a reporter and in some incarnations he was just a treated as a stupid farmboy, but pre-crisis and now he possess an intellect far superior to every human. He was an master inventor. This makes sense, afterall he is SUPERman (and came from a "race of supermen" in the beginning) and so he should also be more intelligent than humanity. And Batman can study as hard as he wants, but Superman could just learn that all these things within the blink of an eye.

Again, Frank Miller is to blame (and shows like "Lois & Clark" & "Smallville" ). His version in DKR made Superman a stupid pawn against the clever, nonconformist Batman and this made it into the regular continuity. Also, Batman smarter than Superman is a no-go for me. Batman is the world's greatest detective, but not the world's greatest superbrain.

 

[Armored Avenger]

I think it depends on the situation.
Batman is the world's greatest Detective.
But in terms of computing i would say that Oracle is maybe smarter than Bruce. In terms of challenges and puzzles, i would say The Riddler and Batman are equal.
Two-Face understands the justice system and the workings of society to a level that i would say matches Batman.
And the Joker is a genious who, depending on who is the writer, is sometimes shown to be an equal to Batman.
And Superman has more brainpower, and is able to process and recall information alot quicker, but his intelligence is comparison to Bruce depends on the writer and the time the story was written.

 

[elgato]

Catwoman, definately, she always knows how to scape without a scratch on

 

[Nepenthes]

Superman is a FARMBOY, that's the version that will always work best for me. Even in ASBR he's still a bit *simple* despite all his fancy inventions.

Luthor Luthor and Ra's should be the two greatest challengers to Bruce Wayne. There's a myriad of specialists in certain fields e.g. Oracle, Riddler, Zatanna, Ray Palmer, etc but Bruce Wayne will always hand them their arses on any given day of the week. That's his superpower. Bruce is the tactician of the JLA, nuff said. Only Frank Miller is smarter than Bruce Wayne.

 

[The Joker]

Batman said in the graphic novel, Penguin Trumphant, that The Penguin is smarter than he is.

 

[Ibn]

Well. He's always outsmarted Luthor. He's always figured out a way to beat Ra's (I think). The Joker's dementia holds back his genius. So does Riddler's. And he was whoopin Mr. Terrific's ass in chess, which really says something about his stradegy and math skills. So................... don't know.

 

[Nepenthes]

Penguin....um no. Batman *allows* him to run a nightclub, that's the extent of his genius. Any book called 'Penguin Triumphant' is obviously going to big-note the guy.




The only players to ever equal Ra's Al Ghul in the gentlemans game of Chess are Joker, Batman and Bane. Take that for what you will.

 

[November Rain]

In a twist to that, I bet the riddler let ra's beat him by providing riddles about his moves.

 

[Doctor Baywatch]

Superman is a FARMBOY, that's the version that will always work best for me. Even in ASBR he's still a bit *simple* despite all his fancy inventions.

Well. The damage done to Superman in the last 20 years is so bad

Luthor Luthor and Ra's should be the two greatest challengers to Bruce Wayne. There's a myriad of specialists in certain fields e.g. Oracle, Riddler, Zatanna, Ray Palmer, etc but Bruce Wayne will always hand them their arses on any given day of the week. That's his superpower. Bruce is the tactician of the JLA, nuff said. Only Frank Miller is smarter than Bruce Wayne.

I don't know why you are so obsessed to read a Batman who is better than everyone else in all fields. That is so boring - and "unrealistic", if you are one of those "realism" guys!

 

[Kaizer]

The Way I see it, Batman is at least a lot smarter than Superman, I mean, his intellect is his only "superpower", what would he be if superman was the smarter one? One comic commented that Batman has the knowledge and skill to kill everyone on the planet, including superman. Perhaps he is not the most intelligent in the DC-universe, but he can outsmart just about anyone, plus, he's the ultimate tactician.

 

[November Rain]

You know, there are probably a lot of superheroes in the justice league who have the knowledge and skill to kill everyone on the planet but they don't go around bragging about it, nor do they spend all their time documenting the data.

 

[The Joker]

Penguin....um no. Batman *allows* him to run a nightclub, that's the extent of his genius. Any book called 'Penguin Triumphant' is obviously going to big-note the guy.

Actually, the story was set before Penguin began running a nightclub.

 

[RobC]

I like how the first post specifies 'within Gotham' and the first response cites Superman.

Ooops, my bad, sorry, didn't entirely read the thread.

Superman definitely though, Batman can read and read and study all he wants, Superman could read an entire library in like 10 seconds.

 

[Mister J]

Ooops, my bad, sorry, didn't entirely read the thread.

Apologizing for that? Here, at the Hype?

Superman was going to be brought into this conversation sooner than later anyway. I'm actually surprised this hasn't escalated into Marvel characters being referenced. These 'who's better than Batman' threads have a way of becoming surprisingly, if not unintentionally, entertaining.

 

[Chiroptera]

Sorry guys, no one in Gotham is smarter than Batman. Period. If any of the rogue gallery were smarter than he is, even in a specific area, they would have killed him by now. Bottom line, the Bat just isn't written to be second to anybody. By the way, I don't care how fast someone can read, it doesn't mean they remember it thirty years down the road. Even if the writers decide they want to make Clark have that ability now, I'd still take Batman over Superman in a battle of wits any day of the week.

 

[Kaizer]

You know, there are probably a lot of superheroes in the justice league who have the knowledge and skill to kill everyone on the planet but they don't go around bragging about it, nor do they spend all their time documenting the data.

no, but Batman is a mere mortal after all.....