Why Batman is the Best Superhero?

Since the dawn of humanity, there have been thousands of heroes born in the minds of great storytellers, from Hercules to Sherlock Holmes, but none have been as iconic as the Dark Knight of Gotham, Batman. So why is Batman considered by many to be the best superhero? Many believe it’s his humanity, we see ourselves in him, or how anyone can become the Batman. Others believe that it’s how he created his superpowers as physical and intellectual strength, how he is a master of Kung fu, Jiu-jitsu, Taekwondo, and Ninjutsu and is considered one of the greatest detectives on the planet, but I believe what makes Batman such a great hero is his conflict.

All heroes are made by their villains. Batman having many himself, including Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and the Joker, but why are his villains’ such great villains?

One of the reasons the Joker is such an effective villain is because he challenges Batman’s greatest weaknesses and strengths to their limits, but the Joker isn’t the only one of Batman’s villains which challenge him. Each one of Batman’s villains challenges a different aspect of his character. Poison Ivy challenges his temptation, Bane challenging his strength, scarecrow challenges fear, the Riddler challenges intellect, and the Joker is the toughest challenge of all, the reason that the Joker is the most iconic Batman villain is because he believes in anarchy and chaos, which directly challenge Batman’s fundamental values of justice and order. This by its nature creates compelling conflict. When we see Batman challenge and overcome his own personal issues and succeed using his deep inner core values make the audience like him that much more.

“”A characters flaws are more important than a character’s strengths”” Brandon Sanderson. This right here is why Batman comes into his own. Take, for example, he is one of the most overpowered superheroes in comics, and with that whenever he goes into a fist fight we already expect him to win. Which makes a quite dull story, causing writers to make him temporarily lose his powers, creating more conflict and making him the underdog. This is the reason we love Batman, he is the ultimate underdog, and as humans, we can’t help ourselves but cheer for the underdog. Batman being so powerless in a world where everyone he meets has some kind of power greater than his own forces him to work harder to defeat those stronger than himself, in new and memorable ways.

If Bane and Batman were to fight, Batman would have a severe strength disadvantage but would see that his strength comes from the tubes on his back, and would cut them leading him to victory. If Superman were to fight Bane he would merely punch him, once. When Batman takes on people much much stronger than he is he is tested, more than Superman ever would be. Watching two gods fight is entertaining, but watching a God fight a mortal, and lose is astonishing.

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