Every month, we put Batman's abilities to the test (or someone in the bat universe -- be it hero or villain). We all know Batman knows the strengths and weaknesses of so many characters in his own universe, but what happens when he's forced to face someone he knows nothing about? That's exactly what goes down in this feature, and so far he has 6 victories, 3 defeats and 2 matches that are deemed too close to call. So, how will he fare against his latest opponent, Laura Kinney aka X-23? The poll was posted on Monday and since then, 392 people have voted and there's been 5 pages of very thorough debate. When the dust settles from this fight, 53% of the Comic Vine community thinks X-23 will be the winner!
Batman put up one hell of a fight, though, earning 41% of the votes. 6% think this one has the potential to go either way and deemed it too close to call. So, why did the majority side with X-23? Let's quickly look at the basics, shall we?
X-23's bringing a few key advantages to this fight. First and foremost are her adamantium claws. Unlike her genetic twin, Wolverine, Laura only has this very durable substance laced on her claws. This means they'll have no problem slicing through Batman's armor if she lands a clean connect and one solid strike could be very bad news for Bruce. Additionally, Laura has an adamantium-laced claw on each of her feet. She tends to reserve these as a surprise attack, and despite Batman's gifted mind, this is a huge wildcard if she decides to unsheathe them while they're engaged in a frenetic, close-combat battle. Laura obviously isn't as skilled as Bruce, but she's been rigorously trained to be a swift and efficient killer. She may not go for the kill or a critical strike right away, but she's certainly not very restrained compared to many heroes, either. One clean connect with any of these sharp weapons could be a game changer.
"If Batman is more skilled, how can she tag him?" Good question. It was rude to interrupt like that, but a good question nonetheless. While Batman undoubtedly has the technical edge, Laura's physicals -- impressive speed, durability, and healing factor -- means she can endure much of what Batman dishes out. Be it his feet, fists, batarangs, tasers, or something else, Laura's been able to tolerate a shocking amount of damage over the years. Batman definitely can incapacitate her, but it wouldn't be an easy feat. It may take her some time to land the strike she needs to earn the victory, but it's most certainly not a far-fetched concept to think she could eventually have that opening. She may not be as skilled as the Dark Knight, but she's far from incompetent when it comes to fighting skill.
When all is said and done, the community decided to side with Laura's sharp claws, healing factor and more lethal mentality over Batman's tactical mind, sheer skill and variety of equipment. There was a great discussion on this fight over in the poll thread, so let's take a look at praiseworthy posts that were made for both characters. Plus, Corey "Undeadpool" Schroeder explains how he think this fight would go down in the pages of a comic! Oh, and by the way, it seriously wasn't easy picking only two posts. There were a lot of fantastic posts made for both sides, so if you took the time to elaborate, thank you and you rock. Just keep in mind, a post doesn't need to be an essay to land a spot in here. Sometimes concise can be more effective. Anyway, let's check out these posts.
The X-23 argument of the month is by Wolverine08
"Looking at things, I think I would have to back Laura for the majority here. Bruce does indisputably have the skill advantage in terms of raw technical skill, but I do think Laura has the means to compete. She's been able to defeat and stalemate fighters like Wolverine and Daken(Under circumstantial means no doubt, but still impressive), and is a rigorously trained combat herself. Laura even got a very decisive victory over Lady Deathstrike. She also has another edge here in terms of skill that I think will help her. In contrast to her father Wolverine whom is a more instinctual combatant, Laura is a more tactical adversary. She's taken advantage of Wolverine holding back on her to bleed his wounds out, has been noted on panel to know how to come up with a copious amount of ways to kill someone on the fly. She obviously isn't Batman's superior in this regard, but Laura using her tactical skill along with her other advantages like the healing factor and damage ouput via the claws is an advantage that shouldn't be forgotten.
The healing factor is another X factor here. Granted, since Laura does not have an adamantium skeleton, she can be injured in more ways to be injured, but her feats like surviving getting napalmed, reattaching limbs, tanking shark bites, etc. do lead me to believe that she can soak the equipment Bruce usually pops out to deal with street levelers at first glance. I do think that Laura's healing factor gives Bruce the advantage that he can let loose more, but I see him using lighter gear like tasers, low grade bombs, etc. at first since X-23 looks like a young girl, and Laura can soak gadgets like that in copious amounts due to her healing factor which is vaunted as being superior to that of even Wolverine's due to the lack of adamantium poisoning at first when he doesn't know the ludicrous extent of Laura's healing factor before he jumps to the heavy stuff in that belt.
I think Laura brings superior weaponry as well. The adamantium claws mean she can put more crippling damage at a higher rate on Bruce than I can see him replicating on here. She's got the speed that I would say is fairly comparable to Bruce's along with her ferocity to put damage on him in spades. Overall, this is a good matchup, but I think X-23's skill, durability/healing factor, and weaponry should net her a majority."
The Batman Argument of the month is by Black_Arrow
"Close Battle.
Batman is one of the greatest fighters in Dc universe, he has proven his prowess fighting as equals enemies like Lady shiva, bronze tiger, David Cain. He has humiliated Green Arrow,Batwoman, Ras al ghul and Wildcat. He has train with Kirigi, Wildcat, Dragon, David Cain and Lady Shiva. He knows all fighting styles. He has achieved the peak human condition and with his training he has mastered his body. he can lift 1000 lbs and he can disappear in the blink of an eye, that makes him capable enough to fight X-23 for a long time. when he fights her,the first thing he is going to notice is that she is skilled because his fighting stance and then he is going to notice(because he is the world greatest Detective) that she has a huge healing factor, He is going to use the killing moves (as he did with the Talons) he has like the Leopard Blow of lady Shiva and the vibrating hand technique. He will use high voltage electricity and all the explosives he has at hand. Other big weapon that Batman has is Stealth if he finds himself really outmatched even with her enhanced senses, Batman has constantly disappear from people who has them. With stealth he could do his most power hit to her head.
Summarizing
Batman has:
- More skill
- More Intelligence
- Better Equipment
- More Experience
X-23 has:
- Little better Speed and Strength
- Adamantium Claws
- Willing to kill
- Huge healing factor
Batman wins 6/10 or is too close to call.
Great Battle."
Fellow Comic Vine writer Corey "Undeadpool" Schroeder's shares his thoughts on this match
"It wasn't his usual M.O. to be summoned from his city, but this crime in particular had caught his attention. He'd heard about it before being called, but by the time he'd reached it, there was a makeshift bat symbol lighting up the cloudy night. When he arrived in New York, he wasn't precisely sure why he'd been summoned as the victim was...less a body and more a pile of parts and liquid.
"Whatever did this...wasn't human. It was clearly done with a series of deep, incredibly sharp claws." Zsasz is more graceful than this, he thought, this is the mark of a beast. No one was replying and when he looked up, he saw them recoiling from something, an almost a familiar shape, that staggered through the shadows. Batman activated his cowl's enhanced view and saw a young woman shaking her head, "It was...me...I did this...I'm...I didn't WANT to..." "Run..." he intoned to the police as he struck a defensive stance and addressed his attacker, "Listen...I'm not sure what this is all about, but it doesn't have to be this way. It's alright...I can get you help..." "There's...there's no helping me," she mumbled, scratching at her own face, "I can't..." he heard the sound of breaking glass and smelled an odd stench rise up nearby, "I CAN'T STOP KILLING!!!" the girl was still a teenager, but despite that she sprung forward, metallic claws jutting from the top of her hands as Batman tossed her aside, drawing a stun charge and tossing it. The girl leaped through the flash and the cloud and stuck her claws into the Dark Knight's sides, causing him to stagger back and toss her aside again after several hard strikes to her jaw and ribs.
His armor kept pressure on the wounds, but still he felt the blood flowing down his sides, shaking his head and punching her squarely in the face as she sprung again. The blow actually hurt through his impact gloves, shattering the mechanism and causing him to retreat back as she rolled and righted herself, snarling and scraping her claws against the concrete ground. The claws left indentations as she hurled herself only tangentially at the Bat, springing off a nearby wall and pouncing on him, slashing and stabbing, drawing more red lines before he threw her off, jamming a taser into her side, causing her to flop aside before he grappled her arms to the ground, standing above her and shaking his head.
"You're being used...I need to run some tests, but it seems that there's a scent that-" his speech was cut off when a claw extended from the girl's foot and stabbed into his leg, causing blood to spurt from it. He held the wound as a form advanced from a nearby alley. The familiar dark, rictus grin of a black skull loomed over Batman as Roman Sionis clapped, hiding behind his irremovable black mask."Ohhhhh BATS...you are TOO easy...I mean, I had connections in this city that told me about THIS," he produced a vial, "that would make some crazy FREAK come out and do my dirty work, but even I couldn't tell ya how WELL it worked! I gotta say, once I get it back to Gotham-" Roman would never finish that thought as Batman tossed out a batarang, shattering the vial on Roman's hand..."Oh no.......OH NO!!!!" he frantically began to wipe the hand on the surrounding buildings, but the last thing Batman saw as his vision faded was the girl growling and slowly advancing on Black Mask, her claws deploying as he fired rounds uselessly from his sidearm. The Batman fired a grapnel to a rooftop, escaping the horrendous screams he heard fading as he left the streets and passed out as he saw the Batplane circling overhead."
Want more Batman battles?
- Bane vs. Bullseye (W: Bane / Poll: Bane)
- Nightwing vs. Moon Knight (W: Too close to call / Poll: Nightwing)
- Batman Beyond vs. Ultimate Spider-Man (W: Morales / Poll: McGinnis)
- vs. Winter Soldier (W: Batman / Poll: Batman)
- vs. Cyclops (W: Too close to call / Poll: Batman)
- vs. Taskmaster (W: Batman)
- vs. Kraven (W: Kraven)
- vs. Deadpool (W: Batman)
- vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (W: Batman)
- vs. Daredevil (W: Batman)
- vs. Gambit (W: Batman)
- vs. Wolverine (W: Wolverine)
- vs. Captain America (W: Too close to call)
- vs. Black Panther (W: Black Panther)
- Official Discussion Thread for the segment (use this thread for future match suggestions!)
Check the homepage on March 3rd for an all-new Batman Battle of the Month! In the meantime, you'e welcome to make suggestions right here in the comments, in the official thread, or via Twitter.
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