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Bruce Wayne's time as our Character of the Month is coming to an end and, so far, he's defeated the opponents we've thrown his way. He took a fair lead over the current Star-Lord and Bruce earned a heavy majority over the latest incarnation of Shredder. Batman has given these challengers a stern stare and then proceeded to beat them down. So, for his final battle, we decided to give him a real challenge and it's a character that has been heavily demanded by the community for months now. Can the Dark Knight take down Danny Rand, a.k.a. Iron Fist? Will the Caped Crusader's wit, skill, and equipment allow him to overcome the Living Weapon's raw power? According to the voters, the answer is no and they think the fights ends up with Batman knocked out or so injured that he cannot continue the fight.
Batman went down swinging, earning 33% of the votes. He may not have the same amount of force behind his strikes, but he's absurdly skilled, has a keen mind, can withstand a lot of punishment, and he brings a whole lot of equipment and variety to the table. Iron Fist earned a very respectable 63% and that's most likely due to his truly impressive physicals and praiseworthy technique. Not only does he have the talent to challenge Batman in hand-to-hand combat, but his speed and chi attacks can be a major game changer. Only 4% of the voters couldn't declare a winner and think this battle has the potential to go either way. Now, let's see what everyone has to say about this match!
Jayc1324
"I'm happy you finally got around to making this awesome battle!!
Overall I'm going to give it to Danny 6/10. Simply put, his physicals and striking power are going to be too much for Batman. Sure, Batman's suit has tanked a grenade shot from a grenade launcher, and tons of other blunt force damage, but I don't think it would be able to protect batman enough from a punch that dropped a helicarrier, or that has dropped metahumans, or stopped a bullet train. Danny won't use strikes this powerful on a human at first, and that holding back would give batman a chance to get some wins, but it's clear Danny has enough power to take him out.
Batman WILL pull out some wins with some gadgetry (tasers, low level sonics, gas, explosives), fancy tactics, and some with stealth and martial arts, but the majority of the time, Danny's punching power and amazing speed should be enough to overwhelm Batman. Batman doesnt go down easy, and he will take a few of Danny's relatively lighter blows at first, giving him his chance to get some wins, but I think batman would lose more often than not, if only by just a little bit. 6/10 Danny. Almost too close to call."
The_Man_With_Questions
"Batman most likely. His versatility alone might allow him to pull a few wins over Danny. I also find their hand to hand showings to be comparable enough to say that they'd be pretty evenly matched. I also consider Bruce to be physically superior to Danny in regards to both characters standard physicals. (Meaning no Chi.) Speaking of Chi, before people starting spamming scans of Danny taking out the Hellicarrier with a punch and what not, do you really think Danny (With morals.) is going to use those type's of attacks on beings (Especially one that resembles a human. Not that Danny wouldn't notice Bruce was a human) he knows nothing about? It isn't very hero like to splatter people with punches.
However, the Chi can also be used to enhance Danny's other stats such as his reaction speed. This allows him to do thinking's like catch bullets and dodge Iron Man's lasers. (Though some consider the Iron Man feat aim dodging.) I believe Bruce's reaction speed is only slightly below that of Danny's. However I don't believe Danny can withstand the assault from a multitude of versatile batarangs, (Sonic, explosive, standard, etc.) smoke pellets, tear gas, etc.
Let's also not forget this takes place at night. (Like most of these battles do but in this case it has meaning.) Batman is basically in his element. While the Chi might enhance Danny's senses I still think Batman could get in a few stealth shots on Danny. Factoring other things within the settings, Batman is going to be a lot more traversable in this situation. He can easily get the high ground on Danny and swing around the downtown area with his grappling hook without any distractions or anything to give away his position. Then he can use his expert marksmanship and most likely take out Danny with some of those versatile batarangs I mentioned.
Factoring everything I've mentioned, I believe Batman will take Danny six out of ten times in a fight."
ParagonNate
"*Chooses Paragon option.*
First time posting on one of these, here goes nothing.
First of all I would like to bring up that I view Iron Fist as above Batman in terms of raw martial skill not by a massive margin mind you, but definitely above him none the less. Having said that Batman is no slouch and will certainly manage to land impressive hits especially with creative use of his gadgets. Even though I feel a majority of them won't really be a factor in this fight, batarangs can be caught and dodged, smoke pellets won't be effective (Danny is trained to fight blind and has easily kept track of and hit a stealthed War Machine/Iron Man.) Danny's reaction time and combat speed is also above Bruce's in my opinion, Danny caught a sniper bullet from behind while drugged with ease, then proceeded to beat down the Hydra hit squad and even dodge fully automatic gunfire point blank. This wasn't aim dodging either he went straight at the gunman while literally weaving around the bullets. As well as blocking a barrage of glass shards earlier in his career, while off chi and before his upgrade in Immortal Iron Fist no less.
With Chi Danny's striking power is undeniably above Bruce's, another poster commented on the fact that Danny doesn't throw helicarrier busting punches against normal people and even his enemies, unless he's certain they can take a hit that big. However Danny simply won't need to for this fight, as impressive as Batman's durability is, Danny does indeed posses the power to one hit k.o. and even one hit kill Bruce here. And given Danny's impressive skill and speed he will be landing Chi amped hits on Bruce.
All in all Batman has the skill, speed and durability to make Iron Fist noticeably work for his win however, I still see Danny coming out the victor with a solid majority here 7-8/10."
Omnicrono
"In my opinion, Batman's got it all over Iron Fist in terms of stealth tactics, diversionary tactics, offensive weaponry, and strategy in general. And Bats should be able to use those strengths to great effect in this city environment. If he tries to make it an h2h fight though, things are going to go downhill for him rather quickly. Thankfully, he's a lot smarter than that and has proven as much time and again (when it isn't in a writer's best interest to have him stick to h2h in a fight and completely disregard the wealth of other options at his disposal via his gear). With his unparalleled deductive mind he's going to figure out real fast not to play the h2h game with Fist. Even so, Batman can take hits with the best of them, having shaken off powerful blows from gods and goddesses (Wonder Woman #164), Mongul (Infinite Crisis #1), the super-powered Kid Amazo (JLA Classified #40), Superman (Batman #612, Batman/Superman Annual #1, Superman/Batman #30), an alien with strength comparable to that of Martian Manhunter (Superman/Batman #28), and many more.
That said, I'm going to give the slight edge to Batman, in very tough fights, primarily because of his remarkable resilience and the amount of options he has. Danny is almost as skilled as Bruce (debatable), and he's much more powerful thanks to his chi-powered fighting. That much is certain. However, Fist isn't invulnerable by any means. He's very durable, but not on the level of guys like Spider-Man and Wolverine. Batman packs weaponry capable of putting down the likes of Killer Croc and Clayface on any given day, which would almost certainly be enough to send Danny Rand reeling. Also, Bruce is no stranger to Danny's brand of fighting; Karate Kid is essentially the "Iron Fist" of the DCU (or the other way around), and Bruce knows Kid's abilities well, so Danny's supercharged martial arts should come as little surprise to The Dark Knight. In this encounter, I envision Batman sticking to diversionary and hit-and-run tactics, eventually overwhelming Fist with knockout gas, tranqs, explosives, electric charges, flash grenades, hyper sonics, and various other combinations of weaponry on hand. Bruce'll wear Danny down, little by little, and finally gain the victory by KO or immobilization.
Superior brains over superior brawn. Batman 6 out of 10 in this scenario. But just barely. :)"
DigitalShooter9
"I voted too close to call..
To be honest I don't see Bruce winning against Danny in close quarters hand to hand battle mainly because of Danny's use of Chi... Danny is about as skilled as Bruce and his stats will be superior as he can utilize Chi based moves... Bruce might put up a good fight, but he cannot overcome Iron Fists Chi advantage....
So why did I vote too close to call?
It's mainly because aside fighting prowess, Bruce has a clear versatility advantage over Danny due to his gadgets and option to utilize stealth.
The setting practically puts Batman in his own element. (dark, urban setting) Bruce can grab a few wins by using stealth or a combination of of gadgets but the reason that is a few is only because, in character, batman does not go down that route against un armed opponents.
He is likely to engage Danny in a close up battle first. And is likely to get beaten that way.. Of course, the moment Bruce realizes Danny has Chi based amped abilities, he would go for the stealth/gadget takedowns...
Now in my personal opinion, Bruce can win almost every time if he engages Danny using stealth or his gadgets in combination with stealth. But the problem is Bruce won't proceed into the fight like that.
A CQC scenario between these two characters bring two possibilities..
Either Iron Fist gets the better of Bruce using Chi amped strikes... Or Burce realizes that Danny is too much to handle and takes IF down using stealth or an intricate gadget combination.
In my opinion, the above possibilities have an equal chance of happening.. It all comes down to whether Bruce can hang with Danny enough to realize his Chi advantage and decide on utilizing stealth or a gadget takedown...
That is a fifty fifty call... Iron fist is just as skilled as Bruce so he could be able to land Chi based strikes on him and can very plausibly take him down that way. However let's not forget that Danny has his morals and will not use his Chi based abilities to the max. Also, Batman's new 52 suit can take real punishment easily.. That gives plausibility for Bruce to endure/survive a CQC with Danny long enough to decide on taking him with stealth..
Too close to make a call in my opinion."
Gregg "k4tz" Katzman, Comic Vine Writer
"I see this as an uphill struggle for Bruce. If we're talking about just a hand-to-hand fight between these two, it would be a magnificent thing to witness. However, this isn't just a sparring match and there are several other factors to consider. Now, it's fair to say Bruce is the better tactician and he has more variety with the amount of equipment he possesses. It's safe to say he'd eventually realize he's fighting someone who can hold their own with him in close quarters combat and he'd understand that he'll need to utilize other options if he wants to be the one left standing. Whether it's gas, electric, smoke pellets for stealth, or even something as simple as trying to momentarily restrain Danny with a line, it probably won't be too long before Batman realizes challenging his opponent in fisticuffs isn't the best option. Bruce has a lot he can throw at Danny and it'll keep the Marvel hero on his toes, but we're talking about a dude whose reflexes are fast enough to catch a sniper bullet out of the air and can turn his punch into a powerful and wide attack. He may not have the same amount of options Bruce Wayne has in this fine, but the ones he does have are simplistic and highly effective. On top of that, we know he has terrific senses and has been able to adapt to stealth attacks, so if Batman's first few with that option aren't absolute game changers, that advantage will soon be removed.
Danny's unlikely to dish out an attack that would obliterate his opponent, but he has what it takes to unleash moves that are mighty enough to turn the tide and welcome Bruce to a world of hurt. Batman is going to give Danny hell and he has what it takes to occasionally take the win, but sooner or later, Iron Fist's absurdly impressive reflexes and chi abilities will give him the advantage he needs to stay on top of Bruce and eventually knock him out. It would be an amazing display of technique and Batman's tactics, variety of weapons, and homefield advantage give him what he needs to challenge Rand (not to mention his armor and pain tolerance are commendable), but eventually, I think the probable outcome is Batman knocked out and Iron Fist standing over him with a glowing hand."
Do you think the right combatant won the battle? Feel free to continue the conversation below!
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