This is my opinion, based off of comics (no movies). This is based on raw martial arts prowess, not superpowers so Supes won’t even be on this list (probably). That means that if anyone on the list has preternatural abilities for the purposes of this list they are disabled. This is in the New 52 continuity, so no Cassandra Cain or Connor Hawke.
Arena: Dojo with all classical martial weapons on the walls.
Lady Shiva - Everyone just says she’s the best martial artist, even Batman sooo... Plus she’s beaten Batman, more than once.
Batman - He Trained with the greatest fighters on the planet, that coupled with a pathological drive for perfection make it unsurprising that the only one to really beat him (Bane) had to cheat to do so.
Bronze Tiger - Considered by the League of Assassins to be only second to Lady Shiva, this puts him in very good standing, but in a straight fight he doesn’t have the conviction to beat the Bat.
Bane - He was raised in a prison so, he’s got the brawler thing down pretty good, and he, y’know broke Batman, albeit he cheated, but still.
Nightwing - Is Batman’s first and greatest protoje (suckit Damian), and he’s just good, his acrobatic combat tends to confuse and destroy pretty much everyone.
Black Canary - She grew up in a dojo and was brought onto Team 7 to be their hand to hand expert. Since the demise of Team 7 she’s done nothing but get better.
Deathstroke - Pretty much the most badass character in the DCU and he has the skills to back it up. Beyond being a superhuman soldier he was also trained as a super-soldier and he was the best super-soldier even before he became Deathstroke the Terminator.
Red Hood - The second Robin, died, came back to life, trained extensively by Talia al Ghul, and then by the All Cast (supernatural monk warriors). He’s a force to be reckoned with and his temper doesn’t hurt, normally.
Green Arrow - Being stuck on an island for several years with nothing to do but hone his combat skills has made Oliver Queen one of the best martial combatants known to the DCU.
Azrael - Was trained as the ultimate avenging angel by a secret order of monks, Jean-Paul Valley was chosen by Batman to succeed him when Bane broke the bat, all any of that does is boost his street cred, but the whole brainwashing “system” doesn’t really help.
Honorable Mentions:
(in no particular order)
Ra’s al Ghul - The Demon’s head has lived for a very, very long time as a result he has had the time to master countless martial arts, but he spends most of his time leading, not fighting, so he is not at the peak ability that the rest of these fighters are.
Richard Dragon - Widely looked up to by the DCU martial arts community as one of the greatest instructors. Having taught the likes of Oracle and Nightwing, he is by far one of the most knowledgeable fighters, but he like Ra’s he stays on the sidelines and thus isn’t up to the standards of the top 10.
Talia al Ghul - Younger, and sprier than her father, she has been trained by the likes of Ra’s, Shiva and Bronze Tiger since she was a little girl, but she is also rarely in the fray and thus not on the cutting edge.
The Talons (William Cobb, Felix Harmon, Calvin Rose, etc...) - The assassins of the Court of Owls are unmatched, they all have an immense combat repertoire, but none of them individually quite make the cut.
Justifications:
(It should be noted that 4 through 9 are incredibly closely matched, a slight advantage could tip the scales).
Lady Shiva/Batman - Lady Shiva is the best, by everyone’s standards. She’s so good she was the only one Batman considered good enough to get him back in the game after the events of Knightfall. So yeah, Shiva is the best, by admission of the Dark Knight himself.
Batman/Bronze Tiger - Both Batman and Bronze Tiger have had massive amounts of training, the biggest difference between the two is that to Batman, not being the best (or second best as the case may be) is unacceptable on a deep psychological level, so he makes himself the best, and thus exceeds Bronze Tiger.
Bronze Tiger/Bane - Bane is an impressive fighter, but unlike Tiger, he relies on venom to win many of his fights. Bronze Tiger is that good without the artificial enhancement.
Bane/Nightwing - Let me first express that Nightwing is really, really good, but the times they have fought Bane has come out on top, with or without the use of venom.
Nightwing/Black Canary - Nightwing barley has the edge on this one, mostly because he has more field experience than Canary and he’s taken on bigger bads by himself, Black Canary almost always has a team. The cherry is Nightwing is Batman’s “prodigal son.”
Black Canary/Deathstroke - Slade is a master, there is no doubt about that, but Canary was put on a team with the Terminator and she was considered the martial expert.
Deathstroke/Red Hood - Deathstroke has experience and that’s probably all that puts him on top in this fight, through the years he has nearly perfected his melee combat. Jason Todd has a similar level of training, but he hasn’t been around the block as many times as Mr. Wilson.
Red Hood/Green Arrow - This is a question of focus. Green Arrow’s overall combat knowledge and prowess trump Red Hood’s, but in a straight fight the ex-Robin has a slight, but decided advantage in melee combat, which would be the deciding factor. If it was a matter of pure distance and aim on the other hand…
Green Arrow/Azrael - Azrael has been trained, and brainwash-trained, but Green Arrow has simply had more training and more experience. What made Jean Paul-Valley so powerful was his armor, for the context of this list he doesn’t have it, so he’s good, but not that good.
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