In comic books and movies based on comics, we have seen loads of times when a character without powers defeats a super-powered character. An example being 'Tower of Babel'. It doesn't show Batman actually defeating the JLA but just his contingency plans. A good example would be 'JLA: New World Order' where Batman defeats four Martians. He defeats four beings who are as strong, as fast and as durable as Superman and have loads of other deadly powers like Telepathy, Invisibility, Phasing and total control over every single cell of their bodies. How did he do it? Intelligence, fast-thinking. He proved the age old saying over and over again that 'Brains are mightier than Brawn'. Another example would be Steve Rogers. Now, I don't believe that he is super-human. He has peak-human physical and mental abilities. He used his skills and intelligence and tactical ability to beat-up Spider-Man in 'Amazing Spider-Man 534'. He dominated a being who is much stronger and faster than him. Plus Spidey was using the Iron-Spiderman suit which Stark developed for him. So, what does it take to win a fight? I personally believe that it does not matter how strong or fast you are, but how good a fighter you are. And how smart you are. What do you think?
It's comics. Writers can spin it any way they want. It takes truly good writer to provide some suspension of disbelief.
However, if you are asking about how it should be considered in terms of a battle forums discussion, I think a few factors come into play.
1) How is the character presented? At the character's creation, was he/she strong? Fast? Great H2H skills, etc...What did the creator of the character intend at the character's introduction into their respective comic universe?
2) Do feats support presentation of the character; are the feats associated with the character consistent with how the character was originally introduced?
3) When considering feats, who is the writer? Is the writer known for consistently understating a character's power set? Or do they consistently write books fraught with PIS?
All these things should be considered when evaluating any prospective battle between two characters.
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