Batman has been built up as DC’s flagship superhero, as well as one of the most successful and versatile characters in comics. Debuting in Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s Detective Comics #27, the hero has been established as Gotham’s Dark Knight and a quintessential antihero. Throughout his history, Batman has been embroiled in some of the greatest battles in comics, but some were definitely over-the-top.
Batman’s wars have ranged from facing down tanks on the streets of Gotham to tussling with alternate versions of himself. These make for some of the most successful stories in comics, and seeing Batman up the ante on his standard fights can be a lot of fun. Many of these stories are great reads, but it’s worth admitting that they can be ridiculous in many ways, from excessive chaos to wacky ideas.
10 Last Knight On Earth
Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
Created to serve as the Black Label finale to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman run, Last Knight On Earth picked up the idea of Bruce continuing his mantle through clones. The story follows one such clone making his way to a new Gotham in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event.
The story brought the young clone of Batman face-to-face with his original, villainous self, driven to evil by an attack from a mob that left him disfigured and disillusioned. The fight was great, but the idea that Snyder’s run should end with the original Bruce becoming an evil version of himself was ridiculous — not to mention the fate of that world’s Superman.
9 City Of Bane
Tom King & Mikel Janin
Tom King’s Batman run remains one of the character’s most controversial in recent memory, partly due to the contrived plot involving Thomas Wayne/Flashpoint Batman. In the finale arc, “City of Bane,” it was revealed Thomas had teamed up with Bane to defeat his son in the hopes of driving him away from a life of vigilantism.
Everything about the story, from the conquest of Gotham and Batman’s absence to the death of Alfred and Thomas’ betrayal, was completely out of place. After Flashpoint, Batman had been established as a fantastic antihero; throwing that away to rehash Knightfall was unnecessary.
8 Avenging Jason Todd
Jim Starlin, Marv Wolfman, Jim Aparo, & George Perez
After fans voted for Jason Todd to die at the brutal hands of Joker, Batman was left in grief. The aftermath followed the hero in a deep moral conflict over whether it would be justified to kill Joker once and for all. This culminated in an epic fight in a helicopter that seemingly left Joker dead.
The story wasn’t in any way ridiculous in how far Batman went in his pursuit of Joker. Rather, it was the twist of the villain himself, who was bizarrely revealed to have been appointed to a diplomatic position for Iran. The shocking twist that not only did the villain manage to secure such a spot but was protected by diplomatic immunity remains one of the most absurd moments in Batman history.
7 The Joker War
James Tynion IV & Jorge Jimenez
Perhaps the most acclaimed story from James Tynion IV’s Batman run, “The Joker War,” revealed that the Clown Prince of Crime had subverted another villain’s plan to wage war on Batman and conquer Gotham. This included the destruction of the Wayne fortune and turning Batman and Catwoman against one another.
“The Joker War” was a fun read, but the way the villain was able to overwhelm Gotham left it in a state of absolute chaos and anarchy. The story included the revelation that Joker had figured out Bruce was Batman, something that created more questions than it answered.
6 Failsafe
Chip Zdarsky & Jorge Jimenez
The first of Chip Zdarsky’s story arcs on his Batman run was “Failsafe,” which introduced the contingency plan Zur-en-Arrh created for Batman himself. The AI-based machine was designed to be superior to Batman in every way, forcing the hero to go to extreme measures to defeat his new adversary.
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The “Failsafe” story went off the rails relatively quickly, and Batman somehow surviving a fall to Earth from space was the moment that had many readers asking questions. The way Zur-en-Arrh became just a convenient tool for the hero and seemingly impervious was all a bit much.
5 Batman Who Laughs
Scott Snyder & Jock
In the aftermath of Dark Nights Metal, Batman Who Laughs became a mainstay villain in the DCU, and it only made sense that Batman would be hot on his trail. The villain’s miniseries began with an assault on Arkham, where the Grim Knight had been dispatched to kill Joker. However, the villain escaped and, in a bid to give Batman the advantage, exposed him to his toxin.
The series followed the slow cognitive decline of Bruce Wayne as he gradually turned into the Batman Who Laughs, who was himself hatching a plan to Jokerize the entire city. It was a fun series, but seeing Bruce edging toward villainy while taking on BWL was definitely over the top.
4 Dark Knight Returns
Frank Miller & Klaus Janson
Frank Miller and Klaus Janson’s Dark Knight Returns was one of the stories that helped revitalize the hero in comics, thanks to its great use of the classic “old man” trope. The story followed Bruce returning to the Batman mantle to take on the leader of Gotham’s terrifying Mutant crime gang.
Batman’s fight with the Mutant leader was fun, but the series’ finale fight with Superman made considerably less sense. The story hinged on Superman being reimagined as a stooge of the White House who had no qualms about bringing down Bruce despite what he had achieved. The finale fight also put in the minds of writers and readers that “with enough prep time,” Batman could beat anyone.
Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Dark Nights Metal events followed the arrival of Barbatos and his Nightmare Batmen, led by Batman Who Laughs, to Prime Earth. This led to all-out multiversal warfare, with every hero of the DCU joining with Batman to defeat his dark variants.
So much of the Metal events, although fun, was an example of hardcore, excessive storytelling, riddled with gratuitous fan service and edgier, metal versions of DC heroes. From a T-Rex version of Batman to Batman Who Laughs getting the powers of Doctor Manhattan, the war for the multiverse was fun nonsense.
2 Gotham War
Chip Zdarksy & Jorge Jimenez
In Chip Zdarsky’s Batman series, The Dark Knight is at war with his old flame, Catwoman, over her plan to reduce crime in Gotham by becoming a petty crime lord herself. The idea behind the story is that if she employs other villains’ henchmen for theft, she can curb the bigger criminals.
It’s hard to find the logic in Catwoman’s plan, especially since, as a rule, criminals tend to escalate their activity, especially the former henchmen of villains like Joker. The story also necessitated several members of the Bat-family betraying Bruce to side with Selina.
1 Endgame
Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
The peak of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman run, “Endgame,” saw the ultimate fight between Dark Knight and Clown Prince of Crime play out. Beginning with a battle against Jokerized versions of the entire Justice League — which Batman wins — things took a turn for the worse when the villain Jokerized the entire population of Gotham.
The “Endgame” story was complete pandemonium, replete with an encounter with a Jokerized soldier driving a tank down Gotham streets and blasting at Batman. Culminating in a bloody brawl between the two, the event left Bruce with no memory of being Batman, and he miraculously survived the extreme violence.
