One of the biggest winners of DC Comics isBatman, and not just because he’s arguably DC’s biggest and most profitable superhero. In the comic books themselves, he has a good win-loss record. He wins far more than he loses, but that doesn’t mean that his loss column is spotless.
There have been rare instances where the Dark Knight has lost his fights against Gotham City’s most nefarious criminals. Sometimes, Batman needs to experience a loss to humble him and motivate him to come back even better than before, but for him to learn from the loss, the loss has to shake the fiber of Batman’s being.Those losses leave an impression and strengthen his journey as a hero.These are just some examples of the worst losses that Batman has ever suffered at the hands of his enemies.
The Reaper
Batman: Year Twoby Mike W. Barr, Alan Davis, Todd McFarlane, and More
This early into Batman’s career, he had never faced another vigilante before, specifically an opponent who could match him in hand-to-hand combat.As such, Bruce is thrown off his game for the first time when he meets the Reaper. The first time they’re eye-to-eye, Batman notes how facing someone with armor would be difficult,“but not impossible.“For Batman, overcoming the Reaper at this stage in his life was virtually impossible.
With villains like the Reaper, he needs to devise an actual plan, and once he plans ahead of time for the Reaper, he can finally defeat him.
Batman is then beaten down and torn to shreds - to the point where he must retreat, showing up in front of Alfred at Wayne Manor as a bloody shell of his former self.In this story, Batman learns that he can’t combat every enemy as he does the common goon. With villains like the Reaper, he needs to devise an actual plan, and once he plans ahead of time for the Reaper, he can finally defeat him.
Deacon Blackfire
Batman: The Cultby Jim Starlin, Bernie Wrightson, John Costanza and Bill Wray
Batman’s defeats aren’t always physical, but often mental. Sometimes, the mental battle is more damning for Batman than the physical.That was never more true than when he was kidnapped by cult leader Deacon Blackfire and his devoted band of followers. Over time, Batman is drugged and brainwashed to the point where he becomes a willing follower of the Deacon until he’s freed by Robin.
Even then, Batman’s mind is broken, and he starts to uncharacteristically doubt himself. Even worse, when Blackfire takes control of the city, Batman is too mentally defeated to confront him,choosing to abandon Gotham instead. He inevitably returns, butknowing that he was willing to surrender to injustice for perhaps the first time in his crimefighting career, Blackfire wins in the end.
Prometheus
JLA#16 by Grant Morrison, Howard Porter, John Dell, Ken Lopez, Pat Garrahy, and Heroic Age
Upon infiltratingthe Justice League’s iconic headquarters(he kills the hero Retro and steals his identity), this villain reveals himself with one line:“I’m Prometheus, and I’m here to destroy the Justice League.“He sticks true to his word, instantly disposing of Steel, then Martian Manhunter, before being confronted by Batman.Prometheus has downloaded the Watchtower’s schematics into his brain, along with an understanding of every League member’s weaknesses and thirty of the world’s greatest martial arts.
Upon their meeting, Prometheus warns Batman that his odds don’t look good, especially since one of those thirty discs in his brain is Batman himself. The Dark Knight doesn’t heed that warning, and before he knows it,Batman is obliterated off-panel. One moment, Prometheus leaps at a startled Batman, and the next time he’s seen in the final panel, Batman is laid out cold.
Lady Shiva
Detective Comics#952 by James Tynion IV, Christian Duce, Fernando Blanco, Alex Sinclair, John Rauch, Allen Passalaqua, and Sal Cipriano
Lady Shiva, mother of Batgirl Cassandra Cain and an elite assassin, has notoriously been the one villainwho Batman has struggled to defeat, despite his sidekicks doing so on multiple occasions.Still, Shiva has proven to be Bruce Wayne’s Achilles heel when it comes to hand-to-hand fighting.She’s Gotham’s best fighter for a reason and proves it once again in this issue, where he and Shiva try to have a civil conversation whileher League of Shadowsseeks to claim Gotham for themselves.
When things get physical,Batman can’t so much as land a punch on Shivabefore she forces him down to the ground with a mere wrist lock. Shiva knows that she can kill Batman at this moment and has defeated him before, but she spares him instead. It’s an embarrassing look for the Caped Crusader.
Bane
Batman#497 by Doug Moench, Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano, Adrienne Roy, and Richard Starkings
Some villains are able to defeat Batman on a mental level, others on a physical level, but it’s rare to see someone annihilate the World’s Greatest Detective in both realms.Bane is the rare exception when he orchestrates an Arkham Asylum breakout that exhausts Batman for multiple nights in an attempt to re-capture all the inmates.
Bane meets Bruce at Wayne Manor when he’s at his most tired and vulnerable, taking advantage of the situation by picking at what’s left of Batman and breaking him into pieces.
The “Knightfall” arc established Bane as an actual mastermind with as much brains as he has brawn.This defeat wouldn’t be a fluke either, as his overtaking of Gotham in the “City of Bane” arc, which featuresthe murder of Alfred Pennyworth, only furthered the idea that Bane is an adversary capable of defeating Batman more than once.
The Court of Owls
Batman: The City of Owlsby Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, and More
Unearthing the Court of Owls' existence not only shakes Batman to his corebut shakes his understanding of Gotham. Batman slowly starts to investigate how the Court of Owls may have played a part in major events in Gotham’s history in an effort to shift the power scales of Gotham City, including the murder of his parents. His obsession with investigating his personal connection to the Court distracts Batman from the prime objective and almost costs him his sanity.
When he’s ambushed by a Talon, he awakens in the Court of Owls' labyrinth, spending what seems like days trying to escape when left to his own devices. In doing so, he’s sleep-deprived, food-deprived, and is actively losing his mind. Some would say that anyone dressing likea bat belongs in Arkham Asylum, butthe Owls prey on Batman’s sanityand make that presumption a reality.
Sensei
Batman: The Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghulby Grant Morrison, Paul Dini, Peter Milligan, Fabian Nicieza, Tony Daniel, Freddie E. Williams II, Don Kramer, Ryan Benjamin, and More
Batman’s history with Ra’s al Ghul is well-documented, but not enough attention is drawn to al Ghul’s appointed lieutenant of the League of Assassins and former leader of the Society of Assassins, Sensei.He’s later revealed to be the father of Ra’s in theResurrection of Ra’s al Ghul, but more importantly, this arc shows how Sensei could be even more powerful than Ra’s.
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Ra’s has defeated Batman in the past, but Batman has never fallen as easily to Ra’s as he does to Sensei.Batman intervenes in an effort to stop Ra’s from resurrecting, but Sensei beats Batman nearly to death. Batman only survives because their fight is disrupted. Before they’re interrupted, Sensei takes advantage of a blinded Batman and also of the fact that Sensei has centuries worth of fighting experience ahead of the years of training Batman has had.
Failsafe
Batman#130 by Chip Zdarsky, Jorge Jiménez, Tomeu Morey, and Clayton Cowles
While under the influence ofhis Zur-En-Arrh split personality,Batman built an unstoppable android called Failsafe programmed with the objective of killing Batman if he ever broke his no-kill rule. He’s activated once news breaks of Batman killing the Penguin (who faked his own death).Alfred was secretly put in charge of diffusing Failsafe in case of a false alarm or false accusation, but with Alfred dead, Failsafe will only stop when his objective is complete.
Failsafe manages to get the better of Bruce, firing a blast that presumably kills him, but instead sends him to an alternate universe.When Bruce returns, he has to face down Failsafe and his split personality, incapacitated with Failsafe taking his place as a better Batmanand an evil replacement. Batman eventuallyreturns to beat Failsafe, but the robot proves itself the biggest challenge Batman has faced in years.
Mutant Leader
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns#2 by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Lynn Varley, and John Costanza
This definitive Batman story takes place in an alternate reality where Bruce Wayne retired from Batman duties following the death of Jason Todd.As an old man, crime is worse than it’s ever been thanks to a gang called the Mutants. Seeing the chaos around him is enough to pull Batman out of the shadows. When he confronts the Mutants, he’s in turn confronted by the Mutant Leader.
Bruce takes notice of the much younger, stronger, and faster Mutant Leader. One kick to the abdomen is enough to explode Batman’s mid-section.
A fight like the one with the Mutant Leader is a young man’s game, andin addition to no longer being young, the older Batman is also out of practice. Bruce takes notice of the much younger, stronger, and faster Mutant Leader. One kick to the abdomen is enough to explode Batman’s mid-section. To say that the Mutant Leader destroys Batman would be an understatement. He has to be bailed out and rescued in the nick of time by the new Robin, Carrie Kelley.
Batman Omega
Batman: Last Knight on Earth#3 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano
As it turns out, no one can defeat Batman quite like Batman himself. Disheveled by an apocalyptic future, an older Bruce Wayne remodels himself as Omega after Batman is presumed dead.Batman Omega kills Darkseid, using his head and Anti-Life Equation on Gotham City, becoming a tyrant in the process.In a major twist, Omega has been the real Bruce Wayne all along, and the protagonist that the readers have been following for three issues straight has been a clone.
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Batman became the exact villain that he had fought hard against for years. The clone ultimately defeats his twisted counterpart. Still, though, it’s bittersweet to think that the toughest opponent thatBatmancould ever face was himself - and that his biggest loss came from losing to himself.
Batman
One of DC’s most iconic heroes, Batman is the vigilante superhero persona of billionaire Bruce Wayne. Forged by tragedy with the death of his parents, Bruce dedicated his life to becoming the world’s leading martial artist, detective, and tactician. Recruiting an entire family of allies and sidekicks, Bruce wages war on evil as the dark knight of his hometown, Gotham City.
