Batman and Superman

September 10, 2008 7:56 PM

The Joker is Batman's nemesis and Lex Luthor is Superman's. However, Superman must have fought the Joker and Batman must have fought Lex Luthor at some point in the DC Universe. What are the best stories which feature Superman's traditional bad guys fighting Batman or Batman's foes fighting Superman?
posted by josher71 to media & arts (11 comments total)

Though I suspect you are asking for specific issues of comics, do check out the videos (if you haven't seen them) of ItsJustSomeRandomGuy on YouTube; his After Hours series (as distinct from the parodies of the I'm a Mac, I'm a PC ads) has exactly what you're looking for. They are funny and well written.
posted by tomboko at 8:08 PM on September 10, 2008

Funnily enough, there are two crossover collections I'm reading right now, both from about five years ago. One is Batman: Hush (2 parts, 6 issues' worth in each collection). It's mainly a Batman story, featuring appearances by all of his traditional bad guys (and allies), but Superman is featured alongside him throughout in a team-up style story. As someone who never really reads comics/graphic novels from cover to cover, I've found this series to be perfect for people like me. And Jim Lee draws a hot Catwoman.

The other is just called "Superman/Batman," and is apparently still an ongoing series, with every six issues making up each collection (there are at least six out now). I'm in the middle of the first book, and it's set more in Superman's world of characters, but I'm guessing there are plenty of variations along the way.

Both series are pretty good about making sure that those with only a basic knowledge of both superheroes don't get too lost with all the characters.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 8:42 PM on September 10, 2008

Superman 'fights' Joker in "Death in the Family" when Joker is made Iran's ambassador the U.N. after (coincidently) killing Robin.
posted by parmanparman at 9:03 PM on September 10, 2008

Superman and Batman: Generations jumbles all sorts of elements from both continuities, including villains. It's an alternate storyline, so it's not part of the main DC mythos, but it's really fun.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:31 PM on September 10, 2008

Lex Luthor is one of the bad people in the massive Cataclysm/No Man's Land crossover between all of the Bat-books. Great books, though the Luthor thing isn't the books main focus, it does show that Batman can kick Luthor's ass, too, at least in a ruthless business sense.

And, well, Kingdom Come has some Luthor-Wayne scuffling.
posted by Ghidorah at 11:58 PM on September 10, 2008

and though you didn't ask for it, I can't help but provide you with Batman vs. Superman (in what many consider the ultimate Batman story): The Dark Knight Returns
posted by namewithoutwords at 3:53 AM on September 11, 2008

Dark Knight Strikes Again has Batman versus Lex Luthor.
posted by YouRebelScum at 6:33 AM on September 11, 2008

If I recall correctly, there is a Crossover story from the Superman Animated Series where the Joker goes to Metropolis and offers to kill Superman for Lex. Worlds Finest I-III (Season II).

There was also an Episode of the same series in Season III called "Knight Time" where Superman impersonates Batman in order to help Robin find the missing Bruce Wayne
posted by Lord Widebottom at 6:43 AM on September 11, 2008

You get a lot of interesting rogue's gallery mixups in Justice League comics-- Luthor pops up a lot especially. You do have to choose your Justice League era pretty carefully, as they range from excellent to total shit. Grant Morrison's run from the late 90s is pretty universally beloved (although the art can be kind of tough to look at), and features a couple of story arcs that are essentially Batman-vs-Luthor chess matches. I know the trades Rock of Ages and World War III both feature some Luthoric action; I'm pretty sure one of the other late-Morrison trades has a Luthor storyline, but I can't remember which for sure.

Really, if you have any love for superheroes, you'd probably enjoy just reading the Morrison JLA straight through.
posted by COBRA! at 7:42 AM on September 11, 2008

Superman/Batman: World's Finest, illustrated by the amazing Steve Rude has the Joker and Luthor switching cities.
posted by Scoo at 8:01 AM on September 11, 2008

Also notable in Kingdom Come, Superman goes in to exile due to Magog's acquittal for executing the Joker. The Joker had killed 93 people, including Lois Lane, in Metropolis.
posted by Scoo at 8:10 AM on September 11, 2008