[williamssl]

Well folks, this is it. The final round matchup to crown our superhero of superheroes. Who's the greatest EVER? This is the vote to answer that.

We have Marvel's top guy Spider-Man, who beat Robin, Hulk, and Superman to advance to the finals. And we have DC's top guy Batman, who beat Punisher, Flash, and Wolverine.

There are a few pages of arguments and trash talking that have been made here.

As always:

• You can only vote once.
  
• Everyone is allowed to vote, regardless of whether you've played for the entire showdown or are just coming into it now.
  
• You're voting for who you think is the greatest superhero
  
• This poll will close Tuesday evening, 11/28 at 10 eastern

[The Canadian Content]

Sorry, Spidey. Bats is just too cool.

[Ryan Who Loves Punk]

I really like Batman but I'm gonna go with Spidey. I actually think he has the cooler villains. And the Ultimate Spider-man depiction is just awesome, even if the writing gets a bit goofy sometimes.

[Lucky]

B-B-B-B-B-B-B-BATS!

Sorry, Spidey. You knocked off Supes. That has to count for something.

[BTR]

Spider-Man.

With a lot of guys, I could argue against them. That's hard to do, because I know Bats is awesome and I've read only a few Batman books. Dark Knight Returans and "About a Gun" are two of the best things I've ever read, though.

I can only vote for Spider-Man. And to me, the big difference between the two is motivation. Parker and Wayne both lost parents to crime, but Peter's quest fueled by guilt always seemed much more worthy and tragic than Bruce's vengeance-powered journey. Everytime I read Spidey, I see someone trying to atone for the mistakes of the past and not ever being able to make things right. In a world of death and rencarnation, Uncle Ben remains buried everywhere but in Peter's conscience. He can be Spider-Man for his entire life and never make up for his original failure. And, if Spider-Man fails again, he's endangering people that are there not to help Peter, but because they love him. Batman doesn't have that. His quest may be nobler but it's not more human. MOst of those close to Batman know what they're involved in.

I pick Spidey because he's the one hero I wouldn't want to be: he can fight and fight and know that all he has is heart, and in the end he will still fall short of his goal. He doesn't have money, he doesn't have proteges, he doesn't have resources. He has a curse that he turns into a blessing as much he can.

[salmonjunkie]

If Bruce was dirt poor, he wouldn't be Batman. Spider IS dirt poor, and he is still Spider-Man

[Batman]

btr, that's a really good argument for Spider-man--good to have you back.

You're the first to point out the one big thing Batman and Spider-man have in common--they're both motivated by family-members being victims of crime.

It's easy to then conclude that Spider-man is motivated by guilt and Batman by revenge, but I think that's a mistake. I would say that Spider-man is motivated by rational guilt--he really made a terrible mistake that led to his Uncle's death, and everything he does is partly to make up for that. Batman is motivated by irrational guilt--the guilt of the child, the guilt of the helpless survivor. As much as anything else, the rest of his life--the training, the studying, etc--has been spent making sure that he is never ever helpless again. And trying to prevent as many other people as he can from experiencing that.

Sal--already refuted that point, dude.

[OpTard]

i think batman should win because he has 6 votes and spider-man has 3

[Lucky]

Completely agreed with serg. BtR made a great point and I agree 100% with his interpretation of Spidey. But I'm with serg on the Batman interpretation. Batman is just as human to me because he's trying to atone for something which he has no true responsability for. But no matter how old and intelligent he gets he can never truly accept that. He's spent his entire life feeling guilty for that and always will. Like Spidey, he's never going to atone, but unlike Spidey he shouldn't really have to.

I also don't think Batman's mission is about vengeance at all. I think he's had moments of that but that's what they were. Moments. In the end Batman's mission is to protect Gotham and make sure that noone needs to suffer pointlessly. Its a hopeless mission and he knows that. But he keeps on it because Gotham is his home. And because before he died his father was a great doctor and philanthropist devoted to the EXACT same mission. Both work on hope and faith that they can accomplish something that everyone knows to be impossible. And in the end Batman convinces the people around him that the fight is worth it too. His extended family and proteges are a testament to the strength of his mission and his character. Because no matter how much he pushes them away and fails to properly handle them he's still completely sold them on this being right. Which is why even when they have to get away from him Nightwing heads to a city that's in worse shape than Gotham.

[Krydor]

The correct answer is Batman.

[BTR]

Of course Krydor picks the rich guy.

[Krydor]

The rich guy with a chip on his shoulder and no magic powers. I did not pick the magically powered emofag.

[BTR]

Wait, Spidey's the emofag? Brooding, dressed in all black, hangs around with boys, has an acquaintance that repeatedly cuts himself. Sounds like Bats to me.

Also: Wayne Enterprises got a no-bid contract and Alfred once shot a man in the face.

[OpTard]

spiderman has butt sex with norman osborn

[Krydor]

Spider-Man is an emofag, better suited to Final Fantasy Online and not manly hero work.

[Batman]

Hey, krydor: Get off my side!

thnx

[Krydor]

You sir, are on my side. Therefore, ask to change your vote to Homo-Arachnid (crappy latin rules).

[Lucky]

borntorun said:

has an acquaintance that repeatedly cuts himself.

Wait, who cuts himself? What did I miss?

[BTR]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zsasz

I said "acquaintance"...

[Lucky]

Ahhhhh. Nice.

[williamssl]

Well folks - we have our winner. By vote of 71% to 29%,


Batman wins the Superhero Showdown and as such is crowned the greatest superhero EVER!

Congrats to the Bats, and thanks to everyone who participated along the way. The votes. The banter. Everything was enjoyable and I hope everyone had fun playing and debating.

Obviously I don't have good photoshop skills (I can graph Courtney's Karma over time to highlight the huge spike she got from revealing her hygiene habits, but I can't photoshop), so if someone wants to take a stab at a more creative way of crowning our superhero champion, have at it.

And don't forget - up next is our Supervillain showdown. Read the initial post and get your nominations in!

[OpTard]

no need to photoshop. lego batman plus gold cup is perfect.

and of course batman won this. was there ever any doubt?

hmm... i think i'll start a poll.

[Courtney]

williamssl said:

I can graph Courtney's Karma over time to highlight the huge spike she got from revealing her hygiene habits, but I can't photoshop

Yes, you can and I still enjoy looking at it. Thanks for running this man.