It’s the battle of the billionaires, the matchup superhero fans have been arguing over for decades, and still one of the most relevant showdowns in the history of comic books. Batman vs. Iron Man are the powerless powerhouses of DC and Marvel, respectively, and continue to be two of the most beloved heroes to pit against each other in popular culture. 

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There’s no question that a fight between the pair would be legendary, and much closer than one would imagine. Ending in a draw is never a fun way to finish a fight, though, and if a winner has to be crowned, who would it be?

In all honesty, it could go either way. No, seriously ⏤ think about it. Batman and Iron Man are both billionaires, leaders, and highly intelligent with uncontrolled access to space age technology. They both wear armored suits with tons of gadgets and failsafes, and the resources they could get their hands on are essentially infinite. Not to mention they both have a team of all-powerful superhero friends to back them up in a pinch.

Still, if you dig a little deeper into the lore for both heroes, a clear cut winner becomes more obvious. It’s the Batman. That may be hard for Marvel fans to hear ⏤ rest in peace, Tony Stark ⏤ but in most scenarios, the Dark Knight wins the day. Emphasis on most. And how could he not?

Where Tony Stark’s Iron Man is a “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist,” Bruce Wayne’s Batman is all that and then some. Bruce is a master of disguise, a skilled tactician, a detective, a ninja, is fluent in multiple languages, and knows countless forms of combat. 

But don’t count Tony out just yet. It’s obvious that his suit is far superior, and any tools that he could use against Bruce would be much more effective ⏤ which could spell disaster for Gotham’s Defender. That is, if Iron Man could keep Batman in one place. The difficulty would be that Batman can basically appear and disappear at will, using his tactical sense to beat Iron Man where it counts from the shadows.

Iron Man does the vast majority of his hero work in broad daylight. He’s a good guy through and through and has empathy where Batman does not. Batman is a dark, brooding hero who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. There’s a world where Iron Man may pull some punches that Batman doesn’t, which would skew combat in Batman’s favor.

Batman is a better fighter, is scarier, and tends to be much more motivated than Iron Man. All signs point to him being the winner, but here’s the thing: the winner is whoever you want it to be. 

Many fans go out of their way to support whichever hero they like more, and that’s fair enough, especially when they are as evenly matched as these two. But here’s the harsh reality: Batman and Iron Man are both incredible good guys. Why would they be fighting each other in the first place? If anything, the two would become quick friends and respect each other for being some of the only powerless heroes out there. Here’s a Quora page dedicated to that very idea, and each theory is more fantastic than the next.

The truth is, Batman and Iron Man would complement each other well, so isn’t these two teaming up and taking on all sorts of trouble instead of throwing down the type of story we should want to see?

It needn’t take J.A.R.V.I.S. or a clue from the Riddler to answer that question.