Fantasizing who would win in a one-on-one match between superheroes has transformed from a favorite playground pastime among comic book-loving kids to a billion dollar enterprise thanks to films like “Batman v Superman” and “Captain America: Civil War.”
So it’s not surprising that at his sit-down interview at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, comics legend Stan Lee was asked who would win in a fight between Batman and Captain America.
There are certainly parallels between the two crimefighters. Both men are endowed with incredible strength — Cap’s comes from super soldier serum while Batman’s comes from a lifetime of training — as well as state of the art technology and a soldier-like sense of duty.
But rather than stay loyal to Marvel and pick Cap as the winner, Stan the Man gave a more diplomatic response.
“Anytime anybody asks you who would win in a fight, the only correct answer is that it depends on who’s writing the story,” he said.
Indeed, Captain America and Batman did face off back in 1996 as part of a long-awaited crossover miniseries between Marvel Comics and DC Comics, where readers got to decide who won each battle and ultimately which brand would win the clash. In their battle, Batman won by knocking Cap into a flushing sewer with a Batarang, but then saved him from drowning.
After Marvel won the final battle, the Marvel and DC universes combined to form the Amalgam universe, which saw Batman fuse with Wolverine to create a hero called Dark Claw, while Cap fused with his righteous DC counterpart, Superman, to form Super-Soldier.
Other mash-ups saw Ororo Munroe, a.k.a. Storm of the X-Men, reimagined as an Amazon princess on Wonder Woman’s home of Themiscyra.
Eventually, Batman and Captain America were able to reclaim their original forms and work together to negotiate peace between two godlike brothers whose conflict started the war between the Marvel and DC Universes.
Keep an eye out for Stan Lee’s signature Marvel movie cameo in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” which hits theaters May 5.