SUPERMAN & BATMAN versus LEX LUTHOR

The World's Finest Part Five: State of Siege (DC)
Where: Superman/Batman #5 When: February 2004
Why: Jeph Loeb How: Ed McGuinness

The Story So Far...
A chunk of the devastated planet Krypton is hurtling on a collision course towards the Earth! US President Lex Luthor has declared Superman public enemy number one as the man he holds responsible for the global threat!

The President sends friends & foes alike to hunt the weakened Superman, but with Batman by his side, they've evaded them all. Not that that has stopped Luthor announcing their successful capture to the world!

Believing their mentors to be held captive in the White House, the heroes' respective protégés stage a daring rescue mission that ends in their capture. Now with the world and their charges lives hanging in the balance -- Superman & Batman storm the Oval Office to confront a President on the brink of insanity!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Superman 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Lex Luthor 6 (Genius)
Speed: Superman 6 (Mach Speed)
Stamina: Superman 6 (Generator)
Agility: Batman 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Batman 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Superman 5 (Lasers)
Total: Superman 33 (Super)

Superman and Batman generally outclass Lex Luthor in most categories, but the genius scientist and businessman has a trump card in 2004 that can instantly render them completely impotent: He's President of the United States!

For a couple of career good guys like the "World's Finest" that presents one heckuva problem. Attacking the President means publicly assaulting the very institutions they've sworn to uphold. Luthor may be a self-serving egomaniac, but the risks of forcibly removing him from office are great and many!

At another time in his life Batman actually defended Lex Luthor, from a rogue WayneTech droid, in Batman Confidential #2. He could probably find a way to dismantle Luthor's trademark powersuit, but if he really wants to take President Luthor down, he's probably best doing it as a detective, using his skills to find the necessary evidence to warrant intervention from appropriate political institutions.

Superman smashed Luthor's armor to smithereens in Justice League of America #15, but his dedication to truth, justice, and the American way isn't likely to include assaulting the Commander in Chief, either. He too may be better suited to using his skills as a journalist to expose Luthor's political misdeeds.

Of course, let's be honest: This is the Comic Book Fight Club and we're here for a battle -- not an investigation! Luthor won't go quietly and he's got the weapons to make sure he doesn't have to!

In Supergirl #3 we saw his malice unleashed with the benefit of that iconic green & purple powersuit, and intimate knowledge of synthesizing kryptonite. That's the kind of thing that can prove a real problem for Superman, too.

In 52 #40, Luthor opted for temporary super-human augmentation to torture John Henry Irons, aka; Steel. Batman might be able to watch Superman's back, but if Luthor goes down this road, he can end Batman's assistance in an instant!

Together they've brought down Bloodsport & Deadshot, tag teamed Darkseid into submission, and helped the Justice League stop the Injustice League, Ultramarine Corps, and Mongul -- but can they bring down a corrupt government? Let's find out!

History: Superman & Batman (1-0-0)
The Tape: Superman & Batman Ranking: Batman (#1)

What Went Down...

Standing over the beaten bodies of his enemies: President Luthor rolls up his sleeves and smiles gleefully. He quotes Macbeth with a green glint in his eye, "Blow, wind! Come, wrack!" A bitter call for chaos and the unravelling of order.

As if to answer: a red and gold blur swirls around him, spiriting away the young defeated heroes at the President's feet.

He stands alone in the darkened Oval Office for a moment before a mighty backlit figure confronts him!

Captain Marvel stands silently as the President quizzes him on the disappearance of two apprehended fugitives. Luthor lords his presidential title like a weapon, warning the Captain he's "nothing" as he strides confidently toward the President.

Hoisted from the ground Luthor at last realises he is not in the clutches of Captain Marvel. He tears the lightning crest from his attacker's chest and exposes the staggering truth: the man before him is one of the missing fugitives -- Superman!

The Man of Tomorrow remembers his youth spent on the farm, and an adopted father who taught him the necessity of killing a fox who enters the chicken house lest you risk the deaths of more chickens. His eyes glow red with restrained heat.

Staring death in the face, Luthor bargains for his life by preying upon Superman's better nature. He warns of grave consequences. Not only a hunt to bring down Superman, but a bitter distrust that will effect all allied super-heroes.

At that moment a shadow separates from the darkest corner of the room.

The Batman will not stop Superman if he chooses lethal force. The weight of Luthor's evil is too great. The Dark Knight Detective even offers an antidote to the President's threats: "There are ways we could make it look like an accident. Or better still -- as if he'd disappeared without a trace."

President Luthor nervously calls it a bluff. Batman sternly suggests otherwise.

Superman asks if their comrades are safe. Batman confirms the youthful heroes and Krypto have been successfully freed and evacuated. That's enough to satisfy the Man of Steel, who hurls Luthor across the tainted Oval Office.

Superman and Batman make a silent exit, but for The President of the United States the battle is not over. He snarls his title with widened furious eyes and indignant entitlement. For him, this is far from over...

The Hammer...

In review this is really more of a prelude to the battle that unfolds in the following issue. President Luthor is poised to blow his stack big time, and this incident is the trigger that finally pushes him past arrogant hubris into all-out insanity.

As soon as the heroes are out of the building he's injecting himself with a glowing green concoction of venom & kryptonite, and suiting up for a very public battle!

Does today's feature really constitute a fight? Yes & no. We clearly see Superman has Lex dead to rights almost immediately, but chooses to walk away just as fast.

It's a relatively passive outcome. Secure in the knowledge that the higher purpose of The Man of Steel's presence has been achieved. Batman confirmed the rescue of their respective youthful charges, who themselves were captured breaching the White House attempting an ill-fated, ill advised rescue of the World's Finest.

President Luthor had prematurely announced the arrest of Superman & Batman in the hopes of drawing them out. At this point Luthor had no way of knowing the duo had turned the tables on their would-be captors -- Captain Marvel & Hawkman -- some time after suffering an apparent defeat in issue #4. This allowed Superman to disguise himself when gaining entry to the White House.

Deceptive in its simplicity: Public Enemies presents a layer cake of priorities and reference throughout, offering bombastic Ed McGuinness action on the surface, in service of more intricate plotlines deeper down.

In total the story is the ultimate endgame to the Luthor Presidency, beginning with a giant kryptonite meteor hurtling towards the Earth, and Luthor's attempt to publicly & officially hold Superman accountable for the destruction it will bring.

Luthor professes to wield the truth, but is lying to the people -- manipulating the situation to pursue his own agenda & self-interests. Savvy readers knew it was always going to end something like this. It was just a matter of how far Luthor would go, and to what extent he would be allowed to abuse Presidential resources. The cost of his corruption ultimately threatens the entire world, leaving Batman & Superman to work towards an actual solution that will eventually call upon Captain Atom, and lead to the Armageddon imprint crossover series.

Nothing about this superhero story seemed overly dangerous in 2004, but when I started writing this entry in anticipation of the United States Presidential Election at the end of 2020, and continued into January, it became shockingly apparent it would take on new relevance after the attack on the United States Capitol.

I was sensitive to the fact that it had become a very serious subject. Although I'm not American, the site has a large base of American readers, so I decided to delay while we all processed what had happened. Midnight entries on a comic book blog about superhero brawls just don't strike me as a very good place for serious political discourse. Accepting that some opinions and forums simply don't matter is the kind of discerning that could probably help us all a great deal.

That said, there's also no denying the political undercurrent that runs through superhero comic books throughout history. Seminal pulp-infused heroes like The Phantom weren't entirely apolitical in their globe-trotting battles against cruelty and injustice, and if there's a single big bang event that gives us the DC and Marvel Universes: it's World War II. It was pretty much a non-stop free for all of punching Nazis from there! In fact, one of the most famous punches in comics was delivered to a very notable politician -- German Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Good form, Cap!

By the mid-2000s of Public Enemies, Nazis were still evergreen punching bags, but superhero comics were also looking at contemporary concerns, exploring the political & ethical dilemmas of contentious domestic/foreign policies by President George W. Bush. Essentially 'with great power comes great responsibility' applied on a global geo-political scale.

It was that kind of thinking that informed aspects of Mark Millar's blockbuster millennium comics, like The Ultimates and Civil War, and led Warren Ellis to rather cannily make the simmering tension of domestic terror the primary antagonist of his Iron Man story: Extremis. All of these works later went on to be major influences on the Iron Man films, and Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole.

Lex Luthor actually had to defeat W Bush on his way to becoming President in the DC Universe 2000 election, but by the time it was all unravelling in '04, his efforts to vilify Superman based on a lie, and deploy heroes and villains in pursuit of violent reprisal, infused his broad comic book villainy with the subtext of Bush's war on terror, and invasion of Iraq. Both were broad mood setting influences, and common targets for critique, for a lot of American pop culture at the time.

It's become curiously common for some folks to insist that comics from this recent era, or slightly earlier, weren't "political". An unconvincing argument that usually seems to be acting as a political statement, or nostalgia for the innocence of youthful ignorance. The latter of which, admittedly, isn't entirely wrong.

Superheroes were constructed to be champions of social justice and examples for moral upstanding. Although more modern eras grew entangled in subversions, at its core the superhero is a simple premise. They adhere to selfless standards of good and decency in a world that lacks the complexities and uncertainty of reality.

We can have absolute confidence in Superman & Batman acting as heroes, and Lex Luthor a villain. The evidence for this has been provided monthly for nigh on eighty years by their creators. Our heroes' motivations are largely selfless, lacking self-indulgence or flippant enjoyment in their actions, and presumed to come with a good study of hard evidence and fact. Luthor operates on greed and spite.

Jeph Loeb appeared to dabble in extremes of superhero violence throughout this time, sometimes gratuitously, but ultimately with the thesis, as it is in Superman/Batman #5, that heroes do not kill.

Restraint is a key feature that guides them in their effort to do right. They do not enter the White House lightly. Even Batman, who is shown here flirting with lethal force in the face of dire evil, as he did in Batman #614, accepts restraint. Murder is not how you deal with a corrupt, elected official. Extreme violence is not the choice of the super-hero.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies is a pretty decent work of fiction and I'm sure we'll return to some of its less contentious battles some time in the future. I would particularly like to look more at the assembly of military connected heroes, and the captured youngsters who set today's action into motion.

If you'd like to get ahead of me and see the full picture for yourself you can check out one of the available collected editions of the story. By using the Amazon purchase links provided to do any of your online shopping you'll not only find a good deal -- you'll also help support the site at no extra cost to you!

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Winner: Inconclusive
#4 (--) Superman
#134 (+6) Lex Luthor
#1 (--) Batman [+1 assist]

CAPTAIN MARVEL & HAWKMAN versus SUPERMAN & BATMAN

Public Enemies Part Four: Battle On (DC)
Where: Superman/Batman #4 When: January 2004
Why: Jeph Loeb How: Ed McGuinness

The Story So Far...
A giant piece of the destroyed planet Krypton is hurtling towards the Earth! The humongous meteorite threatens all life on Earth, but President of the United States Lex Luthor has a plan to thwart what his government claims is a proven attack orchestrated by Superman!

 

Uniting with Batman; Metropolis' Man of Tomorrow helps devise a plan to stop the celestial threat, and undo Lex Luthor's corrupt political scheme once and for all -- becoming a wanted fugitive in the process!

 

With a bounty on their heads, the World's Finest evade attacks from some of the most notorious figures in the criminal underworld, before fending off a team of government enlisted heroes. When an accident during the fight causes mass destruction in Tokyo, the big guns of the Justice Society of America finally agree to step in to take the pair down safely and quietly at the rest of Wonder Woman. Enter the JSA's hand-picked heroes for a showdown in the snowy mountains of Japan: Captain Marvel & Hawkman!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Captain Marvel 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Batman 5 (Professor)
Speed: Superman 6 (Mach Speeds)
Stamina: Superman 6 (Generator)
Agility: Batman 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Hawkman 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Superman 5 (Lasers)

Over the past month we've seen instances of The Man of Steel getting the better of Captain Marvel [Kingdom Come #4] and Hawkman [Justice League of America #200] individually. So what happens when the battle escalates to titanic tag team proportions? That's what we aim to find out today as the JSA deploy their two most perfectly suited enforcers for an explosive two-on-two encounter with the JLA's finest: Superman & Batman!

Captain Marvel and Hawkman know each other relatively well, but the edge of familiarity likely has to go to the defending team.

Superman & Batman don't always see eye to eye, and the reason their occasionally bitter rivalry gets so volatile isn't just rooted in difference -- but because they know each other so darn well! When they're fighting on the same side that spells bad news for any opponents! Just take a look at past skirmishes with: Darkseid [Superman/Batman #42], Atomic Skull [Superman/Batman #21], Mongul [Infinite Crisis #1], and inhabitants of a universe where they conquered the world: Green Arrow [Superman/Batman #14] and Freedom Fighters [Superman/Batman #15]!

They haven't conquered the world in today's feature, but their fellow heroes are operating under the instruction that it's a possible goal. This means Captain Marvel & Hawkman can put some of their reluctance aside when fighting. An argument can be made that this allows them to fully exploit key advantages they hold over their counterparts.

As we saw in Superman #216: Captain Marvel & Superman match-up pretty well, but the magic strength of Hercules and power of Zeus gives Cap the slight strength advantage needed when employing his ruthless lightning ambush. Nth metal enhancements ensure Hawkman has a decided strength advantage over The Batman, as well. If he can use his medieval arsenal with impunity, even the ever-resourceful Batman could quickly find himself at a deadly disadvantage!

Switch it up and things get even worse for Batman, who won't have kryptonite to fall back on fighting the magic of Shazam, the way he usually does against Superman. Play that scenario out and the best Superman can hope for is a drag out one-on-one fight with the big red cheese. With a kryptonite meteor heading for the Earth, that's not an ideal place to be.

The Tape stats noted above show Superman & Batman have versatility over the specialist skills of their opponents, but the only way to know for sure is to let the fight play out! Let's see how it went...

The Tape: Superman & Batman Ranking: Batman (#1)

What Went Down...

Touching down with Powergirl & Katana en tow; Superman & Batman draw their plans to save a world they've been accused of threatening. Knowing the battle is far from over, they charge their juniors with a vital mission. They will not be able to execute it. A streaking red blur confirms it.

A weighted net ensnares The Batman, followed by the descending shadow of the winged Hawkman! He commands the outlaw heroes to honor their past and make it easy. Standing boldly over his fallen target, Captain Marvel echoes the sentiment -- reminding Superman he's beaten him before and will do so again.

Superman chooses non-compliance, blasting Captain Marvel in the face with an explosion of heat vision! His words scold as harshly as the heat, challenging the Captain for accepting President Luthor's orders!

While the super-powers collide, Batman gets to freeing himself from his netted prison. A cutting tool makes light work of the snare. Hawkman warns him to stay down. An interesting choice of words.

Superman and Captain Marvel come to super-human blows. The Man of Steel reviews his opponent's innate advantages. Toe-to-toe his magic power gives Captain Marvel the edge. A straight right to the jaw punctuates the point, before a stinging left follows directly at Superman's face!

Meanwhile, Batman observes Hawkman's obvious advantage: flight. As the winged warrior swoops with trademark fixed mace in hand, Batman attempts to turn the tables - firing his grappling cable around his flying foe!

The Bat succeeds in grounding Hawkman for a moment, but any advantage is short-lived -- the power of his mighty wings too great for the tensile strength of the chord! The recoil sends Batman flying!

Clearly struggling against their respective opponents: Batman calls for a "castling" strategy - a switch of King and Rook.

To facilitate the exchange, Superman catches Captain Marvel's next blow and uses the leverage to toss him in the direction of Batman! The Bat gets a kick in, directing Marvel's careening body into the snow -- while in the blink of an eye Superman goes airborne, collecting Hawkman at mach speed!

The Man of Steel heads for the Earth's upper atmosphere with a note of regret, intending for Hawkman to blackout. The veteran scoffs his target's arrogance, knowing full well what Superman & Batman are attempting. Far from done, he introduces Superman to his glove: The Claw of Horus!

The Claw draws its power from the Earth's magnetic core -- allowing Hawkman to hit Superman with the force of the entire planet! The blow sends Superman plummeting back down to Earth with extreme prejudice!

While below, Batman investigates Captain Marvel's impact. Instead he discovers young Billy Batson in the snow with a cut on his forehead. The Dark Knight checks on his opponent's mortal counterpart. When Batson whispers the magic word "Shazam" a magic bolt of lightning strikes the Earth to transform him back into the big red cheese Captain Marvel!

With Batman slumped over his shoulder, Marvel re-joins Hawkman - who stands over an unconscious and wounded Superman! Victorious!

The Hammer...

Did you see it happening? Our winners are very much Captain Marvel & Hawkman, but there's more to this story than meets the eye...

If you followed the recap, you may have noticed the absence of Powergirl and Katana - who exited just as the fight started.

 

This was the real key to victory, as Superman and Batman's ultimate goal in the fight was to ensure they were left unhindered. It's all part of a larger plot to avert the disaster President Lex Luthor has accused Superman of causing. The very reason they were in remote Japan - home to the industrious Toyman.

Fans of the Public Enemies story will know Captain Marvel & Hawkman's victory is short-lived. Somewhere between the end of the fight and Superman/Batman #5, the title duo blindsided their opponents while their guards were down, in order to steal their identities. This allows the fugitive Superman & Batman to confront Luthor at close proximity, and rescue their protégés, who had responded to premature news of their capture.

It's a contrivance almost purely for the reader's sake -- just barely functional enough in the bigger picture to make its convincing execution worth the while. It got us a kickass fight between rival heroes, and gave half a subsequent issue to a fun group of young heroes. Not bad!

 

It doesn't hurt that the whole affair is deliciously rendered by a master team of artists. I'm a big fan of the world according to Ed McGuinness. He was a natural fit for Superman, and I think a surprisingly effective and maybe underrated Batman artist, as well. He doesn't do it alone, of course. He's brought to his very best by inker Dexter Vines, with perfect, wet paint colors from Dave Stewart. The end result is big, bold, powerful and wonderful to look at.

 

It's easy to forget that a Superman/Batman team-up book was a slightly sketchy proposal in 2003, especially on the back of Jeph Loeb's instrumental rekindling of the Batman v Superman rivalry that same year [Batman #612]. McGuinness played a big part in successfully selling the dynamic of character examination under big action frivolity that underscored much of Loeb's run. There's positive and negative, but it gave something back to the introspective superhero comics of the time. If DC's upcoming Rebirth intends to address things that are missing - this balance of elements, characters, fun, stakes, and Ed McGuinness' pencils are all good places to start!

 

Ironically, some of McGuinness' least effective pages take place during the Captain Marvel/Hawkman fight. The intention of certain action sequences aren't as clear as they should be. These panels leave a lot of vague, uninteresting, dead space. Some of this seems to be in service of not calling attention to Hawkman's trump card - The Claw of Horus. It works, giving the reveal impact without obviously holding his hand behind his arm, but it may've pressured the Captain Marvel "Castling" sequence into some flat panels.

 

Something I do like about the Superman/Hawkman sequence is how well it plays off the fight in Justice League of America #200. That time Hawkman was left for dead floating unconscious in space. This time he was prepared!

 

Some may argue the surprise twist in Superman/Batman #5 invalidates the victory demonstrated in today's feature, but the result is never explicitly disputed. The outcome is merely overturned by a second, unseen skirmish. By hook or by crook, Captain Marvel & Hawkman did defeat Superman & Batman as we saw. Secret Wars on Infinite Earths bylaws typically dictate results should be determined by issue cut-off. The facts of the case just so happen to support the result, either way.

 

Which pretty much takes care of that! It also wraps up our run of Superman's battles with heroes for this month! It won't be the last time we take inspiration from the March 25th release of Superman v Batman: Dawn of Justice, though! There's a third hero set to play a feature role and they'll be tag teaming with one of the other most talked about heroes coming soon to theatres. If you guess this unlikely pairing -- you'll deserve a no prize! 'Nuff said!

 

As always, you can find more Superman & Batman battles by following the links, or checking out the Issue Index Archive.

Stay tuned for more Hero of the Week and Old Comics Wednesday portal picks, too! Wanna read the comics you've seen here yourself? Use Amazon purchase links provided to support the site! Be sure to tell your friends, too!

Winners: Captain Marvel & Hawkman

(--) #1 Batman

(--) #4 Superman

(+8) #27 Hawkman

(+222) #100 Captain Marvel