Who would win in a fight between Spider-Man and Batman?

When talking about the most iconic superheroes ever created, Spider-Man and Batman should be the first to pop into mind. How could you not love them? They defy all odds time and time again day by going against foes much stronger than them in order to save the day. The two characters always find a way to turn the tide in their favor even when it seems like an impossible task. It's only natural, since they're always the heroes of their own stories. But what would happen if, for some strange reason, they had to fight each other, no punches pulled? Who would come out victorious then?

I was talking to Caped Crusades site expert, Mark Anthony Lynch, about this very same topic. While his site is absolutely fantastic, and I highly recommend checking it, he somehow believes the Dark Knight would come out victorious. So he created an article (which you can read here) explaining why Bruce could get the upper hand. However, we all know the real superhero, with actual superpowers, would win, and I'm about to explain why.

Spider-Man is the clear winner

To kick things off, let's suppose the two heroes fight with no preparation time beforehand (which would be the most likely scenario either way). Sure, Batman's mastery over more than 120 martial arts could come in handy, but it will always pale in comparison to super strength, a spider-sense, and the ability to easily dodge the enemy by climbing over walls or quickly swinging across buildings. Even other experts in hand-to-hand combat such as Captain America have admitted Spidey is stronger, while the likes of Taskmaster have lost to him in adaptations such as Marvel's Spider-Man. Besides, if Spidey decides to stop pulling his punches, it would be over for the Caped Crusader no matter how resistant his batsuit is. After all, that's exactly what happened in the Back in Black comic book storyline, where the wall-crawler nearly killed the Kingpin for ordering to shoot Aunt May. Mind you, we're talking about a supervillain who has over 350 pounds of pure muscle.

In scenarios where Batman finds himself fighting against an enemy that can't be overpowered just with bare strength or hand-to-hand combat, he usually likes to set traps using his surroundings. We've all played through that excellent Mr. Freeze boss fight in Batman: Arkham City. The bat hides in the darkness, waiting for the opportunity to strike, and uses one of his many gadgets to startle his prey. It's a strategy that usually works, but there's one big problem here and that is the web-slinger's spider-sense. How could Brurce surprise someone who has precognitive abilities? Now, I know the spider-sense could sometimes prove to be unreliable (especially depending on what writer is in charge of the story), but more often than not, it will get Spidey out of any trouble.

Now, let's suppose both heroes got to investigate their opponent beforehand and had time to prepare for the fight. Most would have Batman winning in this scenario given his great intelligence and ability to set up traps, but it's important to remember Peter is a genius too. He can also create many gadgets that would give him the upper hand as we've seen countless times before. What happened after Spidey and The Vulture fought for the very first time in comic book pages? The friendly neighborhood hero created an "anti-magnetic inverter" which immediately incapacitated Vulture's wings. He also created insulated webs to fight Electro, discovered an antidote to cure the Lizard, and the list of examples goes on and on.

The only likely scenario where Batman could come out victorious is if he had prep time, could set traps in the fighting arena, incapacitated Spidey's spider-sense, and the wall-crawler didn't know the battle was coming. But, let's be honest, even Batman's Mad Hatter could defeat Superman if the two were fighting on a planet made of Kryptonite while a huge red sun was over them. There could be a great number of excuses and unlikely scenarios made up for the underdog to win. But if we're being honest, Spidey should have this victory any day of the week.

I'm sorry, Batman. You might be my second favorite hero ever, but you're no match for the broke teenager from Queens.