Batman is the most popular superhero of them all and it’s honestly not all that close. Sure, Marvel Comics has been able to make massive superstars over the decades, with characters like Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine, Iron Man, and others all reaching the top of the sales charts and the multiplex, but the Dark Knight is the one that the rest of them are measured against. He’s been the standard bearer for DC Comics for decades and an argument can be made that he’s one of the most DC characters of them all. However, another argument can also be made – that the Caped Crusader would be a much better Marvel hero.
Marvel and DC are very different when it comes to their heroes, their approaches to the superhero taking them in disparate directions. Looking at the history and character of Gotham’s darkest protector, there’s a lot of things about the hero that would fit better in the Marvel Universe than the DC Multiverse. Batman would be a superior Marvel hero, and these five reasons illustrate why he would fit so well.
The Avengers are Marvel’s greatest team, holding the same position that the Justice League does in the DC Multiverse. While the League is more democratic, for lack of a better term, the Avengers are a more rigid group. They’re job isn’t to inspire, like the League, it’s to avenge and protect. Now, does that remind you of anyone else? Batman would love the way the Avengers worked as a team, and he would also quickly become one of the more interesting members of the group. There would be some fun personality clashes, but can you imagine Batman, Cap, and Iron Man working together to figure out a way to beat Ultimo? Poetry in spandex. Marvel heroes are more grey and grounded as well, something that fits Batman like a batsuit. Plus, heroes go bad in the Avengers all the time, and having the (Bat)man with a plan there will allow the group to deal with these threats better.
Marvel and DC both have heroes whose job it is to protect their cities as vigilantes. The DC vigilante community is very tight knit, something that doesn’t really fit Bats very well. Their presentations are also different; Batman is the dark avenger of the night and his fellow DC vigilantes are far more colorful. Batman goes further than all of them when it comes to the violence, as well. The only vigilantes in the DC Multiverse that are like Batman are members of his Bat-Family and even they aren’t much like him. The Dark Knight can also be rather contentious, making it hard for him to work with others. The Marvel vigilante community has always been different. While there are certainly cliques, the whole community isn’t as tight knit as a group. Many of them are more violent – very few Marvel heroes even have a no-kill rule anymore – and what’s the thing that happens every time two of them meet after time apart? They fight. It’s a community that is basically tailor-made for the Caped Crusader.
Batman’s villains are a monstrous lot. Sure, there are the run of the mill gimmick villains who just want to rob banks and make money, but then there are the true psychopaths. The Joker is one of the most evil human beings you can imagine. Poison Ivy and Ra’s al Ghul want to commit wanton acts of genocide, Zsasz is a brutal murderer, Killer Croc is barely in control of this actions at times. Comparing Batman villains to other DC villains is night and day. His villains are more dangerous and brutal, which makes them more like Marvel’s bad guys. The Marvel Universe has always pushed the envelope when it comes to their characters and their bad guys are some of the worst out there, reaching sickening depths of depravity. The Caped Crusader is constantly facing villains of this caliber, so Marvel’s antagonists wouldn’t be a challenge at all for him. They would learn to fear the night, just like DC’s biggest bad guys have.
So, in general, superheroes at Marvel and DC are often well-off. This makes sense; in a world with this kind of technology, the people with money and opportunities would definitely become superheroes of some sort (or in the case of some musky ones, a supervillain). However, if I had to judge who had the more important rich people, it would definitely be Marvel. They just seem to fit better there. The Marvel Universe is the world outside your window and the wealthy play a huge role in the events of the superhero community. Heroes like Iron Man, Reed Richards, Charles Xavier, Namor, the Wasp, and loads of other are characters who are integral to the House of Ideas’ overall narrative. Batman’s wealth is on the obscene level of Marvel characters and he would become one of the most important immediately. Batman’s place in the DC Multiverse is akin to that of characters like Iron Man and Reed Richards; he belongs in the room with them more than he does rich DC heroes like Oliver Queen, for example.
As talked about several times in this list, Marvel and DC can be very different. The biggest reason is something that I already brought up – Marvel was created to be the world outside your window. It was meant to be a place where readers could see themselves. While there are certainly fantastical elements, like hammer-wielding ancient gods, for the most part the Marvel Universe is just way more grounded in reality than the DC Multiverse. This is one of the main differences between Batman and other DC heroes. Their worlds are big and bright and shiny, full of heroes with powers unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Batman has his less grounded aspects, but he’s not on the same level as someone like Hal Jordan, a normal human who uses technology to fight evil. Batman is DC’s greatest vigilante, but the character always feel like a fish out of water. In the Marvel Universe, he would find himself in the waters he needs to thrive.
