Does it make sense for Superman to be closest to Batman out of all other heroes?

[Kuwagaton]

I was actually going to make a thread about Kraft and Burkett because they're pretty much never mentioned. World's Finest #289 was already a well known joke by the time I really started getting into back issues, but that was Moench.

My favorite team up from pre crisis was the "Who's got the Villain?" story drawn by Toth. I'd recommend that for fans of World's Finest 90 or 99, or vice versa.

There's been so much to Superman and Batman as a duo, it's weird that the belief defaults to them being incompatible. In the same two years they were wary of each other, there was a parallel running plot of Lois hating Clark. But it's different in that it never seems to be the default impression people have.

[Jim Kelly]

I just assume that Clark and Bruce are the first super-heroes on the scene--that they know of. There might be other heroes in the shadows that they don't know about--or heroes in the distant past that have gone away--but for Batman and Superman there's no one else that they come into contact with. So they are thrown together and they have to work out their differences before the other heroes come out of the closet. A lot like Ollie and Barry in the Arrowverse. They are very different heroes, but they bond nonetheless, and then they guide all the other super-heroes that arrive on the scene after them.

[theoneandonly]

this panel perfectly captures their post crisis dynamic

[Sacred Knight]

Actually, post-Crisis, he WAS closer to Wonder Woman than Batman. For almost two decades of continuity they were the besties, not Superman and Batman. At least in-story. And that definitely makes more sense. But does it NOT make sense for him and Bruce to be friends? It depends on the continuity. post-Crisis/Zero Hour/IC, it didn't. I didn't like the set-up, but the frenemy status-quo was built in and fostered. But it did make sense in the Silver Age because Batman was way lighter in tone back then. And it made sense in the New 52 because they went out of their way to build it up from the get-go of their careers despite their differences as a stark contrast to the way they built it up post-Crisis. Since continuity is a complete cavalcade of nonsense right now, they just seem to be continuing off of what worked in the New 52 for the present day even though historically its supposed to be a pre-FP past.

[Superlad93]

Yeah, I think it makes perfect sense, and Tom King, Scott Snyder, and Brian Bendis have pretty perfectly captured why it makes a world of sense in each of their respective books. Justice League issue 9, Super Friends, and every sprinkled on comment about Batman by Superman in Bendis' run.

I think Super Friends gets it most right because part of the idea is that they are super alike and in awe of each other, but they're also kind of super weird and awkward in their own ways, and that makes it so they can't notice just how great a friends they are all the time.

But the running gag seems to be that everyone else notice how good a friends they are (Jon, Lois, Cat, and Alfred). But when push comes to shove, they are, as Superman puts it in both Mental and Superman issue 4, brothers.

[Flash Gordon]

It makes sense for them to be close friends as Batman and Superman, but not so much on a personal level. They're peers, they respect each other. They know they can depend upon one another. For mystery men, that kinda jazz goes a long way.

I don't think they're friendship extends to their personal/private lives. They relate to each other as THE DARK KNIGHT and THE MAN OF STEEL.

[db105]

I assume that originally it made sense for DC's two biggest characters to be best friends, particularly considering the more child-oriented storytelling. Now? Well, it depends on your interpretation. You can certainly get some stories out of contrasting their different worldviews. However, for two leading superheroes who have to work together, save each other and the world so often, it would be strange if they didn't at the very least respect and appreciate each other. And sometimes it makes sense for people who are different to be friends. They complement each other and it can be enriching.

Also, and that's a very personal opinion, the last thing the DCU needs is more darkness, so I'm perfectly OK with their being friends. Doesn't mean that I can't enjoy the occasional story when they disagree.

[HeroVladimir93]

I assume that originally it made sense for DC's two biggest characters to be best friends, particularly considering the more child-oriented storytelling. Now? Well, it depends on your interpretation. You can certainly get some stories out of contrasting their different worldviews. However, for two leading superheroes who have to work together, save each other and the world so often, it would be strange if they didn't at the very least respect and appreciate each other. And sometimes it makes sense for people who are different to be friends. They complement each other and it can be enriching.

Also, and that's a very personal opinion, the last thing the DCU needs is more darkness, so I'm perfectly OK with their being friends. Doesn't mean that I can't enjoy the occasional story when they disagree.

It makes sense if you think that Superman is one of the people that constantly encourage Batman's better nature and keep him from falling off the deep end.

[Jim Kelly]

It always drove me crazy when the DC writers were forced by their own reasoning not to put Superman and Batman together in the same comic book--and thus the cancelling of WORLD'S FINEST COMICS. And, though we had limited runs of Word's Finest type series, it actually took until 2003 for DC to come out with the ongoing SUPERMAN/BATMAN.

To me that's cutting off your nose to spite your face, That's like a method actor who can't come out of his trailer to film a scene, because he hasn't found his motivation yet.

Really, DC writers, really, you're going to let your intellectual baggage get in the way of publishing an awesome title that will draw in a large fan-base of readers and make huge money for DC, just because you can't think out a way for two characters to be in the same ongoing comic book together? Really? That's just idiocy. Find a way.

[DrNewGod]

It makes sense on two levels.

Out of Universe, they are two of the most prominent superheroes of all time. They represent a club to which no other character at DC (not even Wonder Woman, who I love) is qualifed to apply.

In Universe, it makes sense - oddly enough - for similar reasons. They are Great Men. Likely the greatest of their age. The only other characters who belong in their league (pardon the pun) are Wonder Woman and their mortal enemies, Luthor, Ras Al Guhl, etc.

I think on a line from The Wind and the Lion: It basicaaly says that the road of greatness is dark, and lonely and only occasionally lit by other great people. To me, explains the friendships that seem to develop between US ex-presidents, regardless of Party; who else can understand their experience?

So being who and what they are probably creates a respect that rises above "liking."

The only flaw in my logic that I can see is that - in universe - Wonder Woman should also be a part of their club.

[magha_regulus]

Absolutely! they respect eachother tremendously. Batman is a regular although incredibly wealthy man who used his personal tragedy to save lives. Superman is really going to like that even if he disagrees with batmans methods on occasion. Batman is really going to be inspired by supermans character and restraint. For Superman to be so powerful but not impose his will on everyone else would challenge everything Batman would have come to believe about the cynical and corrupt nature of people in power. It makes total sense to me that they'd be really great friends. They'd grow together and challenge the hell out of eachother. Batman likes a good mystery and Superman is one of the biggest mysteries there ever could be.

[magha_regulus]

Absolutely! they respect eachother tremendously. Batman is a regular although incredibly wealthy man who used his personal tragedy to save lives. Superman is really going to like that even if he disagrees with batmans methods on occasion. Batman is really going to be inspired by supermans character and restraint. For Superman to be so powerful but not impose his will on everyone else would challenge everything Batman would have come to believe about the cynical and corrupt nature of people in power. It makes total sense to me that they'd be really great friends. They'd grow together and challenge the hell out of eachother. Batman likes a good mystery and Superman is one of the biggest mysteries there ever could be.

In other words They give eachother hope.

[Ascended]

In Universe, it makes sense - oddly enough - for similar reasons. They are Great Men. Likely the greatest of their age. The only other characters who belong in their league (pardon the pun) are Wonder Woman and their mortal enemies, Luthor, Ras Al Guhl, etc.

I think on a line from The Wind and the Lion: It basicaaly says that the road of greatness is dark, and lonely and only occasionally lit by other great people. To me, explains the friendships that seem to develop between US ex-presidents, regardless of Party; who else can understand their experience?

So being who and what they are probably creates a respect that rises above "liking."

All of this.

I usually think of Clark and Bruce as being like brothers; they respect each other and no one else (other than Diana) can understand what it's like to be them (and even then there's huge gulfs of differences). There's familial love there, but I don't think they always like each other.

They're brothers, not friends. Brothers who don't always get along but know that, at the end of the day, they're going to have each other's backs.

[Naruto1996]

but if in continuity a long time ago it was established that Superman and Hal Jordan are very good friends in fact their friendship suffered a kind of evolution and difficulties from the reign of the supermen more when the destruction of coast city is a direct consequence of the death of Superman apart from Hal Wally West he is also very good friend of Clark

personally several times I saw that Superman seems to get along better with Hal and Wally than with Batman

[llozymandias]

As I imagine it, these two are almost the same guy. Superman is what Bruce could be if he were kryptonian. Batman is what Kal could be if he were human. When Kal loses his powers (which of course include super-intelligence) he is Bruce's intellectual equal.