Speaking if which I'd love to someday see Cates "do a Bates." Sorry, couldn't resist, but anyway I mean a cosmic level Superman. Like... really cosmic, the level above what slowly trickled into the post crisis universe.

Quote Originally Posted by Ra-El View Post
You are right. Superman, the Unbeatable Champion, became Superman, the guy someone kicks to show how cool they are.

At some point, DC as a whole realized that it was way easier to use Superman to show how powerful, cool or skilled some character was, than doing the actual work to establish it. So when Miller wrote TDKR and needed a great ending to his love letter to Batman, he decided that having him beating Superman was a good way of showing his Bruce's ingenuity and perseverance.
To me honestly, it never seemed like he was really above the others specifically anyway. For the main heroes WW could go toe to toe with him, Flash was at least equal in speed, and Batman was good enough to be his ongoing costar. Until 2002 ish far as I noticed and remembered, Superman was just like any other book in bringing in other heroes (Superman to many book these days) to make the main character look better somehow.