I think Superman is more ''relatable'' than Batman

[Jim Kelly]

If you've had a good smooth life, you may be able to relate to Superman more. I like Superman but I can't relate to him, I relate to someone more like Wolverine, that being said, I'd prefer to relate more to the former.

Given I encountered Superman and Batman both in the 1960s--I'd say they both had the rough with the smooth. Back then Superman moaned a lot more about the tragic loss of his first parents when he was just a toddler than Batman grieved about his parents' killing (we saw the Krypton explosion in flashbacks a lot more than the shooting of the Waynes). And Clark lost his parents all over again when he was a teen. I'd say that their shared sense of grief brought them together as friends. It wasn't a competition who suffered more. But for all they lost, they proved they could still be happy by wearing trunks over their leotards, maintaining cool man-caves, and having statues erected in their honour.

I would guess that it works both ways for readers. Sometimes you want to share in a fictional character's happiness. And sometimes you want to wallow in their sorrows. We enjoy listening to both happy and sad songs.

I don't know why some critics want to polarize people--always advocating for one over the other. Not all criticism has to be negative and divisive. Proper criticism is more about understanding the artform, the statement it makes, and how it's executed by the artists--rather than making value judgements. When you're in grade 5, your book report reads as "This was a good book . . "; but when you're in grade 12, your book report reads as "There are three main themes in THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA . . ."

[The Darknight Detective]

I don't know why some critics want to polarize people--always advocating for one over the other.

Since Batman and Superman have been my two favorite superheroes since the last season of Star Trek on NBC, I can definitely agree with that.

[Midnight_v]

Batman is a rich kid with surviors' guilt, ptsd, and Ocd and probably a few fetishes he'd probably like to keep private.


Superman...

Superman... is... an Alien God.

[Alpha]

Superman... is... an Alien God.

What? Do you actually believe that?

[j9ac9k]

Different people relate to different things, so the point of this thread as presented is problematic in my mind - as though there's a "right" answer. But for the sake of discussion, I will say that I can relate to wanting to beat the hell out of people who do bad things and hurt people. Being similar to Batman or having his life experiences aren't the same as finding him relatable. I never related to Kyle Rayner who was a freelance artist in his 20's living in NYC when I was a freelance artist living in NYC in my 20's. It's not just about shared life experience.

[Ra-El]

It's not about relatability, it's about wish fulfillment, and Batman is all about the later.

Yes, Superman is an "Alien God", but he also is the guy who works from 9-5, get's call out by a boss and took years to get the woman he loved.
Batman is a billionaire who is good at everything, dates the most beautful women in the world and don't take **** from anyone.
Superman for all the power he have, is always holding back and being nice to people.
Batman will beat his enemies to a inch of their lives and will humiliate anyone whenever he wants.

No one have fantasies about having self control, doing the right thing and not beating someone you can beat, they have fantasies about doing what you want and beating someone stronger.

[The Darknight Detective]

It's not about relatability, it's about wish fulfillment, and Batman is all about the later.

Yes, Superman is an "Alien God", but he also is the guy who works from 9-5, get's call out by a boss and took years to get the woman he loved.
Batman is a billionaire who is good at everything, dates the most beautful women in the world and don't take **** from anyone.
Superman for all the power he have, is always holding back and being nice to people.
Batman will beat his enemies to a inch of their lives and will humiliate anyone whenever he wants.

No one have fantasies about having self control, doing the right thing and not beating someone you can beat, they have fantasies about doing what you want and beating someone stronger.

Actually, Superman is the ultimate wish fulfillment among the superpowered, while Batman is the leader of those without powers.

[BlueRuggo]

The discussion is moot because neither character is relatable, to be honest. Batman and Superman are probably two of the most unrelatable protagonists in DC, and I think the majority of their writers would even acknowledge that. They are both held up as embodiments of certain ideals, but inhumanly perfected. Both characters are supremely competent in a way that no human is, and they embody virtue and sacrifice in all that they do, in a way that no human does, with almost no one in their respective "families" coming close. If anything, the second string allies and sidekicks are the humanized, relatable characters in contrast to their legacy counterparts.

It puzzles me that anyone would even consider Batman and Superman to be relatable at all. It's a silly matter to argue which one is less. I feel that anyone who does so is probably demonstrating a very unsophisticated understanding of what these characters are supposed to represent.

[captchuck]

Actually, Superman is the ultimate wish fulfillment among the superpowered, while Batman is the leader of those without powers.

That says it well. Obviously both heroes have had plenty of fans since they were never cancelled (not counting Death of Superman and broken back Batman) since 1938 and 1939.

[Sutekh]

No one have fantasies about having self control, doing the right thing and not beating someone you can beat, they have fantasies about doing what you want and beating someone stronger.

While I don't necessarily agree that this is what Batman is supposed to be about, I do think that some writers like to portray him in a 'rules are for other people' sort of way, as a giant bully who gets off on humiliating others (even showing up or face punching allies). Some fans love that. Others find it a turn off.

It's easy to be a fan of one and cherry-pick the best writing for one character and the worst writing for the other. *Both* characters have writing to support really crappy interpretations of the character, and I'd rather not go down the years and pick at the crappiest actions of either, since there's decades worth of super-dickery to go up against all of Batman's Omac-Satellite-kill-my-allies-protocols-bad-ideas.

[Restingvoice]

I never find Bruce Wayne to be relatable but I'm more interested in Batman as a kid because he has many toys
I wasn't interested in Superman because his promo or image is about being good or being super and I find both to be unattainable
While Batman's toys have toys made of them so it's attainable

[Jim Kelly]

Comic book fandom has a nasty habit of pulling words and phrases out of the English language and attaching special meaning to them--and then insisting that's the only meaning these words and phrases should have.

"Relatable" is just one example of this. It's a rhetorical end run around its dictionary meaning to use it as a bludgeon. In fact, lots of things are relatable to each other and to us. They don't have to be human, they don't have to be tragic, they don't have to require suffering. The number pairs 3 & 5, 11 & 13, 41 & 43, 137 & 139 are relatable to each other.

[Stanlos]

Batman hasn't been relatable for nigh four decades now. I absolutely find Clark more relatable

[Mojo]

Actually, Superman is the ultimate wish fulfillment among the superpowered, while Batman is the leader of those without powers.

Your both wrong. Captain Marvel/Shazam is the ultimate example of a pure wish fulfillment hero DC has IMO.

[Killerbee911]

It depends on what people are talking about, Batman is more relatable for me because I can be Batman. I can train for months, max out my credits cards to buy cool tech and run around fighting drug dealers. I can't relate to Bruce Wayne who is rich white Billionaire with People issues. I can relate to Clark Kent because he got regular people issues an is very human, While Superman can't relate to as people said before he is basically Alien God and also the ultimate fulfillment wish character.

Ultimately imo Batman get more grounded and stories feel more likely to happen and for me that makes it easier to relate to it. I don't want or need to relate to Superman I just want to enjoy the fantasy of being that strong doing amazing things.