Tom King Ranks The Batfamily By Fighting Skills

[thefiresky]

https://twitter.com/TomKingTK/status/833702769487917057

Aaaaaaannnnndddd here we go!

Ranked! (Earth 1)
1. Cassandra
2. Dick
3. Bruce
4. Damian
5. Kate
6. Helena
7. Jason
8. Duke
9. Stephanie
10. Tim



Personally, I noted that in the DC Encyclopedia, it says that Tim's Bo Staff skills are unmatched... in the world... That should at least put him ahead of DUKE! Unless this is a hand-to-hand only list.

[Alycat]

Good old King. Considering the responses he's getting I'd say it was worth it.

[Lady Nightwing]

https://mobile.twitter.com/TomKingTK

I know these discussions can get a little heated but can we keep it civil when talking about other posters/creators.

This list is not what I expected. Biggest surprise to me is no Babs

[Alycat]

https://mobile.twitter.com/TomKingTK

I know these discussions can get a little heated but can we keep it civil when talking about other posters/creators.

This list is not what I expected. Biggest surprise to me is no Babs

The problem is assuming that he's being serious with these lists. We don't know, so its almost silly to judge it.

[ProgmanX]

He didn't explicitly say "most effective combatant in the Batfamily". He just said "ranked". Then again, with Cass at the top...okay, sure.

The first three make perfect sense to me; Dick being better than Bruce at basically everything has been an eternally interesting thing for Bruce to deal with since he returned after Final Crisis. I'm surprisingly okay with Damian being better than Kate, since he was trained from birth, more or less, to be this uber-warrior. Kate's kind of higher than I thought she would be, tbh.

Frankly, the exclusion of Dinah is the biggest WTF aspect of this list. She fluctuates between "Better than Batman" and "As Good As Batman". Or, used to. Unless he's not counting meta-humans, even though Dinah's martial arts abilities aren't reliant on her cry at all. Helena, at least the current one, makes...sense. I guess. Not as effective as Dinah, though.

Duke being above Tim is weird. One can make an argument for Steph being a better combatant than Tim thanks to how many crazy risks she likes to take and how she operates very unconventionally. Tim's been the "World's Second Greatest Detective" for a while now, anyway. Jason's spot feels about right.

[Lady Nightwing]

Absolutely take the list with a pinch of salt but there is no harm in a civil debate. I imagine the Cass fans are pleased

[Frontier]

Poor Babs .

Frankly, the exclusion of Dinah is the biggest WTF aspect of this list. She fluctuates between "Better than Batman" and "As Good As Batman". Or, used to. Unless he's not counting meta-humans, even though Dinah's martial arts abilities aren't reliant on her cry at all. Helena, at least the current one, makes...sense. I guess. Not as effective as Dinah, though.

I could understand leaving Dinah out if this was concerned with just the core Batfamily, but then Helena's on the list...

And I recall King saying in an interview that he regards Dinah as the best fighter in the DCU, even moreso then Shiva, so she probably would have ranked higher on this list if he felt she was necessary to include.

[Frontier]

Didn't we already discuss this list in another thread? They feel familiar.

[Alycat]

Absolutely take the list with a pinch of salt but there is no harm in a civil debate. I imagine the Cass fans are pleased

lol, Tim fans not so much. Although dead Tim would def be weaker than Duke and Steph.

[SiegePerilous02]

Dick and Damian's rankings seem a bit weird, as I'd probably place Bruce and Kate above them both. Only slightly, but still.

And why is Barbara not ranked but Duke is?

[ProgmanX]

Poor Babs .

I could understand leaving Dinah out if this was concerned with just the core Batfamily, but then Helena's on the list...

And I recall King saying in an interview that he regards Dinah as the best fighter in the DCU, even moreso then Shiva, so she probably would have ranked higher on this list if he felt she was necessary to include.

I was trying to remember if that was King or Steve Orlando who said that. But yeah, even weirder...

[JBatmanFan05]

That's one thing I'd never do as a writer/editor...poke those (passionate) fanbases with such a list. I give this madman some credit for boldness.

For me, Bruce is always #1. So many creators have opined or suggested in some way or another, and yet that is always my view, I think Bruce's brains and other intangibles are inextricable from his fighting skills. I agree with Dick as #2 as well.

[millernumber1]

Also, what's up with "Earth 1" - does he literally mean Geoff Johns's Earth One series, or does he mean the current main continuity?

As I said in the Batman thread, I think the list is very strange. I'd theorize it's mostly characters King has worked on, since that explains Duke and Helena being on the list.

Also, I'm happy to see Steph on King's radar. Maybe she'll show up in Batman sometime soon!

[Atlanta96]

This is important.

https://twitter.com/tomkingtk/status/833738440739061763

I wouldn't rank the current Barbara Gordon highly in any regard. But Pre-Flashpoint, maybe. Still not as good at strategy as Tim IMO but she was formidable.

[PurpleGlovez]

I'm not even Tim's biggest fan but no way in hell is Duke above him; ranking Dick above Bruce is rather absurd to me as well, sorry. And lol at him saying Earth-1 when DC continuity is actually Earth-0.

I would do...

1. Bruce
2. Cassie
3. Dick
4. Damian
5. Kate
6. Tim
7. Jason
8. Helena (Bertinelli?)
9. Stephanie
10. Duke

Just because Cassie, JPV, etc. have been shown to be able to beat Bruce hand-to-hand in certain situations, doesn't mean they automatically rank above him as a fighter. Batman is on top in my opinion, no question. I'd probably put Jean Paul above Kate at least.