At the heart of the eternal Superman vs. Batman debate is an oddly simple question, and if you look hard enough at it, it may challenge the answer you thought you knew.
As avid sci-fi and comic book fans, the members of our household have patron superheroes. While some mothers and sons are arguing about eating vegetables or taking handheld electronics to bed, my son and I are having heated debates over Superman (my patron hero) and Batman (my son's).
To save the more obvious for later, let's start with likability. In the personality department, my money's on our boy from Kansas. Clark Kent is wholesome and charmingly unsure of himself around women, whereas Bruce Wayne is a brooding, paranoid playboy. While Superman might come across as naive, I'd much rather cheer on the man who stubbornly looks for the best in others, than the guy who slinks through every night seeing only a cesspool of humanity.
If you're comparing abilities, I have sheer force of numbers on my side. Superman's got flight, speed, strength, X-ray and heat vision, super-hearing, super-breath, and a body so impenetrable it makes Kevlar look like cheesecloth. While lacking any super abilities, Batman does dance around pretty well with his gymnastics/martial arts skills, and, all right, he comes up with some pretty cool gadgets. He's like the love child of Bill Gates and Bruce Lee. Still, despite what the nerds of the world might wish to believe, creating a geeked-out arsenal of weapons does not a superhero make.
However, no matter what a brilliant argument I spin, I am stopped in my tracks when my son at last sits back and says quietly, "But that's why I LIKE Batman. He wasn't born a superhero, but he makes himself one."
And then I realize what it is about Batman that appeals to a boy who doesn't yet feel very powerful in his world. Batman, in the superhero world, is the equivalent of a disabled man who has heightened his other senses. Overcoming the odds of being a mere human, he catapults himself into superhero status. It is the question of talent vs. skill. Who impresses us more, the man who was born naturally good at something, or the man who has worked hard to master it?
By definition, I can still only conclude that Superman is the true superhero, but my son's half-hopeful statement gives me pause. While Batman will never have my vote, there is no denying that he is the skill to Superman's talent. No matter which you prefer, the debate will continue because of the differences, not between superheroes, but between what their champions most admire about them.
And what you most admire about a superhero says an awful lot about you.