How Spider-Man Is Better Than Batman
Why Spider-Man Is Better Than Batman
By Wyatt Bender
Don’t get me wrong: Batman is my favorite character. I probably spend more time thinking about Batman and how he works and what he means than anything else. Just going off of personal preference, I love Batman more than… well, more than most other things in the world, period.
Spider-Man just happens to objectively be the single greatest comic book character ever created.They actually make a pretty good contrast to each other, and it all starts with the idea that Batman is very much a child’s fantasy. That’s not a bad thing, either.
Every now and then someone will ask me just why it is that I like Batman so much, and the best way I can put it is that there’s this pure, beautiful idea at the center of his character. Bruce Wayne has this perfect life until crime takes it away from him, so he decides right there that he’s going to end Crime by himself. The fact that he’s a child when this happens is a crucial part of the story, because if he was older, he’d realize the inherent flaw in that plan. He’d understand that the world isn’t a fair place, and that sometimes bad things happen to good people for no reason, and that there’s not much anyone can do about it. Only a child would think it was possible for one man to end crime, but because he’s a child, that’s exactly what he decides to do.
And the best thing is, he does it! A lot of people show Gotham as this crime-ridden urban nightmare, but as far as I’m concerned, there’s no one getting mugged in Gotham City. There’s no carjacking or guys robbing banks with shotguns. Why? Because Batman showed up and ended that. It’s the reason that scene in Year One where he tells the gangsters that they’re done is such a great moment, because he’s right. There’s no more room for them in Gotham City, because what you and I know as Crime here in the real world can’t stand up against Batman.
If Crime’s going to survive against Batman — and it does, because if it doesn’t, we
By Wyatt Bender
Don’t get me wrong: Batman is my favorite character. I probably spend more time thinking about Batman and how he works and what he means than anything else. Just going off of personal preference, I love Batman more than… well, more than most other things in the world, period.
Spider-Man just happens to objectively be the single greatest comic book character ever created.They actually make a pretty good contrast to each other, and it all starts with the idea that Batman is very much a child’s fantasy. That’s not a bad thing, either.
Every now and then someone will ask me just why it is that I like Batman so much, and the best way I can put it is that there’s this pure, beautiful idea at the center of his character. Bruce Wayne has this perfect life until crime takes it away from him, so he decides right there that he’s going to end Crime by himself. The fact that he’s a child when this happens is a crucial part of the story, because if he was older, he’d realize the inherent flaw in that plan. He’d understand that the world isn’t a fair place, and that sometimes bad things happen to good people for no reason, and that there’s not much anyone can do about it. Only a child would think it was possible for one man to end crime, but because he’s a child, that’s exactly what he decides to do.
And the best thing is, he does it! A lot of people show Gotham as this crime-ridden urban nightmare, but as far as I’m concerned, there’s no one getting mugged in Gotham City. There’s no carjacking or guys robbing banks with shotguns. Why? Because Batman showed up and ended that. It’s the reason that scene in Year One where he tells the gangsters that they’re done is such a great moment, because he’s right. There’s no more room for them in Gotham City, because what you and I know as Crime here in the real world can’t stand up against Batman.
If Crime’s going to survive against Batman — and it does, because if it doesn’t, we