Friday Night Fights: Free For All - Round 4: Because Batman Really Can Beat Anybody

One of the longest running jokes in the comics blogosphere is the idea that Batman can beat anybody if he has enough prep time.

But it's true. And Exhibit A is tonight's round of Friday Night Fights: Free For All, where the Caped Crusader takes down none other than the Incredible Hulk!

Tonight's display of Dark Knight dominance comes from 1981's Batman Vs. The Incredible Hulk, written by Len Wein and illustrated by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Dick Giordano. Tonight's fight music is Neal Hefti's original "Batman" theme song.

Synopsis: The Joker and his gang attempt to steal an experimental gamma gun from Wayne Research, where Bruce Banner happens to be working under an assumed name. Banner attempts to set off an alarm and gets jumped by the Joker's men, which provokes him to get upset and turn into you-know-who. Then Bats shows up.

Leave it to the Joker to manipulate the Hulk's confusion to his advantage:

And like that -- it's on. Bruce vs. Bruce!

If this were me, my strategy would consist entirely of running away and yelling "Superman!! HELP!!" at the top of my lungs. But that's not how the Batman rolls, and so...

That's Batman for you. "If you're going to pound me into tapioca, at least get my name right!"

Bats tries the "Mr Spock" approach....

...which, unsurprisingly, doesn't work.

Nor does his attempt to stay out of range.

Bats gets free, but he's not out of the woods yet..

The gas attack doesn't appear to be working. So Bats decides to help things along...

Wait, it can't be that easy, can it?



Oh, yes, it can!

And down goes the Hulk!

What makes this Bat-victory even more impressive is that Batman achieved it completely on the fly. No prep time whatsoever.

Click here for the website of the one guy Batman can't beat. And don't forget to vote!