For an apparently ordinary man, Superman multiple times. The Dark Knight scored a decisive victory in Batman v Superman (right before Clark began crying out his mother’s name) and also took down Superman in the infamous The Dark Knight Returns comic book. In both cases, Batman employed Kryptonite – Superman’s best-known Achilles’ heel – to bring the Man of Steel to his knees and come almost an inch away from death.
But what if Batman only wanted to neutralize Superman – not necessarily kill him? Predictably, Bruce Wayne has a contingency plan for that as well – and it’s actually more disturbing than shooting him with green Kryptonite. Believe it or not, the best way to beat Superman without killing him – is to make him stronger.
This unexpected tactic was employed in the JLA storyline “Tower of Babel,” not by Batman but by his enemy Ra’s al Ghul. In the storyline, Ra’s sought to keep the Justice League from interfering in his plans by stealing battle tactics Batman had devised to take down the League in the event that they became a threat to the world. One tactic revealed Batman had devised a unique way of neutralizing Superman that took inspiration from DC’s early comic book stories.
The plan involved creating a synthetic form of Red Kryptonite. Back in the Silver Age, Superman regularly got exposed to Red Kryptonite, which caused him to mutate in bizarre and unexpected ways. Writers used this to add some novelty to their stories by creating adventures where Superman grew a superhumanly tough beard and mustache (which even his heat vision couldn’t cut).
In the modern era, however, Red Kryptonite had a more horrific effect on the Man of Steel. Not wanting to kill his friend, Batman devised a way of synthetically altering Green Kryptonite so that most of its toxic effects were drained away – but its tendency to mutate Superman’s body chemistry remained. Ra’s al Ghul manufactured his own piece of Red K, which caused Superman’s skin to become transparent upon exposure, giving him a grotesque appearance and causing him unendurable pain.
Why? Well, with his skin transparent, Superman’s body began absorbing solar radiation at a much faster rate, supercharging his powers. This made him stronger, but it also caused his super senses to go out of control. Suddenly, Superman could hear noises in Beijing from several million miles away and feel tremendous pain through his skin. Unable to filter out the overload of sensory input, Superman could only fall to his knees and writhe in pain.
Fortunately, the effects of Red-K wore off eventually – but Ra’s made sure to put extra pieces of it in key areas to keep Superman from interfering in his affairs. Considering it was Batman who came up with this plan, the event caused a break in trust between the Dark Knight and Man of Steel – although fortunately, they were able to patch things up eventually. Superman may hold the edge in superpowers, but Batman’s incessant need to prepare for the worst almost guarantees he’ll be one step ahead.
