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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 5490172" data-attributes="member: 15538">Superman isn't a "normal Kryptonian" either. Frankly, Clark should be dead. The problem with Batman is that no real world person has a 72 year long career crammed into about fifteen fictional years. In that context, there is no way he could be so lucky. But in any given comic book, he's quite human in most respects.However, I do quibble with the "no supernatural abilities" bit. In the DC Universe, amazing kung fu powers are considered "normal" whereas to most of us they would be considered supernatural. That doesn't change what he is in the setting: a highly trained, gifted normal dude with an exceptional destiny. Similarly, if you read Mallory, Sir Lancelot knocks Mordred literally off a horse and into the dirt. To actually drive someone with that much force would be impossible (at the least, Lancelot would unhorse himself at the same time). But in-universe, it's a function of him being an exceptional knight, not being a supernatural being. From an in-universe standpoint, Batman is an improbability, not an impossibility. He's not as good a martial artist as Lady Shiva, as good an acrobat as Nightwing, as good an analyst as Babs Gordon, as good an archer as Ollie, as good a mechanic or driver as the Blue Beetle, or as good a social engineer as Luthor. However, he is in the top tier in all those categories. He is the world's greatest detective (that's what it says on the tin) and at least as good a tactician as anyone he's ever gone up against (including Lady Shiva, whom he generally defeats by out-foxing). He is superheroic, but because conceptually, and according to his genre conventions, normal humans are capable of superheroism. Which makes sense; Supes may be the man from Krypton, but he has his off days. Anyone is potentially vulnerable. In The Dark Knight the point is well-made that as terrifying as superbeings are, any one hero or villain is not as scary as the totality of the effects their powers have on the world. Superman can defeat a tank divison; Luthor may blackmail Superman; aliens may mind control Luthor; demons may possess the aliens; etc.</blockquote>

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