All 6 Times Batman Defeated Darkseid, Ranked by Difficulty
In the comic book world, not many characters are as popular as Batman, who we know is a regular human being that happens to be rich, bold, and smart enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the greatest superpowered people in the universe of DC. But the thing about Batman is that he isn’t just strong enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Superman. Instead, he can do more than that because he can defeat a god.
The god we are talking about is Darkseid, who is a New God in the world of DC. Darkseid is one of DC’s strongest beings and stronger than Superman. But for some reason, Batman has beaten him because he is Batman. So, with that said, let’s look at all of the different times Batman defeated Darkseid.
Darkseid is far stronger than Batman
One of the things that people know about Batman in the world of DC is that he doesn’t have superpowers. Batman is a regular human being as far as his biology is concerned because he doesn’t have the superpowered bodies that some of the other heroes of the Justice League have. But he has always made up for his lack of powers with his intelligence, boldness, and resourcefulness.
Of course, we’ve seen Batman take on Superman using gadgets and Kryptonite. In the different times we’ve seen him taking on Superman, he fared pretty well against a being that’s supposedly exponentially stronger than him. But the thing is that other beings are stronger than Superman, and one of them is a New God named Darkseid, whose powers are at a level above Kryptonians.
Darkseid is a god in the world of DC, as he is the embodiment of evil. He is strong enough to overpower Superman and has a lot of different powers and abilities that allow him to finish a fight quickly enough. His Omega Beams are more powerful than Superman’s heat vision. And that’s not even half of what Darkseid is capable of because he is also an incredibly intelligent being who knows how to manipulate people and formulate strategies that allow him to win without needing to enter the battlefield.
In that regard, Darkseid is supposed to be much stronger than Batman because of his raw physical strength and different powers and abilities. But the thing about Batman is that he has always been able to defeat almost any kind of enemy as long as he knew what he was facing and he had enough preparation time. As such, he has beaten Darkseid a few times despite the apparent gap in their powers. And Batman is proof that a man can take down a god.
All six times Batman defeated Darkseid
As mentioned, Batman has defeated Darkseid in the past, even though he is just an ordinary human. He proves what humanity can do against a being that can destroy entire planets. So, how many times has Batman defeated Darkseid?
Batman has defeated Darkseid six times in the comics and TV shows/movies. So let’s look at all the times that Batman defeated Darkseid ranked in terms of how difficult it was for him to beat this New God.
6. ‘The Brave and the Bold’
‘Batman: The Brave and the Bold’ is somewhat of a wacky Batman animated TV show but is still very much true to Batman’s character. In this series, Darkseid is strong enough to defeat all of the members of the Justice League because that’s how strong he is. Of course, the only one able to survive the initial attack was Batman, who challenged the New God.
The Dark Knight challenged Darkseid to a one-on-one fight without using any superpowers. Of course, Darkseid easily defeated Batman and was ready to finish him off. But Batman was able to use Boom Tube Generator to his advantage. They could reverse the Boom Tube Generator signal to send Darkseid back to Apokolips before he could kill Batman. Although Batman didn’t do much in that fight, he still defeated the much more powerful villain.
5. ‘Robin Rises’
At one point, Robin died in the comics in the ‘Robin Dies’ storyline. However, Batman knew that his dead son’s corpse was in Apokolips because Darkseid was using the energy reserves in Damian’s body to power up his Omega cannon. But Batman wanted Damian back, so he needed to go to Apokolips and face the terrifying New God. And the only way for him to have a chance against Darkseid was to use the Hellbat suit.
Despite how powerful the Hellbat suit is, Darkseid pushes Batman to his very limit as he is brutally wounded in that fight. But he found a way to divert the power of his suit so that he could fleer with Damian’s corpse. This took a massive toll on Batman’s body because of how demanding the Hellbat suit was. Eventually, Batman died, and his son was able to rise from the dead as he had to die to defeat Darkseid and save Damian.
4. ‘JLA: Rock of Ages’
The storyline of ‘JLA: Rock of Ages’ follows the story of Bruce traveling to Apokolips to try to stop Darkseid from using the Anti-Life Equation to make Earth submissive to his will. And the thing that Batman did in this storyline was very interesting because he had to pose as Darkseid’s master torturer named DaSaad.
Batman impersonated this character and worked for Darkseid on Apokolips for many years so that he could sabotage the New God’s plans. As such, he could defeat Darkseid without even fighting him in straight-up combat as he stopped the evil New God from achieving his ultimate goal.
3. ‘The Darkseid War’
In ‘The Darkseid War,’ Darkseid sent out his massive Parademon Army to Earth 0 to seek revenge. Darkseid and the Justice League fought in what seemed to be a multi-stage battle. The members of the Justice League tried their best to resist the New God, only for Batman to aid them at the right time.
It was when Batman used the Mobius Chair after gaining control of it that they defeated and killed Darkseid in Universe 3. As such, this wasn’t Batman’s sole victory alone, as they all chipped in together to defeat the evil god in that battle. But Batman’s role in that win was big enough for him to put this on his resume.
2. ‘Final Crisis’
‘Final Crisis’ is arguably the most straightforward fight between Batman and Darkseid, which allows us to see Darkseid’s biggest weakness. As such, Batman could defeat Darkseid, like how he often defeats Superman in their fights.
It was revealed in ‘Final Crisis’ that Darkseid is weak to Radion, which means that his physiology gave Batman an ace in the hole. Batman used a Radion bullet on Darkseid to kill the New God and come out on top as the winner of the fight without trying to square up against the much more powerful opponent.
1. ‘Superman/Batman: Apocalypse’
This is probably the most interesting way that Batman defeated Darkseid because it showcased how far the Dark Knight was willing to go to defeat an opponent. In this animated movie, Darkseid kidnaps Supergirl to win her over to his side. Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman went to Apokolips to rescue Supergirl.
Darkseid beat up both Superman and Wonder Woman, and it was up to Batman to try to save the day. Batman found a way to hack into Darkseid’s Hellspawn weapon and use this as a bargaining chip in exchange for Supergirl. The evil New God realized that he didn’t have a choice after he found out that Batman wasn’t bluffing, and that was when he allowed Batman to go home with Superman, Wonder Woman, and Supergirl. In fact, Darkseid was so impressed that Batman was willing to destroy Darkseid’s planet to get what he wanted.
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