Given their long friendship, it’s no surprise that Batman and Superman have managed to pick up a thing or two from each other, and one secret weapon that Superman keeps in his belt shows he’s learned from Batman how to always be prepared.
Superman is without a doubt one of the most powerful heroes in the entire DC Universe, able to consistently have fist fights with such titans as Darkseid or Doomsday. With a host of powers that includes flight, invulnerability, x-ray vision, heat vision, super strength, super speed, and super hearing, it’s hard to think of an ability that the Man of Steel doesn’t have. But all of these powers still pale in comparison to the power of preparation, which is something Superman seems to have picked up from Batman. Anytime Batman has had to go up against someone stronger than himself, he’s always prepared with their weakness in hand, as seen when Batman took down the entire Justice League.
In Jeph Loeb and Michael Turner’s Superman/Batman #13, Superman finds himself up against a corrupted Supergirl, who is currently under the thrall of Darkseid. Superman tries to reason with his cousin to no avail, and the two end up fighting. As they duke it out, Superman and Supergirl find themselves evenly matched, which isn’t that much of a surprise. Despite how unbelievably powerful Superman is, it’s nothing compared to the power Supergirl has that made her a monster. With no other options, Superman pops open a buckle on his belt and pulls out his secret weapon, a ring made of Kryptonite. Using this ring, he’s able to take Supergirl down with one single punch. It makes complete sense that he’d have this weapon on hand, considering Superman’s best friend is the ever-paranoid and always-prepared Batman.
Superman Learned From Batman On Being Prepared
Superman is used to dealing with villains on an unequal playing field. There are very few villains in Superman’s rogues’ gallery who can actually match him in speed and strength, and the ones that can are few and far between. While Lex Luthor is undeniably dangerous, he’s not able to phyusically fight Superman on even ground, neither are Metallo or Parasite. The biggest threats to Clark are typically other Kryptonians, since they have all of his strengths, but also his weaknesses. However, there’s one major difference: Superman is used to dealing with Kryptonite, since villains like Lex and Metallo use it extensively. Though it can weaken him, Superman actually needs Kryptonite, because it’s the only solution for dealing with evil Kryptonians. Evil Kryptonians are unlikely to have encountered Kryptonite on their own, since the substance is so rare that it’s unlikely that anyone would use it against them. Because Clark is exposed to it on a fairly regular basis, he’s likely built up some level of resistance to it by now, allowing him to use it as a surprise weapon against any evil Kryptonians he comes across.
Raw strength and power can only ever get someone so far. When coming up against villains who can match his power, Superman needs to be able to outsmart them, and thankfully Superman seems to have learned from Batman about coming to a fight prepared.
