Introduction
Originally, I was going to make this one post covering both the Hellbat and the Justice Buster. However, to make this post shorter, I'm going to divide this into two posts. This one will cover the Fenrir Suit (Justice Buster) and the next one will cover the Hellbat.
I made this blog post because many scans are taken out of context either to overrate or underrate it. Neither do justice (no pun intended) to the suit. This leads to mismatched battles. Also, instead of posting the exact same material repeatedly, it’s just easier to link to relevant material. I will go through the capabilities and limitations of the Justice Buster, clear up some misconceptions, and examine the purpose of this suit. This will be a pretty exhaustive analysis.
Origin
Construction
Batman developing countermeasures for a compromised Justice League is nothing new. The main difference here is he wrapped all the countermeasures into a suit. As far as we know, Bruce built the suit himself. The only items he didn't build were the mini red sun (Ray Palmer) and the Bind of Veils (bought it on the black market).
A majority of the cost was for the battle computers to track the Flash's movements. Given the figure ‘60% of the world’s militaries’, which would be about $4 Billion. This is probably not something you could buy. (BTW, The most expensive super computer in real life is about $200 million.) (More on this later)
He designed it with assumptions on each person’s fighting style, which later proved to be a mistake. Noting he assumed there were boundaries that Superman wouldn’t cross.
Most likely, he designed it assuming the other League members wouldn't be at 100%. It's a common theme in comics for a person under control to not be at 100%. They are either fighting against the control, mindless, or weakened. Furthermore, he even notes he designed his server to react to the Flash provided he wasn't at optimal speed.
Purpose
The suit was designed as a countermeasure if members of The Justice League was compromised.
We know Batman has created contingency plans in the past for JL members. What Bruce did here was take all the tech for the contingencies and wrap them in a power armor to protect himself as he executed them.
It was never mean't to have a long drawn out brawl with powerhouse members.
This point is often overlooked, but important. The objective was simple: tank an initial attack from a JL member giving Bruce enough time to execute the contingency plan and neutralize them. Then move on to the next person. This can be seen in the fight with WW and Superman. He traded a few initial blows between them. However, Superman was able to rip the armor apart when he got in close.
This makes the Fenrir Suit very different from the Hulkbuster Armor which were designed to have an all out brawl with the Hulk.
Feats
Background
It’s important to note, Batman was fighting against a weakened, but bloodlusted Justice League. Batman notes WW is "a bit slower than usual[but...]Not pulling her punches."
Even Scott Snyder had this to say:
I think one of the saving graces is that they’re not completely at full strength, because they’re Joker-ized. There was always that slightly muted quality to them so that way it wasn’t simply “Batman could take them all down so easily.” (Source)
It’s also noticeable by Batman. As seen in the above scan.
This begs the question, just how weakened were they? The only clue we have is the phrase 'a bit'. I'm not saying exactly how weakened they were, but here's the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition on the phrase 'a bit':
a little : somewhat : slightly <I let it bother me a bit.> <His house is down the street a bit further.> <There's a bit too much sugar in the dessert, which makes it a bit too sweet.><I'm feeling a bit better today.>
a small amount or quantity : a little of something <They don't understand much—but they do understand a bit.> <“How much cake is left?” “Only a (very little) bit.”> —often + of<They understand only a bit of what is going on.> <His mind's already made up. It won't do you a bit of good to argue.>
a short period of time : a while <Let's wait a (little/wee) bit longer.> <He left but came back after a bit.>
for a short period of time <Please stay here with me a bit.>
Take that definition for what you like, just saying.
As for how fast the Flash was going. I assume it's possible to calculate given the bat emblem falling.
However, it appears the computers can track the Flash at a faster speed than any other computer in the world can.
Strength
Punches Wonder Woman With a Solid Blow That Sends Her Flying Into a Building
It's also worth nothing, he's able to extend the glove to make the punch.
Punches Superman so hard, he flies out of a 15 meter (my guess) hole and up in the air about 15 meters.
Durability
Tanks a Punch That Knocks Him From The Street Into a Building
Tanks Being Impaled By a Massive Stone Pillar. Gets up just fine.
Limitations
Was Able To Be Ripped Apart By Superman When He Got in Close
The Justice Buster Is Large, Bulky and Not Terribly Agile
Here it is shown climbing out of a hole. I can’t help but wonder, Bruce, why didn’t you add a jet pack. Ah, yes plot.
Suit's Equipment
Can shoot out the “binds of veils” on Wonder Woman without noticing it. Causing her to hallucinate the rest of the battle. All while being unable to move.
I have already shown this scan.
Can shoot magnesium carbonate foam out engulfing Aquaman in a cocoon.
It's important to note the more Aquaman struggles, the more it pulls water from his body.
Can shoot frictionless coating causing the Flash to slip, lol.
Has servers (I assume they are external) that can track the Flash.
The reason I think they're probably external is, when people hear the world supercomputer they think of large clusters of computers. That and he never mentions them being on board
On a side note, that bat object in the scan is the suit's emblem. It's falling to the ground after it was ripped off by the Flash. They show it in a couple of panels, to show how fast this battle is happening. Literally, the Flash is coming back around before it's even hit the ground.
Has miniature red suns supplied to him by Ray Palmer, Plasma Shields for heat vision, Thrust and Thermal for Freeze Breath (didn’t get to see it in action)
I assume Bruce means he heat jets on different parts of the armor when he says 'thrust and thermal'.
Has an Electromagnet Nerve Tree for Cyborg and Citrine Neurolizer for Green Lantern. (Didn’t get to see either in action.)
Even though these haven't been shown I think I have a pretty good idea what they might be.
- Citrine Neurolizer--Citrine is a type of quartz believed to actually improve willpower and decision making (according to most New Age sites, lol). The feature in the armor appears to do the opposite. To impair willpower and decision making, therefore, making GL unable to use his ring. It's unclear if this field effect or a blast. So, pretty much an empath weapon, lol.
- Electromagnetic Nerve Tree--If I had to guess this is a sophisticated EMP. Travel's along Cyborg's nerves and disables the electronics in the body.
Misconceptions
The Justice League Was Simply Playing Around With Him
As said above, in both the panels and in the interview with Snyder—they were weakened by the Joker Toxin. Nothing has ever been stated they were playing around with him.
I assume most of the confusion are from these two scans:
There is something important to note here. Bruce, at this point, is not armored, has no gear that can hurt them (at least they assume so). Essentially, he isn't a threat and defenseless. They have luxury of dragging out the fight and torturing him. This happens quite often in comics, where a bloodlusted character will torture a defenseless character.
However, when he jumps in the armor we see them react much differently. As noted in the scan below. Diana wasn't pulling her punches and she intended to kill him.
Also we have this scan where she fights a hallucination of Bruce. She has no trouble pulling out her sword and cutting him to bits.
The suit was able to be put down with a building falling on it.
It's based on this scan:
As shown earlier, the suit tanked being crushed by stone monolith and being punched from the street into a theater. Both of these have considerably more force than a few building falling on it.
I can see two possibilities, either:
- The JB was simply climbing out of the rubble. The heat shields didn’t come up because either, the rubble was blocking the sensors or the shield works as one continuous field and interrupted by the rubble. Either way, it gave Clark the second he needed to heat vision off the red suns.
- It was at the breaking point and the buildings were the 'straw that broke the camel's back.
Bruce tells Clark exactly what his countermeasures are (as shown in the scan showing the thermal shields). Then from there Clark heat visions down the buildings and flies into position. (as shown in a previous scan of the buildings falling down). After the suns were heat visioned off, Bruce knew he was screwed and so did Clark. At this point, there was nothing Bruce could do and tried to reason with him.
Most of the characters were not defeated
Most of the confusion comes from this panel:
However, on the next page, you find this:
So, if those characters were fine how was he able to get them back to infirmary to administer the antidote?
Conclusion
For various reasons, I didn't like this story. However, I felt like a blog post was necessary to cover all the feats. Hopefully, this clears up some misconceptions about the capabilities of the Justice Buster. I'm not saying it's totally awesome or absolute crap. It just is what it is.
I will be posting up a thread for the Hellbat in the next couple of days. This will take me a while to complete since I will have to grab scans from multiple sources for context.
Let me know what you think. Agree? Disagree? Was the formatting easy to follow?
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