Battle of the Week: Batman vs. Shredder

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Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, has been voted as our latest Character of the Month! That means we'll feature him in the Question of the Week, highlight some of his coolest covers, suggest some of his best stories, and a whole lot more throughout August. Being the Character of the Month isn't just about praising the Dark Knight, though. We're also going to test Bruce's abilities as a combatant!

We all know the Caped Crusader is a gifted fighter and has a sharp mind, but what happens when he's forced to battle a character he knows nothing about? Can he still overcome the opponent or will he fall in the random encounter? Last week, Batman was able to defeat the latest incarnation of Star-Lord. This week, he's going face to face with the latest incarnation of Oroku Saki, a.k.a. Shredder! Will Batman best the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' formidable and skilled foe? Or will Shredder slash Batman one too many times and leave Gotham's hero on the floor? The winner will be determined by the voters, so go read the rules, give it some proper thought and then vote and join the discussion!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!!!

Match Rules

• Combatants are in character.
• This is a random encounter (aka no prep for either side).
• They're fighting in a dojo (if you need an example, think about the one in The Matrix). It's unpopulated and they start roughly 15 feet apart and visible. The entire area is on limits and they're unable to leave the room.
• Both characters are current versions (New 52 Batman, IDW Shredder) and have their standard gear.
• Incapacitation, knockout or death all count as elimination. Submission/admitting defeat counts as a loss, too.
• Hey, you know what would be really cool? Treating everyone else in the debate with respect. If you think someone's saying something that just isn't true, go ahead and stick to the facts to point out why. There's no need at all to drop insults just because you disagree with someone. Seriously, this is just talking about a fictional fight, there's no need for immaturity and mudslinging.
• If you think the poll isn't going how it should, making an informative post about why a character is being underestimated and spreading the word is far more useful than complaining. Just saying.
• One more thing: you don't need to write an essay to have your post highlighted in Friday's article. Sometimes concise posts can be way more effective than a flood of paragraphs.

Check the homepage this Friday for an updated article with the following:

• Thoughts from the staff.
• Viner Arguments for both characters (can't include scans and must be in the poll thread).
• If we're lucky, blurbs from industry talent.

Want to suggest a match for an upcoming battle of the week? Tell us below or share it via twitter.

Awesome match up!! I'll have to sit this one out since I don't know much about the Shredder. Can't wait to see the final results.

Awesome matchup. Gonna be close.

A fight that has already been done.

Batman.

So that means it can't be fun to discuss it and have people vote on it?

Thanks! I hope so.

@k4tzm4n: Nope, it is fine. I'm only pointing out the obvious.

Oh Joy, Batman's the character of the month again...................

Kind of disappointed it's against a TMNT character again when there are so many more to choose from.

@snizzy:

Ha brilliant!!! so bored of it now..........

Shredder for the win thank you please!!!

Shredder has only appeared once vs Elektra and it's topical because the movie is currently out. As a regular Viner, you know you're welcome to give your own suggestions.

@snizzy Previous CotMs: Spider-Man, Moon Knight, Deathstroke. None of them are Bruce Wayne ;) And if that's your way of saying you're uninterested in articles with Bruce, why'd you click the article in the first place?

Batman. As far as I'm concerned Batman is still the better martial artist. Not only that but he's way to versatile for Shredder. Batman takes this eight out of ten times.

@k4tzm4n: I didn't mean shredder specifically, I said TMNT characters. Just seems like a lot of battles (not just with Batman) have been against TMNT characters. Kind of feels like those characters as a whole are being used disproportionally when we have so many different comic book, movie and TV characters that could be used.

I know suggestions can be made. I've also never seen a suggestion actually acted upon, so stopped suggesting. To make some now, battles I would like to see might be:

• Supernatural Brothers vs The Question and Huntress
• Batman vs The Shadow
• Batman vs Iron Man (people were asking for this a lot. parameters can be made to be fair)
• Captain Cold vs Poison Ivy
• T-X vs Cyborg
• Dr Who vs Rip Hunter

There have been a lot of official battles, and TMNT characters have appeared in only 4 of them: Deadpool vs. TMNT, Batman vs. TMNT, Elektra vs. Shredder, and now Batman vs. Shredder. Again, it's also topical due to the movie's financial success. Also, A LOT of suggestions have been used. X-23, Elektra, Bloodshot, Star-Lord, Shredder (suggested to me via a Viner 8 days ago), Nightcrawler, Snake-Eyes, Gambit, Colossus, Bane, Cyclops, Luther Strode, Sabretooth, Batwoman, X-O Manowar, and many others were made via suggestions (not just via the thread, but also PMs and social media). That's just going off of names I remember being inspired to use because of suggestions, too. Also, traffic is another thing we need to be concerned about, so I can't make lesser-known vs. lesser-known (or anything beyond 1v1 in the title), otherwise views take a noticeable drop.

As for Iron Man vs. Batman, a match like that requires a new set of rules in an attempt to balance the odds, and over time, I've noticed that the more specific the rules are, the less views it receives and many overlook them, too. But hey, if you sincerely believe that's a fair one, go make it a poll in the forum and see if people truly think it's fair.

first starlord now shredder ...wow comicvine is bringing out the bums and scrubs to fight batman......STOP DISRESPECTING BATMAN WITH THESE WEAK ASS OPPONENTS ! lol

As much as Batman seems as the logical choice, I gotta support Shredder on this one. Granted Bats has experience fighting immortal ninja clan leaders, Shredder fights four martial arts masters at the same time on a regular basis and manages to come out strong.

Got to give it to shredder, the man can fight all 4 turtles, Splinter, and Casey Jones at the same time. The turtles are great fighters with enhanced attributes, and splinter is a master, and Casey though not on the turtles or splinter level but still above average fighter. Though batman has better tech I think in skill the are about even, but in Ability Shredder is proven. And the fact that Shredder holds nothing back during a fight and Batman does means that another edge Goes to Shredder.

ooh! gonna be a good one but i'm going to go with Bats on this one. Redhoodx made a good point about shredder not holding back and shredder is very quick and skilled but i think batman would outthink shredder and gain the upper hand. shredder's good but batman has crazy tactical skills that would win the day 7/10 times.

Shredder has decades of fighting experience. He's no push over.

I agree, but I'd actually say it's closer to a century, if not more, of fighting experience because of his expanded lifetimes and multiple re-incarnations.

Money on shredder hes already a semi mystical ninja and he fights way better than batman since he is able to handle all 4 ninja turtles at once and destroy Splinter who is a master ninja cause he could also beat all 4 turtles by himself. + Shredder can tank most projectiles and keep fighting

EDITT

Batmans tactical skill makes little diffrence in a closed arena just saying

To the people who say Batman's gadgets give him an edge, I can't really think of any gadgets he could use to beat Saki. I mean, the dude's a NINJA, so smokebombs actually help in the stealth department and throwing batarangs wouldn't help because of his reflexes. Magnets would effect Bats as well, so that's a disadvantage for both of them, and the taser shouldn't be able to pirce the Shredder's armor, right? All i'm saying is that this comes down to HTH combat, honed reflexes, and stealth prowess, and it takes four genetically altered reptiles who've been practicing ninjutsu for fifteen years (TMNT 2003, they're fifteen) to even slow down the Shredder in most encounters. If Bats doesn't have a plan, like, Z, Shredder takes this IMO.

Batman. This is one of the rare occasions where Bruce doesn't have to hold back because his opponent is every bit his physical equal. Shredder did beat all 4 turtles at once! Shredder is so bad ass he doesn't need anything other than some fresh air with the exception of the ooze. It's a straight tie if we're going to just use hand-to-hand combat.

Because of Bruce's experience, preparation and gadgets, I can't see him missing an opportunity to use some sort of magnet device on a hulking metal behemoth of a ninja especially if he drinks ooze and becomes Super Shredder. The fight will start fair but once this realization is met the fight becomes Magneto vs. Wolverine: It's already over, Wolvy lost on arrival. Same would apply to fights with Wolverine and Iron Man. The fight really comes down to how long it takes Bruce to realize he can instantly incapacitate his metal-clad opponent with the flick of a gadget you know he has.

As someone who has been a fan of Batman, and knows a bit about Shredder, as of right now, I'm calling it a tie. Both Shredder's and Bat's skill levels are amazing. Shreds won't hold back at all, Bats will until he realizes he doesn't have to (which won't take too long). In a dojo, there's not much room for anything other than straight up martial arts mayhem, and until someone puts an explanation as to how one person would beat the other, my mind keeps seeing them fight until one of them realizes there'll be no ending to it and makes a strategic exit.

Guys, the current reincarnation of the Shredder could fight armies of warriors...by himself, and has a century's worth of martial experience.

I'm going with Shredder for now, but I'll think a bit more on it.

This is an excellent match-up!! My favorite 'Battle of the Week' yet. This one could really go either way. I'd love to see these two go toe to toe without any gear, armor, gadgets, etc. because they are two of the best martial artists in comics. However, with them both being in full character, I'm going to give Batman the edge.. and the victory.

First off, I'd like to say that I haven't read the IDW TMNT yet, so I don't know how their Shredder differs and my argument can be changed based on that. I'm going to go with Batman for this one. In terms of tech, Batman wins hands down, seeing how all I've ever Shredder carry into a fight are a massive hidden blade, kunai, a sword and a... bigger sword. New 52 Batman has all sorts of different batarangs that he usually has on hand along side tasers, devices that dispense high pitched sound, etc. that give him a clear advantage.

In terms of physical prowess, it seems like Shredder might have the advantage. From what I've seen, apparently he took an entire army by himself and has trained in the art of Ninjitsu his entire life. New 52 Batman may be more versatile in martial arts styles, but he's only been in practice for maybe seven years at all of them max, plus he needed a mecha Batsuit to take on a small army of Talons by himself and still was having a hard time.

Ultimately, though, I think Batman would be able to hold off Shredder, through constantly changing up his fighting styles, long enough to find some sort of weakness to exploit. It'd be dangerous to use some of his more explosive gadgets given their environment, but if Bats gets desperate enough he'd most likely use one to get to Oroku Saki. Stealth tatics would probably be useless against a master ninja so it'd be a mostly hand to hand fight. I'm actually more on the fence about Batman now that I've out my argument.

Too easy, Katzman. You know Batman has this wrapped up before it even starts. Shredder is one of those villains who spends too much time sending minions to attack foes. He doesn't hone his skills like Batman. Batman could take Shredder straight-up.

A suggestion for next weeks battle..... Batman vs iron man

Honestly I'm just voting for Bruce based on rep. Shredders been put in battles against people way below Batman with more well-versed people being unsure who wins.

Were you expecting another character to appear in batmans month? His month just started last week....

I'm voting for Shredder. Like stated above, Shredder fights the TMNT, Splinter, and Casey Jones at the same time, and do to the closed environment, this may be reduced to a straight up H2H fight, which I see Shredder winning.

I disagree.

You agree? But you said "nice battle" and said Batman only takes 6-7/10 in the poll thread :P

Wrong forum. I disagree :P

Shredder ain't on batmans level so yeah batman drop kicks shredder bac to 1984.

Nooo bro. He is on Bats level.

@comicace3: No sorry to tell you bro but he's not leonardo beat shredder twice by himself Batman would bodybag shredder easy

Come here there is some great arguments being put up for shredder to make this a close battle. His durability and speed is top notch as well as his MA ability. Pretty cool. Come check it out.

This is using the latest version of Shredder from IDW.

@k4tzm4n: ok so who do u think wins?

Stalemate probably.

Who's Batman? Seems kinda cool

He's Robin's sidekick.

@tparks: Ahh that makes sense.

lol

@tmany1: well, the "Owls" were freaking immortals, I would like to know how Shredder would handle them.

It has to be Shredder. The current IDW version of Shredder is immortal and has been around since ancient Japan. Furthering the Foot clan on his way he is bound to have learned or even created many new techniques.

I'm not saying that Bats won't put up a good fight, but even with his tech Saki is going to cream him, sorry.

Someone needs to make this to a animated movie.....ican dream cant I :D