Battle of the Week RESULTS: Joker and Harley Quinn vs. Bullseye

@risingbean: No need to apologize, I've been trying my best to avoid spelling it out for months upon months now. I don't want anyone to think I'm suggesting people should spam stuff -- no one likes that. I'm just saying that if someone's passionate about something and they really want it to win in a poll, social media can be a powerful tool if used properly.

With a name like RisingBean, how could you not be? :)

@k4tzm4n: No, you don't have to imply anything. While you could possibly argue that Spider-Man or MAYBE Superman (good luck with that,) are more popular than Batman, after those three there is a significant drop-off until you get to most characters like Flash, Wonder Woman, and GL (Among other heroes, both DC and Marvel.) I'm saying that as a sad fact.

And a lot of things COULD have helped Flash or Spider-Man or Superman beat the Goliath that is Batman's popularity, but there's no guarantee that even if people made posts or Tweets that Batman's foes still wouldn't have won. Not to mention, I think it says something that every other fanbase has to work thrice as hard for their pick to even have a shot at CoTM when there's a Bat-Entity on the field. It's disheartening. Kind of takes the fun out of it, unless you actually are a Bat-Fan.

Now of course, I'm not saying we should never have Bat-Characters in the running for CoTM or anything like that. However there's a reality that, a vocal minority will make their presence known and being told to go outside of CV for a CV Vote if Batman is only going to exasperate the issue.

That's a clean cut grass, I tell you what! This should be done for April Fool's Day.

I haven't compared Flash's popularity to Batman's, so -- and I don't mean to be rude --I have no idea why your opening paragraph is essentially stating the obvious? I only said the show is popular, and that means more people out there would be motivated to vote for him if they knew such a poll was taking place. A comparison between rogue galleries was never made. (Also, just so you know, Superman gets WRECKED in these polls.)

You're right, there is no guarantee. But there's a possibility, and it's infinitely more effective than the generic complaints I saw during the voting -- complaints which more than likely don't benefit what they were trying to accomplish. If I wanted Spider-Man to win and I wasn't the person creating these articles (I try my best to avoid influencing people one way or the other while voting is happening), I absolutely would have spread the word. If that gave him just enough to take a narrow lead, I'd then enjoy an entire month of Spider-Man's villains getting some extra love. If I wanted Flash to win, there's a few accounts I know I would have reached out to. Looking at the amount of votes, I do believe we could have had a totally different month if someone had that mentality during the week of voting. Taking a few minutes throughout the week to use social media wouldn't make me think something along the lines of, "It's unfair I had to do this." It's not like it's hard work, you know? And honestly, I'd get a sense of accomplishment if it did work. It would feel great, and the reward would be a month of what I wanted (assuming the people behind the site were taking proper advantage of the theme :P) Hell, if I was voting for Batman, I still would have used social media in an effort to make sure he holds onto that lead. The John Stewart fans showed organizing can quickly alter a poll -- even when someone already has a rather large lead.

Yeah, Batman's world won't be in all of the polls, but when we're using the "rogues gallery" theme for the very first time, I do think it would be pretty weird not to include it. Heh, I feel bad for the alternate universe version of me who didn't have Batman's villains on the poll and had to endure all of the hate he received about it.

@k4tzm4n: Because, I know the show is popular. That's not a concern. My concern is beating out Batman's popularity, which isn't going to happen and sort of make the attempt pointless, and the reason a lot of these characters are popular is because they're in Batman's universe. It's just easier to say Batman and Flash because the heroes came before the villains (if you know what I mean,) and are a big part of why they are popular in many cases. (Not all.)

I personally don't think it's unfair, but some do. What I said was, it makes the voting not fun when you know the winner beforehand and a lot of people knew Bat-Foes were winning this one. What's the point of fighting the inevitable? And in a popularity contest on Comic Vine, if it's Bat it wins far more than not, and like I said, GL was a cool exception, but that's not probably not going to work every time.

Well, that same version also probably got a lot of thumbs up for not using the Batman Villains and making it virtually a forgone conclusion who'd win, since it's also a universe they likely would have won and so it balances out, I'm sure, and you're right. Batman has some cool villains, but like I said. Vocal minority. You know it. You see it all the time whenever Batman is on a poll. It's the reason we're having this dialogue right now.

@scouterv: We're having this dialogue because I strongly disagree with your skeptical notion that it's "inevitable" for Batman to win and essentially pointless to try supporting anything else when he's an option. (Just FYI, Batman was in the very first edition of CotM and he didn't win.) I strongly believe an effective effort can be made to counter his popularity and, as someone who kept an eye on the amount of votes that every side was receiving throughout the week, I firmly believe Spider-Man or Flash fans could have taken the victory if they truly wanted to. But I'm repeating myself at this point, so I see no point in going on and on about it.

Awesome battles with strong arguments for both sides in pretty much every fight this month, good job viners! I'm hyped for the next (Keeping fings crossed for Punisher).

Punisher's very, very tempting... especially against just kidding, I won't spoil the name.

Come to the Antihero side... We have cookies! Either way, good luck choosing, being him or not.

Fair enough.

I DISAGREE BECAUSE -- Oh. Just for you, next month's theme will be "best alternate Batman" :)

(Just kidding, of course.)

@hiddenlight said:

@k4tzm4n said:

@hiddenlight said:

Awesome battles with strong arguments for both sides in pretty much every fight this month, good job viners! I'm hyped for the next (Keeping fings crossed for Punisher).

Punisher's very, very tempting... especially against just kidding, I won't spoil the name.

Come to the Antihero side... We have cookies! Either way, good luck choosing, being him or not.

No chocolate chip?! Why does Punisher hate flavor?

@k4tzm4n@scouterv

The whole "Batman is too popular and it sucks" argument is an exceedingly interesting one for me. Batman is my favorite fictional character. I love his rogues, his supporting cast, his city, and pretty much everything about him. That said, I don't think I've voted for a Bat character for the CATM poll a single time. Mostly because I think he gets enough of the community's attention as it is and I understand how the constant Bat love could get on people's nerves. There is also a part of me that gets very annoyed any time I see people complaining about the Bat bias. I understand to a certain degree but the small vocal minority that go overboard with the Batman hate just because he is popular can get grating. In all honesty, I'm not sure what I'm trying to get at here. I guess I'm just trying to point out that some of us Bat fans that vote in these polls do vote for other characters because I'd like for them to get the spotlight too.

I saw this coming.

@k4tzm4n said:

@hiddenlight said:

@k4tzm4n said:

@hiddenlight said:

Awesome battles with strong arguments for both sides in pretty much every fight this month, good job viners! I'm hyped for the next (Keeping fings crossed for Punisher).

Punisher's very, very tempting... especially against just kidding, I won't spoil the name.

Come to the Antihero side... We have cookies! Either way, good luck choosing, being him or not.

No chocolate chip?! Why does Punisher hate flavor?

He used everything in his cake.

@syncig: Personally, I like elements of Batman, but in all honesty I think Bruce is my least favorite character in his own mythos. Probably because I've seen and know so much about him, as opposed to characters like Jason Todd and Terry McGinnis, who (up until very recently for Terry at least,) don't get much shine, themselves or always take a backseat to Bruce because he's Batman.

I don't hate Batman by any stretch, and every fanbase has those guys that make it tough to be a fan sometimes, so it's not even the majority of the fanbase.

My thing is, I think DC overrates and overuses him a lot. Like in Forever Evil. No idea why Batman was even featured with Catwoman, when she could have done just about everything that happened to them as a team by herself.

Man Bat vs Vulture

Mr. Freeze vs Capt. Cold [why couldn't it be DC vs DC once?]

KOBRA vs AIM

~KL~

@scouterv: Woah I am supriesed.

Nah but I can see where your coming from with DC over rating Bruce and over using him, but thats what happents to any popular character at the time.

But to be fair Cyborg survived to in Forever Evil, but I see where your coming from, with the use of Batman (Bruce).

1. Intresting

2.Yes DC vs DC

3.Sounds like fun

Mr. Freeze vs Capt. Cold [why couldn't it be DC vs DC once?]

Poor Mr. Freeze, why you hate him so much?

@hiddenlight: Mr.Freeze is awsome!!!!

I completely agree with you, but... He is completely outgunned against someone like Captain Cold.

@hiddenlight: True he is outmatched by Cap Cold, man Batman's Rouges need an upgrade.

@k4tzm4n: Ra's Al Ghul vs Splinter?

I don't see why Catwoman couldn't have saved Victor? (I figure, as just a torso, she shouldn't have trouble carrying Vic.) And that's fine I guess, but it can be a real turn-off sometimes.

Jason Todd (Pre-flashpoint) vs CrossBonss

Jason todd (post-flashpoint) vs Iron Fist

Black Spider vs Shocker

Strange how all those people who constantly call these Battle of the Week events haven't come out in their usual numbers. I guess its hard to argue Batman's top villain and his mistess as being less popular than a Daredevil rogue.

Seriously, I had no idea who Bullseye was for the longest time; but I've known about the Joker even before I read my first Batman comic.

@scouterv: I can see why you'd say they overuse him but I don't think they overrate him. He is by far their biggest money maker and that is why he gets the spotlight so often. I agree that from a story point, Batman didn't need to be there in Forever Evil. It was actually something that kind of bothered me while reading the story. Taking all of the Justice League off the board would have made for a better story. The problem is that DC is a business. They are out to make money so throwing Batman into a story to boost sales is a tactic that they go to fairly frequently. Does it bother me? Yeah, it does. Do I think it takes away from Batman as a strong character? No. So, I definitely see where you are coming from but I will always love Batman. I have since I was a child and I will until I die.

@syncig: Overrate in terms of what he can do. I get he makes money. Enough people even here will tell you that if you ever forget or didn't pick up the latest event book.

They overrate him by having be able to do just about anything the story needs.

@scouterv: There is a certain amount of that going on. Batman frequently acts as the solution to the problem that the super-powered people couldn't solve and sometimes they do it in a way that doesn't make sense. I still don't think it happens as much as people think. For every instance of Bats doing something ridiculous there is an example of Batman acting as the key to victory in a way that makes sense. It's also partially a way for them to give Batman purpose on a team full of heroes with crazy big power levels. I do believe that some writers do a poor job of properly utilizing him but that can be said about a lot of characters in comics. It just happens more with Batman because he appears more often and under the pen of many different writers at once.

@syncig: Which goes back to the overuse issue. It's just turned me off to Bruce for the most part.

Except for the version that was in "Batman: The Brave and The Bold." Now that's a Bruce Wayne I can get behind.

Baron Zemo vs Ra's Al Ghul

I wanna see Mister Freeze vs Sub Zero...have a little MK love since the comic is awesome

This. Or alternately, Poison Ivy vs. Typhoid Mary.

Worst battle ever, seriously I think no thought went into this one , wasted opportunity of great characters. To add insult to injury, post like Golden Cod get pick to be highlighted? seriously? Like we need misinformation to be spread about characters. This is why I don't waste my time with these. smh.

You have every right to think it's a bad match, but at this point, you're just being willfully ignorant if you "seriously" think no thought went into this one. I previously corrected you on how the set-up was to benefit Joker and Harley Quinn, not Bullseye, and now there's plenty of elaboration before community posts about why this match was made. Also, frequently saying you don't waste your time with stuff like this and then post in stuff like this is a bit silly. If you sincerely don't want to, then don't.

@k4tzm4n said:

Joker dodged Prometheus and Prometheus > Bullseye.

I knew I should have actually debated in this one. That's a flawless argument. FLAWLESS.

That was not the bad ass Prometheus we all know and love, that was the imposter. ^.^

@kuyamu: Hey! You leave your facts out of my flawless argument!

Black Cat and Killer Croc vs Kraven and Rhino

Hey, I'm in there! Hurray for stuff!!

That was a close one.

@k4tzm4n: Did you see my comment for the suggestion of the next Battle of the Week?

Oh no it kinda took me as a surprise that you said you didn't hate Bats, because usually when its something about Bruce you don't usually say positive things about him. (Not to say you have to like Bruce, because i can see why people don't.)

But I can see how DC overrating/using Bruce can be a turn off to his character.

As for the Forever Evil thing In my opinion anyone could have saved Victor, but you know Bruce sells when he the main center of a comic (which can be great for some people and bad for people).

Selina wins by a landslide easy.

@transmetal: Freeze and Dr. Phosphorus. Vs. Sub-Zero and Scorpion, maybe?

@k4tzm4n

For villains like Joker, Riddler, Two Face etc ... you should have put them in some sort of psychological battles instead, because realistically these types of villain aren't actually much trouble in a 1on1 fight but rather they come up with large and extremely difficult and frightening schemes and plots to challenge Batman. (I can't think of any sort of psychological battle though I'm sorry!!!). Although Joker would probably take an easy majority if he were to mess with someone's mind.

I'm just glad these last two have been so close, as they should be.

This please