Batman and Spider-Man have, arguably, the best rogues gallery in their respective universes, with both parties being a who's who of comic villainy.

Batman foes are such household names even non comic fans can name a myriad of then off the too of their heads: Two-Face, The Riddler, Clay face, The Mad Hatter, Ras Al Ghul, Bane, Penguin, and of course The Joker.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man's nemesis aren't slouches either with many being just as well known: Scorpion, The Vulture, Kraken The Hunter, Electro, Sandman, Dr Octopus, Mysterio, Hobgoblin and his two deadliest opponents Green Goblin and Venom.

The video essay above answers the question of what would happen of the titular heroes switched opponents, but I would like to know who my fellow Imwankers think would prevail based on the same ground rules as the essay above indicated.

1) Both heroes are switched to the others city.
2) They access to all their usual tools ie Batman still has his gadgets and wealth; Spidy still has his science knowledge, web stingers etc, etc.
3) No outside help from any other heroes or teams from any universe (their own or the opposing)
4) Which foe would be the greatest threat against their new protagonist.

I'll go with the one played by Tom Hardy.

Tough question. They'd both be very out of their respective elements.

A better rogues' gallery switch would be between Batman and Dick Tracy. Batman would get to have a bit of a rest, since most of Dick's rogues are now deceased. And Joker and Two Face would finally get their just desserts once and for all.

I think Batman would have the easier time with it. His rogues are for the most part killers, even if they are homicidal maniacs. Conversely, while Spider-Man's villians kill (i.e., Green Goblin and Gwen Stacy), they don't exist for the purpose of trying to kill people like do say the Joker and Ras Al Ghul. So, I think they'd pose a greater threat to Spider-Man. However, I suspect Peter would be happy to follow in Bruce's footsteps when it comes to hooking up with Catwoman...

Didn't he kind of already do that with the Black Cat?

Interesting. I think the opposite -- most of Batman's enemies don't have super powers while nearly all of Spider-Man's do.

Batman might hold his own with many of the Spider-foes,and even prevail against the likes of Kraven and Mysterio,but all his Bat-gear would be no help against the likes of Sandman and Electro.There's only so much disbelief one can suspend.

If Batman can beat Clayface, he can beat Sandman. Hell, Daredevil beat Elektro, even without bat-gadgets.

I think the Batman villain that would give Spider-Man the most problems is Ras, and the Spider-Man villain that would give Bats the biggest headache would be JJJ.

Bruce Wayne would just buy the Bugle!

Batman vs. Mysterio would be pretty interesting.

Batman would be in big trouble if he ran into the likes of the Rhino or the Beetle.

How about if Batman ran into a character like the Rocket Racer? Since Batman can't swing around as easily as Spidey can, he'd be unable to catch the Rocket Racer. He'd have to use detective work to find him instead. Which he could no doubt manage to do--but it would be a very different kind of story from what the Rocket Racer was created to appear in.

Meanwhile Spidey would be pitted against all kinds of psychos who run around killing people right and left. Since Spidey is far stronger than they are--probably even Bane--he could surely take them down. But where would be the fun in a story like that?

Spidey vs. the Riddler would probably be pretty fun. Maybe even the less grotesque versions of the Penguin. And like I said above, he kind of already has a Catwoman analog with the Black Cat.

All of which is to say that some cross-matches of these heroes and rogue's galleries would make more sense than others in story terms.

Mysterio is the equivalent of Scarecrow, and Batman tends to handle him pretty easily. The brute force of Rhino would be tough, but is he any tougher than Bane? Peter Parker is science smart but not detective smart, so a Riddler challenge could be interesting. I can't think of a Marvel comp for that character that Spider-Man has faced. Maybe Arcade?

Rhino is close enough to Killer Croc, IMO.
Rocket Racer = Roxy Rocket.

I mean, if Spidey can do this, it's hard to see how any of Batnan's foes can really hurt him. If a Batman punch can hurt Killer Croc, a Spider-Man love-tap should knock him out cold.

They could both probably adapt fairly well and best each other's foes.


Peter, possessing the super powers, probably has the initial edge against Batman's foes on first encounter,
since he is more likely to recover from blunders and such as he learns his opponent's abilities and methods.
Batman has been shown to be able to beat anyone, given enough preparation and research.

Yeah, Spider-Man has real super powers as does his villains. The only suped up baddies Bats faces is Clayface and Killer Croc and Spidey has an equivalent in them via Sandman and The Lizard.

It would be like when Superman pretended to be Batman and took out Bane and escaped The Riddler's trap, neither one posing any real danger to him. And yeah I know Spider-Man isn't as strong as Supes, but he is far far stronger than an
average human. And even though he isn't a detective he's still a scientist so he would be smart enough to figure out his adversaries location and plan and SM's power make him just as stealthy as Batman.

The only Bat baddie that could challenge SM is Ras Al Ghul because he has a criminal empire at his disposal.

Batman would not fare as well. Kraven would be his mirror image being just as calculating and prepared as The Dark Knight as would The Green Goblin; Carnage is just as psychotic as Joker but stronger, faster, more powerful and just overall more deadly; Electro would render all of Batman's
gadgets useless Doc Ock is smarter than Gotham's protector and would be just as effective with prep time; Sandman is Clayface on steroids; Lizard is more viscious and calculating than Killer Croc, etc, etc. I really don't see how Batman would last long against Spider-Man's gallery?

He'd need a LOT of time to prepare.

Wouldn't Batman always win because that's how comics work?

He's beaten the entire Justice League before.

Surely you're not suggesting that the Justice League is more impressive than an old man with feather-wings and a fat guy with metal tubes sticking out of his sides.