Rumble Pants XIII: Sweet Sixteen
By popular demand, Rumble Pants is back! What is Rumble Pants? Well, the Panteon has decided to play at god once more. We take a few select comic characters and pit them against one another for our amusement, but we figured why keep the fun all to ourselves? So we decided on a format that would require your participation and will hopefully provide amusement for you at the same time. The format is a single elimination tournament with weekly rounds decided by you, the reader. Just keep reading to help decide the ultimate fate of some of your favorite comic characters!
Surprising no one, the winner of our “big guns” round was Batman. Who wins everything. Which leads us to our newest round…
As always, we’re starting at the Sweet Sixteen stage. And this time out, it’s the Batman round! 16 Batmans, from all continuities and creative teams, face off to see which Batman can be the Batman-est!
As always, it isn’t just about who would be most likely win in each fight (Batman); it’s about who you want to win each fight and advance to the next round. Click the bracket thumbnail above to the side to see how the tournament has progressed so far. These polls will close just after midnight on Saturday, June 7th.
Dark Knight Batman vs. Kingdom Come Batman
Dark Knight Batman (75%)
Kingdom Come Batman (25%)
Total Votes: 290
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Animated Series Batman vs. Neal Adams Batman
Animated Batman (67%)
Neal Adams Batman (33%)
Total Votes: 291
Year One Batman vs. Christian Bale Batman
Year One Batman (59%)
Christian Bale Batman (41%)
Total Votes: 298
The Goddamn Batman vs. Morrison Uber Batman
Goddamn Batman (35%)
Morrison Uber Batman (65%)
Total Votes: 284
Bob Kane Batman vs. Dick Sprang Batman
Bob Kane Batman (75%)
Dick Sprang Batman (25%)
Total Votes: 292
Adam West Batman vs. Michael Keaton Batman
Adam West Batman (49%)
Michael Keaton Batman (51%)
Total Votes: 300
Vampire Batman vs. Gotham by Gaslight Batman
Vampire Batman (33%)
Gotham by Gaslight Batman (67%)
Total Votes: 285
Year 100 Batman vs. Azrael Batman
Year 100 Batman (71%)
Azrael Batman (29%)
Total Votes: 287
Interesting matchups. Not to quibble, but it was kind of unfair to pair a movie Batman with a comic book Batman. Comics, to me, will always win out no matter how good Bale is.
I think Bale vs. Keaton and West vs. maybe the serial one would have been a more apt comparison. Go West!! The Dini vs. Adams was a tough one, though. Goddamn vs. Uber made me giggle the most, though.
I guess the only surprise for me is how much Keaton is beating West, whom I thought would be a sentimental favorite. Great Rumble Pants for sure.
Is this the only such character that would have this many iterations? Could it be done with Superman with as much variety (multiple cartoons, more TV versions, some movie versions but how many comic book versions)? Or maybe Spiderman who has been reinterpreted slightly from comic to comic, TV (cartoon and live) and movies. Cool one. Maybe have one bracket all Spidey and one bracket all Superman to meet up in the middle or something.
02 Jun 2008 at 5:42 am
QuoteThe West/Keaton battle is much closer than I would’ve guessed, and does not bode well for my West/Animated showdown prediction. Oh well, it’s Batman, somehow, they all win.
02 Jun 2008 at 6:40 am
QuoteLet’s see:
1. FOX cartoon X-Men Wolverine
2. That newer X-Men cartoon that I never watched Wolverine
3. Original Hulk-fighting Wolverine
4. Weapon-X
5. Hugh Jackman
6. Ultimate Wolverine
7. Age of Apocalypse Wolverine
8. That time they made him go all feral Wolverine
9. Which may or may not be the same thing as adamantium-ripped-out Wolverine (I don’t know his history too well, but he ran around with his regular bones for a little while, right?)
10. WWII Wolverine
11. The brown costume
12. New Avenger/Astonishing Wolverine
13. One of the times he was in Japan/samurai/ronin/whatever
14-infinity. Any of the other alternate universe/out of continuity/one-shot/whatever versions.
02 Jun 2008 at 7:57 am
QuoteMorrison uber-Batman for the win. I’m convinced this version is the reason Bats wins every single Rumble Pants regardless of the combatants (with a little bit of Dark Knight’s Superman beat-down for good measure.)
02 Jun 2008 at 8:10 am
QuoteI know that you were all worried about what I think so I reated all of the Batmans in order of my own personal preference:
Year One Batman
Animated Batman
Neal Adams Batman
Morrison Uber Batman
Dark Knight Batman
Michael Keaton Batman
Christian Bale Batman
Bob Kane Batman
Dick Sprang Batman
Goddamn Batman
Gotham by Gaslight Batman
Vampire Batman
Year 100 Batman
Kingdom Come Batman
Adam West Batman
Azrael Batman
02 Jun 2008 at 10:41 am
Quoteheh I backed all losers
02 Jun 2008 at 11:34 am
QuoteCompletely off topic, any New York area Comic Pantsers gonna be at the MoCCA Art Festival this weekend?
02 Jun 2008 at 11:45 am
QuoteThese are all tough……..the only easy one is picking batman year one hundred. and uber batman over the goddamn batman. Picking between the Neal adams batman and the animated batman is loiking choosing which arm I would rather tear off.
02 Jun 2008 at 12:39 pm
QuoteOooh…Adam West is catching up!! Yeeaha!
/Bat apologies
02 Jun 2008 at 2:14 pm
QuoteNeal Adams Batman being crushed by Animated Batman? Guess I’m older than I thought. Everything went the other way for me. Only Adam West has a chance to make a run and pull off a win. As much as I liked Keaton, West was just fun. And I think Bale beats them both.
So now “my” Batman doesn’t always win, which is the whole point of this matchup, right?
02 Jun 2008 at 2:19 pm
Quote“There are seven working defenses from this position. Three of them disarm with minimal contact. Three of them kill. The other —– hurts.”
And down goes Kingdom Come Batman!!! Viva Dark Knight Batman! (That’s Dark Knight I. If this is Dark Knight II Batman, I’m gonna have to take my ball and go home.)
02 Jun 2008 at 3:06 pm
QuoteGreat idea for rumble pants…probably my favorite since Squirrel Girl took it all in the first one.
02 Jun 2008 at 3:33 pm
QuoteI don’t think any of them win. They just sit around screaming: “I’m Batman!” — “No, I’m Batman!” — “How can you possibly be Batman when I’m the goddamn Batman!?” — etc, etc.
02 Jun 2008 at 4:42 pm
QuoteLet’s see:
Kingdom Come Batman over Dark Knight Batman based on technology. They’re both old and crotchety, but I do think KC Bats has far more tricks then DK Bats.
Neal Adams over Animated Batman:
Just can easily wipe the floor with him. Animated Batman’s self confident, but I don’t think has the same physical stamina.
Year One over Batman Begins:
Frank Miller owns all.
Goddamn Batman over Uber Batman
See above, but Morrisson I don’t think has given us a definitive answer either yet.
Bob Kane over Dick Sprang:
Father knows best. Plus, he kills.
Michael Keaton over Adam West:
Now if this was a Batusi contest………..
Vampire Batman over Gotham by Gaslight Batman:
HE’S A VAMPIRE!
Azrael Batman over Year 100 Batman:
I’m such a fanboy for that armor.
02 Jun 2008 at 6:59 pm
QuoteWhere’s the Batsuit Nipple Batman? Aka George Clooney Batman…
It would have been fun to see that one go down under the Christian Bale Batman!
02 Jun 2008 at 8:44 pm
Quote*sigh* I wish. One of these days I’ll make it to MoCCA. My good friend Chris “Uncle STAPLE!” Nicholas, organizer of Austin’s awesome small press show STAPLE!, will be there, however.
And yes, I’m insanely jealous.
02 Jun 2008 at 9:22 pm
QuoteOr they could have done Kilmer Batman vs Clooney Batman to see which is more reviled (ok, it’s obviously Clooney)
02 Jun 2008 at 9:24 pm
QuoteI see I’m in the minority on Dark Knight Batman vs. Kingdom Come Batman. I’ve just never found Dark Knight Returns to be very entertaining. I dunno.
02 Jun 2008 at 10:09 pm
QuoteI’m rooting for Animated Batman… Mostly because by this point, he’s the coolest version thanks to Kevin Conroy and he’s got the entire JLU for backup if necessary. Would YOU wanna mess with a guy that has over 50 heroes ready to rain down destruction on your head all at once?
02 Jun 2008 at 11:10 pm
QuoteAnd on a related note, after this, can there PLEASE be a temporary ban on putting Batman in the rumble? It’s getting frustratingly monotonous and it takes a lot of the fun out of this.
02 Jun 2008 at 11:14 pm
QuoteNot to worry… I doubt very much that you’ll see Batman again until the championship, where he’ll be represented about three or four times.
After that… it’ll probably be a long while before we see Batman again. This round is in some ways a spoof of the “Batman Always Wins” meme.
02 Jun 2008 at 11:56 pm
QuoteLooking forward to Wolverine or Spider-Man (Spider-Ham for the win!) versions. Has any team had enough distinct line ups for this to work for them? JLA, Avengers, X-Men?
03 Jun 2008 at 5:03 am
QuoteIf we do just costumes, we could have an all Kitty Pryde Rumble. Heck, in one issue alone she changes costumes a half dozen times.
What is sad that even with making fun of Batman never losing, this Rumble will still end with Batman winning. Grrr….
03 Jun 2008 at 6:58 am
QuoteBob Kane Batman should win a general principle (none of the other would even exist).
Neal Adams and Frank Miller get honorable mention.
03 Jun 2008 at 12:47 pm
QuoteI used this Rumble Pants to thwart an evil computer that was trying to take over the world ala that Star Trek episode when they had a computer compute every digit of Pi. “BAT-MAN MUST ALWAYS WIN, BUT IF BAT-MAN WINS THAN BAT-MAN MUST LOSE, BUT BAT-MAN MUST ALWAYS WIN. ERR-OR, ERR-OR!“
03 Jun 2008 at 8:25 pm
Quoteman but Bob Kane’s Bat-man had to ask directions at least once He has to lose! No Superhero gets LOST
04 Jun 2008 at 6:56 pm
QuoteIs this Rumble Pants or Countdown Arena?
Adam West Batman should always win. While any of the other Batmans (Batmen? Batmi?) would be frozen staring at the Batman with the pot belly, Westman would simply take a canister of ozone killing Bat-Anti-Batman Spray out of his Utility Belt.
04 Jun 2008 at 7:40 pm
QuoteYeah, but fifteen Batmans (Batmen?) lose. At least that’s how I’m looking at it.
05 Jun 2008 at 10:15 pm
QuoteWith West losing so closely, I call for a loser’s bracket with the winner of that taking on the winner of the winner’s bracket. Thus, West will win it all. And so will Batman.
06 Jun 2008 at 11:10 am
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