We often discuss which heroes and villains are the strongest in the world of Marvel and DC, but it’s not often we pull in an entirely separate genre. Horror villains could serve as some of the ultimate villains in the DC universe, though as formidable as they may be, some are no match for Batman.
It’s not a knock on these horror icons, of course. Batman is programmed to always win because it's a part of his character. He’s not the strongest, but he’s always more cunning, brilliant and resourceful than even some of the best horror villains out here. Case in point, I ran through a list of some top horror icons just to show how easily Batman could defeat them.
The Jigsaw Killer
John Kramer’s love of puppets is a bit odd, but there’s no denying he’s one of the most clever horror icons in pop culture. What’s most interesting about Kramer, frequently referred to as The Jigsaw Killer in Saw movies, is that his motives, although harsh, never actually intend to kill his victims. Kramer is careful to give every victim a chance at surviving a cruel fate, though admittedly others can get hurt as a result. As clever as he may be, I’m not entirely sure he’s at all a match for Batman.
Any villain whose challenges are riddle-based is going to struggle against The World’s Greatest Detective. Batman can be tricked by enemies, but given enough time, he can wrangle his way out of just about anything. The only line Batman really draws is killing, and Kramer wouldn’t require that of Batman, I’d reckon. More often than not, the challenges are tied to moral or character flaws, so Batman could certainly figure out the flaw and solve it. Unlike others, though, I don’t see him being an acolyte of Jigsaw, but maybe he’d take some notes on interrogating future enemies.
Hannibal Lecter
Hannibal Lecter is, like many members of Batman’s rogues' gallery, a peculiar guy. He’s a deranged cannibalistic killer, but he’s also a man of class who’d fit in at elite social gatherings without raising an eyebrow to those that didn’t know him. He’s like The Joker... that is, if the Clown Prince of Crime despised chaos and violence, but ultimately couldn’t help himself. A sophisticated Joker certainly could be a formidable opponent, though I can certainly see his weakness being exploited by The Dark Knight rather easily.
Hannibal Lecter is an easy enemy unless he has some leverage or information. Even then, Batman is more than capable of getting the answers he wants out of people and could easily antagonize Lecter into attacking him and getting the information he needs. Batman is well-used to narcissistic types given the villains he goes up against, so this one is an easy win.
Freddy Krueger
A Nightmare On Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger is one of the hardest villains to face, especially since we’re hardwired all our lives to remember that our dreams aren’t real. Many victims have died by Freddy’s hand, and there’s no denying that 9/10 times, he’s the master of the dream world. He would definitely take out a lot of Batman’s friends and allies with relative ease, though I’m not sure he’ll ever conquer Bruce Wayne if forced to go toe-to-toe.
There’s a precedent that Batman would be successful because he has a villain similar to Freddy Krueger in his rogues' gallery. Doctor Destiny is a DC villain who uses dreams to mess with his victims, and he's been able to successfully infiltrate and invade the mind of Batman in a dreamlike state in the past. Because Batman is someone who has to watch out for Doctor Destiny or even Scarecrow’s fear toxin, he’s someone who has contingencies that help him establish true reality. I’m not saying it would happen immediately, but I think Freddy would be in some deep shit the moment Batman came to and realized what he’s facing is not real.
Michael Myers
The horror genre has a good deal of supernatural brutes, and while I could put Jason Vorhees and Leatherface on this list as well, I might as well say they’re lumped in with perhaps the most mystical force of them all (depending on the movie you watch), Michael Myers. He is murderous, super strong, relentless and able to sustain an insane amount of damage before he’s even slowed down. There’s an argument to be made he’d give more super-powered DC heroes a run for their money, though I think Batman could take Myers down.
Michael Myers is like a mix of Solomon Grundy with the personality of Victor Zsasz, which is a truly formidable combination. Batman would definitely have one hell of a time trying to match Myers in a blow-for-blow street fight, especially with the villain's nigh-invulnerability. The thing that works to Batman’s advantage is that Myers doesn’t come off as incredibly bright, so if he had enough time and ability to hide from Myers, trapping him in a litany of ways likely wouldn’t be an issue. The big question is how many people would die in the time it takes for Batman to take him down. I’d love to find out!
Samara Morgan
Samara Morgan isn’t quite the physical threat when it comes to horror icons, and she’s not some sort of mastermind either. She’s just a girl who was murdered, and as a result, became a vengeful spirit who swore to kill a number of people who happened upon her cursed VHS tape. That alone puts her at a massive advantage against Batman because we know Batman isn’t going to soil his billionaire eyes with that low resolution, but if the situation called for it, he probably would.
Samara doesn’t stand a chance against Batman largely because he’d be able to figure out everything he needed to defeat her in under a week’s time. Batman has solved some of his greatest mysteries in the course of one evening, so giving him a week to figure out the premise of The Ring is a walk in the park. No disrespect to Samara Morgan, but she really has no place being mentioned in the same breath as Batman.
Chucky
Chucky is deceptively malicious, but a lot of his deal relies on the element of surprise. Few people expect their toy to become sentient via the spirit of a serial killer and try to kill them, which makes sense. These things don’t happen all that often in the real world, though in the DC Universe, it’s a lot more common of an occurrence.
Batman often takes on The Ventriloquist, a.k.a. Arnold Wesker, and his mafioso puppet Scarface, so I can’t imagine taking out Chucky would be all that difficult at all. In fact, I’d appreciate seeing Scarface and Chucky going toe-to-toe, as that would be certainly a better matchup than pinning Chucky against Batman. This one would end quickly unless it was the new Chucky that could hack bat gadgets, but even then it’d be done quickly.
Be sure to watch both Batman and Halloween classics this October, because a combination of the two is a joyous affair not enough people experience. Speaking of which, we’ve recently gotten more details about the Batcave of Robert Pattinson’s Batman, so be sure to read up on that.
