On Bats, Ubermensch and Relate-ability.

So, I was sitting down a few minutes ago, browsing over IGN's Top 100 Superheroes list of 2011, and upon reaching the end, decided to browse the comments section. Wherein which I discovered an interesting trend. Quite a few people leaving comments on the article expressed distaste with Superman, the #1 superhero, and firmly believed he should have placed behind the #2, Batman. And that's not simply something I've seen on that article. It occurs to me that I've heard this opinion numerous times over the years.

As far as I could tell, the only reasons were either A. Batman is more relate-able, or B. Superman is Overpowered and Boring. Capitalized for my amusement.

So, I just wanted to bring up a few counterarguments to what appears to be the general opinion.

On the first point: I'm not sure about most people, but I'm pretty sure I'm not a millionaire, nay, billionaire playboy by day and an unstoppable beacon of fear to all villains by night, who learned every martial arts style ever, continuously works out and so am capable of benching at least 1000 pounds for multiple repetitions as my regular workout, had both of my parents gunned down in my face, psychologically scarring me forever and driving me to utilize my vast fortune in the pursuit of ending evil, in possession of incalculable levels of insanity and paranoia, which has driven me to design a system that can literally keep an eye on every being on the face of the planet, and a fond father figure to various young people who I've trained into a similarly unstoppable evil thrashing force with similar psychological issues, who never loses to any being unless it's to further a future victory, despite a rather vast majority of them being considerably more powerful than me.

A moment for a deep breath.

Ok.

And if it's less those issues, and more the trials Batman must deal with, Superman deals with just as many emotional and moral issues. How well would YOU manage to retain a mind for the path of righteousness when you have the ability to single-handedly change the entire societal system of the planet, simply by virtue of no one can possibly match you in strength? Not the best example of relate-able, but still an issue.

For another set of examples, Superman experiences love in it's various forms (Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Ma and Pa Kent, Kara Zor-El), hate (Darkseid, Lex Luthor), sorrow (The deaths of various people over his long tenure as Superman, his whole characterization in Kingdom Come), happiness in simple things (Ma Kent's Apple Pie. Capitalized for TRUTH.) and all of the other trials, tribulations, ups and downs of life that most of us do. And in a far more human, healthy and relate-able fashion than the Goddamned Batman. In fact, quite a few of Superman's stories are about the fact that he identifies as the totally relate-able farm boy Clark Kent far more than he does as the untouchable, iconic Superman.

As for Point B. Overpowered? Have you ever heard of The Utility Belt?  

Alright then.