User blog comment:Thundrtri/Collab with Pach! Arsene Lupin III VS Batman/@comment-143604-20130512013850

Alright, as of this start I'm not entirely sure who I'm throwing my hat in with, so let's break this down piece by piece, shall we?


 * The Arsenal- There's no doubting the effeciency of Batman's iconic Batarangs. They're dangerous projectiles that are thrown with surprising accuracy, able to cut foes like flying knives, pin them to walls and knock things out of their hands with ease, and when backed into a corner, the Batarangs work as effecient dagger-like substitute blades, allowing Batman to combine his powerful hand-to-hand skills with his mastery of fighting with blades. Countering these Batarangs, Lupin is bringing his iconic Walther handgun. The Walther has a huge advantage over the 'Rangs in a lot of regards- it's far more accurate, it's got a much longer potential range, it deals more damage fires faster, and is far easier to use. In the time it takes Batman to draw and throw a single Batarang, Lupin could easily riddle him full of holes with the Walther. Counterpoint, the Batarangs are a much more stealthy weapon- they're entirely silent and can be used to help interact with both the environment and attack from the shadows without revealing Batman's location- for a warrior who so thoroughly depends on stealth like Batman often does, especially so early in his career, this makes them a huge assett. In a similar position, the Wlather being fired will instantly reveal Lupin's location and whereabouts. Finally, the Walther has the extra surprise of firing explosive rounds as well as traditional. This leads to an interesting situation where Batman may be expecting traditional firepower, only to meet an explosive blast instead- and allows Lupin to easily make quick escapes, bring down the environment around him, or destroy potential hiding places for Batman's stealth.

Additionally, Batman's Batarangs have been seen to counter gun wielding foes many times before- he's used Batarangs to clog the barrel of firearms, blowing them up. He's used them to strike the guns out of the wielders hands, and he's used them to simply hurt the hand holding it right before firing, causing the wielder to miss. However, most of these more ridiculous feats have been performed much, much later into Batman's career than five years- where he's had far more experience using them. While there's not much you can't do after using a weapon for five years already, the fact that Batman is rarely able to clog the barrel of a gun as of now, mostly doing so in incredibly close proximity to a motionless enemy, leads me to believe that the Bat will be unable to perform the technique reliably in this scenario. The Walther has it's own disadvantages- it's a killing tool, but Lupin has no interest in actually killing Batman. The Batsuit will hold up to a few bullets before the weapon starts getting potentially lethal, but that will still cause Lupin to show restraint in its use, making him hesitant to do something that would result in Batman's death. Fortunately for Lupin, not every shot causes lethal effects, and with his incredible accuracy and acrobatics, he'd easily be able to land a critical blow somewhere like the knee, elbow or spine if he had to. Ultimately, I'd have to call their primary weapons even- Batman's Batarangs are more versatile and are more useful during stealth, plus they double as melee weapons, but Lupin's Walther outdoes the 'rangs in literally every combat relevent regard- only falling short because of Lupin's unwillingness to kill, something that the Walther will be far more likely to do than Lupin will be comfortable with in most scenarios.

As far as bombs go, there's not much to talk about. Batman's bombs are entirely non-lethal, but his smoke pellets are extremely effective for stunning foes to allow for a quick escape, and his thermite bombs can be used to traverse the environment and burn out some of Lupin's gadgets. However, Lupin can perform all of these himself, and his own bombs are more dangerous as they aren't necesarrily non-lethal, even if his more traditional explosive bombs will most likely be weak enough of an explosion to only wound and burn, not kill. As far as gadgets go, Lupin takes it in a sweep- Batman's got a great arsenal of tools, there's no room to question, but his gadgets are more grounded, more predictable and less concealed in most cases. Lupin is similar to the Joker in the sense that his own gadgetry is more in the realm of the ridiculous and the crazy- Lupin has better concealed, wider variety and less predictable tools, and unlike the example of the Joker, Lupin's gadgets are designed to be functional over funny, and they can seal the deal to get the job done, allowing him to counter and one-up every tool Batman brings to the table.

Ultimately, Lupin takes the Arsenal aspect of the battle.


 * H2H Skills- Batman's hand-to-hand has been trained, honed and perfected to the peak of human potential. While five years into his career, he was still a little rough around the ears at times, and occasionaly prone to making mistakes or misjudging his abilities, he was still a force to be reckoned with. Nevertheless, Batman is still a master of a laundry list of martial arts and fighting styles, and is still able to keep up with some of the best in the DCU. Lupin himself is certainly no slouch- his reactive and defensive fighting style forces the enemy to come to him, and he easily exploits their strikes and takes them down with precision, skill and style, making him deadly close up. Nevertheless, Batman is no stranger to reactionary styles- he himself is a master in some of them, and has frequently used them to take down literal armies of enemies. As impressive as Lupin can be in this territory, the sheer wealth of skills, raw power and the versatility of Batman's own skill in hand-to-hand combat leave the professional theif without breathing room to really win out in a fist fight, though he's certainly not defenseless and will still put up one hell of a fight up close.


 * Planning and Smarts- Both of these men are geniuses in their own rights. Batman has a wide arsenal of knowledge that covers everything the plot requires him to know off the top of his head today, and his abilities of perception and deduction make him a master detective that allows him to pinpoint the most minute of details in a crimescene, extrapolate on them, and discover a suspect and motive in moments. Lupin may be less "walking encyclopedia", but when it comes to information that's relevent to this battle, he's got at least ass good a grasp on the information as the Dark Knight Detective does, and as the World's greatest thief, his knowledge and tactical skills are unparalleled- he can pull of an expert heist with such skill and gusto that even the people he's robbing are unaware he's robbed them. Lupin is also a master escape artist, making catching him a nightmare the likes of which will push Bats to the absolute limit.

Lupin gets a huge benefit in this area as well- the scenario depicted here allows Lupin to intricately plan out the entire event, and prepare for Batman. He's the one putting the actions into motion here. It's his show, Batman's just taking part. Forced to limit himself to reactions to Lupin's actions, Batman won't be able to demonstrate full use of his intellect to corner Lupin, or challenge the thief to a battle of wits. As far as I'm concerned, Lupins tactical skill, his immense intellegence and skill in his field, and the fact that Batman has to react to his plannings, actually allow Lupin to come out on top of this- he'll be able to keep a few steps ahead of the Dark Knight and escape Gotham.


 * Vehicles- The Batmobile is no doubt the superior vessle in terms of speed and gadgetry- but this doesn't warrant a clear edge. In fact, it's iconic and instantly identifiable design might be a hendrence to Batman- as with Lupin's preptime, the Thief will be able to identify what Batman's vehicle is and prepare and account for it. Lupin's own vehicle, nothing out of the extraordinary or special, won't be winning any races, but could easily blend into the scenary of Gotham City, allowing Lupin to disappear with his prize into the Concrete Jungle.


 * Overall- This is a tough battle to decide. Batman is stronger, more physically able and as a whole, probably more intelligent than Lupin, but on the counterpoint, Lupin is the world's greatest thief, and no one can compete on his skill at what he does best- he's a better planner, a better tactican and a better escape artist than Bats, and he brings a harder hitting arsenal of weaponry with a wider array of versatile and concealed tools. Add in that Lupin's objective isn't even necesarilly to defeat Batman in a fight, and that he's the one who has the benefit of forcing Batman to react to him, and it feels like Lupin is going to come out ahead of this one.