Batman may not have any traditional superpowers, but there’s no denying he’s an incredibly powerful character. Between his tactical genius, peak physical conditioning, incredible tech and gadgets, and even his impressive skills as a detective, Batman is a true force to be reckoned with in the main DC universe. It allows him to fight alongside some incredibly powerful heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman (and even hold his own against them) and take on some terrifying threats.
But the Batman of main DC universe isn’t the only version of the character. With as vast as the DC Multiverse is, there are plenty of other, alternative takes on the character and some of them are even more powerful and sometimes terrifyingly so. Here are the 10 most powerful alternative versions of Batman from across the DC Multiverse.
10) White Lantern Batman
Batman has had a turn as a White Lantern a couple of times in comics, first in Blackest Night, but Batman Universe #5 is the time that stands out as being one of the truly most powerful alternative forms of Batman in comics. In the story, Batman is gunned down by Vandal Savage in Crime Alley, but that isn’t the end of the line for the hero. He’s resurrected by a White Lantern ring that gives him new healing abilities and control over the emotional spectrum.
It was a major power upgrade. The White Lantern ring briefly made Batman one of the most powerful beings in the entire universe. Batman was even able to use the ring to defeat Vandal Savage. However, the ring did eventually let Batman go and he was left pretty much unchanged by the situation.
9) The Devastator
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It takes extreme measures to fight a Superman gone rogue and extreme measures are exactly how you get The Devastator. First appearing in Dark Days: The Casting, The Devastator came about when Batman injected himself with the Doomsday virus in order to try to stop an evil rogue Superman in this reality.
The Devastator is an unholy amalgamation of Bruce Wayne’s intellect and the power of Doomsday. It makes him physically able to take on Superman, but it has a very high cost. The virus mutates and eventually turns Batman into a full-on monster.
8) God of Knowledge
People like to say that Batman knows everything but what if he actually did? What if he had the power of a god? That’s more or less the premise behind God of Knowledge Batman. First appearing in Justice League #42, during the Darkseid War where the world is threatened by the Anti-Monitor, Batman takes a set in the Mobius Chair.
That act gives him absolute knowledge of the entire universe and, more than that, the ability to not just manipulate reality but that of multiversal travel as well. However, being the “Bat-God” has a downside. Batman ends up with an addiction to the knowledge and is so obsessed that he has to be forcibly separated from the chair.
7) Hellbat
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This one might be cheating just a little since it’s technically an armor rather than an entirely different version of Batman, but it’s so powerful and impressive that we feel like it makes the list. First appearing in Batman and Robin #33, the Hellbat armor is one of Batman’s most powerful. The suit was designed and built by Batman with an assist from the Justice League so that the hero could take on superhuman threats.
This thing has some insane features. The armor is made of shifting nanokinetic metal which was controlled with a voice-activated AI. It features cloaking so Batman can be totally invisible, the cape turns to wings so he can fly, and it even has a mechanism so that he can send out a blast of energy from the chest insignia. The only problem is that it drains his metabolism so it’s not exactly something that is meant for long term use.
6) The Drowned
Not all-powerful alternative versions of Batman are heroes and that includes The Drowned. Bryce Wayne from Earth -11, a gender-swapped world in the Dark Multiverse, is certainly no hero. She’s actually a serial killer, one who goes after the superpowered in the name of vengeance after the murder of Catman/Sylvester Kyle. At some point, Batwoman takes on this reality’s Aquawoman in a war between Atlantis and the surface that leaves Gotham underwater and Aquawoman dead — and Batwoman changing herself into an aquatic nightmare.
Calling herself The Drowned, this evil Batman variant has the same mental prowess and physical abilities that the main reality Batman has, but she also has some scary supernatural powers, including mind control. She’s powerful and very, very scary.
5) Superbat
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If Batman and Superman are two of the best heroes in DC, so much so that they’re even called World’s Finest, why not smush them together to get the ultimate hero? Well, that’s how you get Superbat. In Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #4, the demon Nezha mind-controlled Green Lantern so Batman and Superman combined their spirits to get the ring off Hal. It worked… but in the process the ring fused the heroes together to create Superbat.
Superbat is pretty much what you think it is. It’s literally all of Superman’s powers combined with all of Batman’s, plus a sprinkle of limited Green Lantern construct-making power. You’d think that would make this the most powerful version of Batman ever, but Superbat can only exist for short periods of time which is a huge damper on the quest for justice.
4) Darkfather
Another entry from the Dark Multiverse, the Darkfather is a powerful and horrifying version of Bruce Wayne that has embraced Anti-Life and has been essentially transformed into what one would think Batman would be if he were a New God. That’s some serious power.
However, despite looking like Darkseid-meets-Batman and being very powerful (he can subdue Wonder Woman) he’s not all-powerful. He is ultimately taken out by a punch from Superman so while he’s much more powerful than some other versions of Batman, he’s still not tops on this list.
3) The Batman Who Laughs
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The Batman Who Laughs might be one of the most diabolical versions of Batman. Created when a version of Batman kills the Joker and said Joker’s corpse releases a toxin that turns Batman insane, the character who originates from Earth -22 is pretty much the “what if the Batman and the Joker were put into one” take on things.
Warped beyond reason, completely lacking empathy, the Batman Who Laughs is twisted and horrifying. He murders everyone around him and then goes about reshaping the multiverse. At some point, he ends up gaining Doctor Manhattan’s powers even. But even with all the “power” he gains, he’s really only notable for being exceptionally evil.
2) The Red Death
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There are a lot of mashup versions of Batman on this list, which makes sense because the only way you get a more powerful Batman really is to add the powers of some of the most impressive superheroes and now, it’s The Flash’s turn to get mixed in. First appearing in Dark Days: The Casting #1, The Red Death is another entry from the Dark Multiverse. The Red Death started as a Batman grieving the death of all his Robins so he decides, hey, I’ll just steal The Flash’s and put it to better use.
The smarts and tactical prowess of Batman plus all The Flash’s powers plus a little evil mixed in and you get a monstrous speedster that is, pretty much an evil Flash and evil Batman in one. And it’s hard to counter a speedster.
1) Zur-En-Arrh/Failsafe
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Topping the list is a two for one of sorts. Batman is notably prepared for everything, including himself so he created Zur-En-Arrh, an alternate personality that could take over for him if he were mentally incapacitated or compromised. Except, there’s a problem with that. If Batman is prepared for everything, so is this alternate version of himself and Zur-En-Arrh came up with a way to take over, permanently.
Enter Failsafe, a nearly undefeatable Batman robot that was specifically designed to be able to take out Batman and any and all of his allies if they ever crossed the line, that line being whatever Zur-En-Arrh decided it was. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Zur-En-Arrh figured out how to take over that robotic body so he could be a real boy. Evil alternate personality that knows your every move meets evil robot designed to take you out. It’s dystopian and it’s the most powerful alternative Batman to date.
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