Spiderman v. Batman

[CelestialStick]

Ok, now that we've definitively resolved that Superman could kill Batman with a mere flick of a finger, who do you think would win in a fight between Spiderman and Batman? ;D

[Holy_Knight]

Despite the fact that I didn't take part in the other thread, I feel compelled to point out that Batman coudl kill Superman as well. As for Spiderman vs. Batman, it's like most things involvoing Batman: With enough info and planning, Batman wins everytime. If it was just a straightup fight and they'd never encountered each other before, Spiderman's superpowers win it for him.

[ed]

depends on which book it's in, who publishes it and the writer. although in a void, i gotta go w/ batman.

whaddaya mean, "why"? very simple:

don (the mutant) quoth
my mon bats don't shiv.

:>

ed

[chibibar]

Batman does have quite a bit of standard arsenal.

Spiderman - Super Strength, Reflex, Danger sense/super hearing/sight and web (natural - movie, or mechanical - comic)

BUT Spiderman can get hurt. He is not bulletproof or cut proof so it is possible to hit him (when you manage to)

Batman - usually have the BatCar, boomerange, sleeping gas spray, rope gun (whatever it is called) and half dozen stuff PLUS batman DOES wear bulletproof costume and have good strength and reflex (higher than normal human)

SO......

Swinging from building to building.... both can do it

Long range attack - both can do it

Different type of array of weapons - Batman wins

I think Batman will win.... of course Batman can offer Spiderman a good paying job :) Spiderman might conced :) I still think Spiderman is one of the poorest superheroes :)

[Haggis_McCrablice]

Now are we talking the classic Spidey with the webshooter and fluid cartridges under his sleeve, or the film version, with fleshy spinnerettes in his wrist? And technically, if he's supposed to be biologically arachnidlike, shouldn't be be shooting those webs out of his butt?

Tough call, although Batman may have an edge due to years of training and a larger arsenal. Spidey can flip and jump and climb up walls without a grappling hook, sure, but essentially he's just a guy squirting glorified boogers everyplace...though he does have that cool red light on his belt. Maybe he can blind Batsie long enough to scuttle off into the shadows? :-[

[Krytha]

I think Batman will win.... of course Batman can offer Spiderman a good paying job :) Spiderman might conced :) I still think Spiderman is one of the poorest superheroes :)

Hahaha yes, that would be great for Spiderman, but I don't know if you can call that winning...

[Callos_DeTerran]

Actually as much as I may hate to do this I have to go against Batman. Why? Simple. Batman has a way to defeat every superhero from the DC universe, not the MARVEL! So him coming up against Spiderman is pretty much a blind fight. Props to Spidey also for taking on people more similiar to Batman too (And that Batman hasn't faced anyone like Spidey to my knowledge).

That and both of them prefer hand to hand combat. In that case Spiderman wins. Badly. With the ability to dodge nigh anything and plus the fact he is VERY strong I think he could do it. Granted Bats would put up a good fight but I think Spiderman would win.

[Millikin_Erreene]

"batman DOES wear bulletproof costume and have good strength and reflex (higher than normal human)"

Two words for you in regards to Spider-man's costume: Unstable Molecules.

Spider-man has the proportionate strength of a spider, a creature that is capable of moving/lifting on average, fifty times its own weight. That would make Spider-man significantly stronger than Batman. His spider-sense would also make it impossible for Batman to get the drop on him, which is a major asset for Batman in enabling him to choose when and where a fight takes place.


Things in Batman's favor:

Equipment (that alone won't help against Spider-man though, as the Punisher can attest)
Superior combat training
Superior experience in having to pull a rabbit out of a hat for many different scenarios

Author/comic book company bias aside, I think this fight would be one of the few legitimate stalemates. Both are intelligent combatants and proficient in maneuvering early to get the superior ground over an opponent instead of waiting to be overpowered.

[Beleriphon]

In this contest I have to go with Batman, who's only power is capitalism! From that alone Spiderman loses.

As an aside there are some pretty goofy comics where Batman and Spiderman team up. In one they fight Ras al'Ghul.

[Beleriphon]

In this contest I have to go with Batman, who's only power is capitalism! From that alone Spiderman loses.

As an aside there are some pretty goofy comics where Batman and Spiderman team up. In one they fight Ras al'Ghul.

[Tiberian]

Spider-Man wins the first fight. Batman won't be able to evade the Spider-Sense. And, with Spidey's new suit (extra limbs and gliding) and new powers (ew, crazy stingers with poison, er, venom) Batman will fall. However, Batman never loses round two. Then he knows the tricks and has prepared for them.

And Spider-Man no longer needs money, he has an awesome apartment courtesy of Tony Stark. He has two jobs (High School Science teacher and Daily Bugle photographer) and a hefty stipend from the Avengers. Not to mention his wife is a well-paid actress/fashion model.

[Tack122]

offtopic... (I never saw the superman vs. batman one)
but, batman would win agianst superman, because, batman always keeps a small chunk of kryptonite in his belt (superman gave it to him)

[CelestialStick]

Despite the fact that I didn't take part in the other thread, I feel compelled to point out that Batman coudl kill Superman as well.

Could, if he did everything right and Superman did everything wrong.

As for Spiderman vs. Batman, it's like most things involvoing Batman: With enough info and planning, Batman wins everytime.

Nope. Remember that Bane broke the Bat. All the planning and superior intellect and gadgetry didn't prevent Bane from just using superior force to beat the Batman.

If it was just a straightup fight and they'd never encountered each other before, Spiderman's superpowers win it for him.

You don't think the Batbugspray Batman always carried with him might carry the day? ;)

[KayJay]

lol let's NOT raise the Superman-Batman debate any more, as it's already got it's own thread :)
I think Spiderman would most likely win- Spider sense means that just about any plan that Batman comes up with can be avoided and countered on the spot, and Peter's pretty up there in the cleverness stakes- he did design webshooters as a teenager.

[Rex_Hondo]

Nope. Remember that Bane broke the Bat. All the planning and superior intellect and gadgetry didn't prevent Bane from just using superior force to beat the Batman.

Did you actually read Knightfall? Bane used superior force, true, but only after sufficiently weakening Batman by freeing all of Arkham Assylum, then sending his personal goons in, only showing himself when Batman was ready to fall over from exhaustion anyway. Every time they've met since that, Bats has given Bane a thorough spanking.

But, to Spiderman...

Spider-sense certainly gives Spidey an edge, but it can be and has been overcome before, through technology, overwhelming power, martial prowess, or combinations thereof. Batman has two of the three, but that still leaves Spidey's other powers. Batman has shown the capacity to stand toe to toe (so to speak) with superpowered beings before, but it would still be a close fight.

The way I see it, how things play out depends largely on the playing field. Regardless, I see Spider-Man narrowly winning the first engagement, with Batman escaping to regroup and attempt to gather intel. Now, if Spidey is in Gotham, Batman has the security of the Batcave and the resources of Oracle and the JLA mainframe to call upon. If, in the first fight, or in a subsequent encounter, he intuits Spidey's spider-sense (a distinct possibility, being the supremely keen observer he is) but not necessarily HOW it works, he finds a way to fake it out, possibly luring web-head into a battleground filled with hidden, non-lethal explosives. Not enough to kill, but enough to send any danger-sense haywire. It'd still be a hard fight, but I give Batman (completely arbitrary) 75% odds of victory for home-field advantage.

Now, if Batman is in New York, the first fight goes the same, but Bats has to go to ground or keep moving, not having his own resources to call upon. In that situation, I see Batman attempting, and very likely succeeding in hacking the Avenger's database and getting hard info on Spidey's abilities, and probably likely sources of materiale if he thinks he has time. Next is the really dangerous part, especially if he sent up a red flag or two during his information gathering. He has to break into the Baxter Building or someplace else with sufficient technology to give him the edge he knows he'll want in another confrontation with the Wall-Crawler. Assuming the FF are on vacation (and why not? This is Spidey vs Bats, not Bats vs the Marvel Universe) he gets in, but likely trips something Reed set up to send up an alarm across town, bringing Spider-Man right to him. Batman is smart, but this is Reed freakin' Richards we're talking about. If Batman can find something useful before Spider-Man gets there, great, but even not, he know's the full range of his abilities and has planned for the worse. However, he hasn't had a chance to prep the battlefield, and Spidey is unhappy that Batman's been mucking around with his friends' stuff. So, on Spidey's home turf, HE gets the arbitrary 75% chance of victory.

I'm not even going to TRY to determine what happens if they both get yanked into the Image universe or something...

[KayJay]

Spider-sense certainly gives Spidey an edge, but it can be and has been overcome before, through technology, overwhelming power, martial prowess, or combinations thereof. Batman has two of the three, but that still leaves Spidey's other powers. Batman has shown the capacity to stand toe to toe (so to speak) with superpowered beings before, but it would still be a close fight.

I would say that Batman only qualifies for technology- his martial prowess isn't that amazing, as he isn't exactly the best fighter in the DC universe, he's meant to be the best detective.

The way I see it, how things play out depends largely on the playing field. Regardless, I see Spider-Man narrowly winning the first engagement, with Batman escaping to regroup and attempt to gather intel. Now, if Spidey is in Gotham, Batman has the security of the Batcave and the resources of Oracle and the JLA mainframe to call upon.

Does Oracle give info to Bats any more? She's running with the birds of prey mainly, isn't she? The JLA disbanded too, and the moon base was destroyed, wasn't it? If Spiderman somehow lands in the batcave, then the balance does tip in Batman's favour, for obvious reasons of safeguards, but I don't think batman would lure him there.

If, in the first fight, or in a subsequent encounter, he intuits Spidey's spider-sense (a distinct possibility, being the supremely keen observer he is) but not necessarily HOW it works, he finds a way to fake it out, possibly luring web-head into a battleground filled with hidden, non-lethal explosives. Not enough to kill, but enough to send any danger-sense haywire. It'd still be a hard fight, but I give Batman (completely arbitrary) 75% odds of victory for home-field advantage.

Spiderman does grade threats with spider sense- high threats trigger it a LOT more than small ones, which are more a tingling in the back of his mind. I don't think lots of small threats really would overload him at all, given that he commonly uses his spidersense to deal with a lot of threats at once.

Now, if Batman is in New York, the first fight goes the same, but Bats has to go to ground or keep moving, not having his own resources to call upon. In that situation, I see Batman attempting, and very likely succeeding in hacking the Avenger's database and getting hard info on Spidey's abilities, and probably likely sources of materiale if he thinks he has time. Next is the really dangerous part, especially if he sent up a red flag or two during his information gathering. He has to break into the Baxter Building or someplace else with sufficient technology to give him the edge he knows he'll want in another confrontation with the Wall-Crawler. Assuming the FF are on vacation (and why not? This is Spidey vs Bats, not Bats vs the Marvel Universe) he gets in, but likely trips something Reed set up to send up an alarm across town, bringing Spider-Man right to him. Batman is smart, but this is Reed freakin' Richards we're talking about. If Batman can find something useful before Spider-Man gets there, great, but even not, he know's the full range of his abilities and has planned for the worse. However, he hasn't had a chance to prep the battlefield, and Spidey is unhappy that Batman's been mucking around with his friends' stuff. So, on Spidey's home turf, HE gets the arbitrary 75% chance of victory.

I don't think Batman could break into the FF building, or get any info of use, mainly for the reason that Reed is many many many times smarter than him, being able to create cosmic devices from household appliances and the like. I don't think we should be able to bring other heroes into it though, as when it's meant to be Spidey vs Bats, then you keep it that way, you don't say "give Bats access to cosmic level technology and then we'll see".

[Rex_Hondo]

I would say that Batman only qualifies for technology- his martial prowess isn't that amazing, as he isn't exactly the best fighter in the DC universe, he's meant to be the best detective.

Balderdash. He's one of the top (human) masters of the fighting arts in the DC universe, matched only by Lady Shiva, Ra's al Gul, and maybe one or two others I can't remember. That's been established time and time again, besting superhuman enemies and even Predators and Aliens in hand to hand combat. (No reason to believe they can't be considered canon, I don't see any Elseworlds imprint on those books)

Oh, but I forgot, that's only because of plot devices and writer bias...

[KayJay]

I've never heard Batman be referred to as anywhere near the top in terms of fighting skill.
People like Batgirl are on another level to Batman, and he's pretty much acknowledged that fact, and she's Shiva's equal if not better. I've not seen anything that says that Batman is one of the world's best fighters. I'd rank him in maybe the world's top 30 or so, but when you get higher up there, he's not fought any of the Shiva-level people and won to actually warrant saying he's that near the top. As a baseline, when he fights someone like Cain, he can come through while being hurt, but someone like Cassandra (Batgirl) can throw him about effortlessly like a ragdoll.

[CelestialStick]

offtopic... (I never saw the superman vs. batman one)
but, batman would win agianst superman, because, batman always keeps a small chunk of kryptonite in his belt (superman gave it to him)

I recommend that if you're interested you go read that thread. It's somewhere on page 1 or perhaps page 2 by now. It's not that hard for Superman to deal with the Kyrtonite. He's done it repeatedly.

[Old_el_Paso]

Now are we talking the classic Spidey with the webshooter and fluid cartridges under his sleeve, or the film version, with fleshy spinnerettes in his wrist? And technically, if he's supposed to be biologically arachnidlike, shouldn't be be shooting those webs out of his butt?

Tough call, although Batman may have an edge due to years of training and a larger arsenal. Spidey can flip and jump and climb up walls without a grappling hook, sure, but essentially he's just a guy squirting glorified boogers everyplace...though he does have that cool red light on his belt. Maybe he can blind Batsie long enough to scuttle off into the shadows? :-[

Ah, like Manspider. Manspider, Manspider, does whatever a man can...

[CelestialStick]

Ah, like Manspider. Manspider, Manspider, does whatever a man can...

LOL! That's great!
I was going to say, one way to determine who would win is to compare theme song lyrics. As everyone knows, theme song lyrics are critical for superheroes.

Ok, let's start with Spiderman:
Spiderman, Spiderman,
Does whatever a spider can
Spins a web, any size,
Catches thieves just like flies
Look Out!
Here comes the Spiderman.

Is he strong?
Listen bud,
He's got radioactive blood.
Can he swing from a thread
Take a look overhead
Hey, there
There goes the Spiderman.

In the chill of night
At the scene of a crime
Like a streak of light
He arrives just in time.

Spiderman, Spiderman
Friendly neighborhood Spiderman
Wealth and fame
He's ingnored
Action is his reward.

To him, life is a great big bang up
Whenever there's a hang up
You'll find the Spider man.

Ok, now let's compare those to the Batman lyrics:

Batman!
Nana nana nana nana
Batman!
Nana nana nana nana
Batman! Batman Batman!
Nana nana nana nana nana na...
Batman!

So obviously Spiderman wins hands down. ;D

[CelestialStick]

Did you actually read Knightfall?

Nope. I'm an old man, not a kid. That means I don't read comic books anymore--I sit on the couch and watch tv. ;)

Bane used superior force, true, but only after sufficiently weakening Batman by freeing all of Arkham Assylum, then sending his personal goons in, only showing himself when Batman was ready to fall over from exhaustion anyway. Every time they've met since that, Bats has given Bane a thorough spanking.

But, to Spiderman...

Spider-sense certainly gives Spidey an edge, but it can be and has been overcome before, through technology, overwhelming power, martial prowess, or combinations thereof. Batman has two of the three, but that still leaves Spidey's other powers. Batman has shown the capacity to stand toe to toe (so to speak) with superpowered beings before, but it would still be a close fight.

The way I see it, how things play out depends largely on the playing field. Regardless, I see Spider-Man narrowly winning the first engagement, with Batman escaping to regroup and attempt to gather intel. Now, if Spidey is in Gotham, Batman has the security of the Batcave and the resources of Oracle and the JLA mainframe to call upon. If, in the first fight, or in a subsequent encounter, he intuits Spidey's spider-sense (a distinct possibility, being the supremely keen observer he is) but not necessarily HOW it works, he finds a way to fake it out, possibly luring web-head into a battleground filled with hidden, non-lethal explosives. Not enough to kill, but enough to send any danger-sense haywire. It'd still be a hard fight, but I give Batman (completely arbitrary) 75% odds of victory for home-field advantage.

Now, if Batman is in New York, the first fight goes the same, but Bats has to go to ground or keep moving, not having his own resources to call upon. In that situation, I see Batman attempting, and very likely succeeding in hacking the Avenger's database and getting hard info on Spidey's abilities, and probably likely sources of materiale if he thinks he has time. Next is the really dangerous part, especially if he sent up a red flag or two during his information gathering. He has to break into the Baxter Building or someplace else with sufficient technology to give him the edge he knows he'll want in another confrontation with the Wall-Crawler. Assuming the FF are on vacation (and why not? This is Spidey vs Bats, not Bats vs the Marvel Universe) he gets in, but likely trips something Reed set up to send up an alarm across town, bringing Spider-Man right to him. Batman is smart, but this is Reed freakin' Richards we're talking about. If Batman can find something useful before Spider-Man gets there, great, but even not, he know's the full range of his abilities and has planned for the worse. However, he hasn't had a chance to prep the battlefield, and Spidey is unhappy that Batman's been mucking around with his friends' stuff. So, on Spidey's home turf, HE gets the arbitrary 75% chance of victory.

I'm not even going to TRY to determine what happens if they both get yanked into the Image universe or something...

What's the Image universe? An alternate comic series?

Isn't Oracle the crippled Barbara Gordon? When does she get healed again so she can become chief of police in Batman Beyond? ;)

I've never heard Batman be referred to as anywhere near the top in terms of fighting skill.
People like Batgirl are on another level to Batman, and he's pretty much acknowledged that fact, and she's Shiva's equal if not better. I've not seen anything that says that Batman is one of the world's best fighters. I'd rank him in maybe the world's top 30 or so, but when you get higher up there, he's not fought any of the Shiva-level people and won to actually warrant saying he's that near the top. As a baseline, when he fights someone like Cain, he can come through while being hurt, but someone like Cassandra (Batgirl) can throw him about effortlessly like a ragdoll.

Who is this Cassandra? I had a girlfriend named Cassandra, but the only thing she could throw around like a ragdoll was cigarettes. ;) So is Cassandra the new Batgirl after Barbara Gordon got crippled? A Batgirl who could throw around the Batman like a ragdoll. Interesting.

So Batman beat an Alien and a Predator in hand-to-hand combat? Wow!

I have to say that when I started this thread I figured that everyone would go for Batman beating Spiderman with no trouble. I mean Spiderman is so much weaker than Superman, yet on the Batman v. Superman thread so many people were sure that Batman "wins everytime." Maybe I should start a Spiderman v. Superman thread! :) I realize that, as someone on the Batman vs. Superman thread said, the relationships aren't necessarily transitive. It's at least possible that Superman could beat Spiderman, Spiderman beat Batman, and Batman beat Superman. It could be, as the person suggested, more like a game of rock, paper, scizzors, where rock beats scizzors, scizzors beats paper, and paper beats rock. Or since there are so many superheroes, it's more like a game of Pokemon, where fighting beats flying, flying beats bug, bug beats grass, grass beats water, water beats fire, fire beats bug and grass, water beats rock and ground, ground beats electric, electric beats water, poison beats bug, psychic beats poison, dark beats pyschic, and a host of others I don't recall anymore. :)

Of course it's always important to remember that Popcorn beats them all because, in the words of the all-important theme song the popcorn can't be beat! ;D

I just want to say, seriously, that I'm impressed by the level of argumentation on this thread. Excellent use of fact and logic! (and humor ;D)

Oh, by the way, who is Lady Shiva? I mean I knew Shiva was an ancient Hindi god, but I'm not familiar with her from the comic books.

[KayJay]

Batman beyond isn't considered Canon to the DC universe, same as any of the DC TV shows.

Image is another another comic books company/ world. I don't read many of their series, but I do read "Invincible" occasionally... pretty good :)

Oh and Cassandra is Batgirl's name, and her mother and father are Kain (world's best assassin I think is what he's meant to be?) and Shiva (world's best fighter).

[CelestialStick]

Batman beyond isn't considered Canon to the DC universe, same as any of the DC TV shows.

I know that; thus the joke about her getting healed again. ;) Still, even if it's not canon, it should be at least rifle. ;D

Image is another another comic books company/ world. I don't read many of their series, but I do read "Invincible" occasionally... pretty good :)

Is Invincible the name of another superhero?

[KayJay]

Well... She is getting feeling in her toes back in the actual DC series, so I wouldn't discount her managing to use her legs again... Plus in a world like DC, someone coming back from being paralysed isn't the most surprising thing ever :)

Invincible would be another superhero, yes.

[aaronbourque]

Despite the fact that I didn't take part in the other thread, I feel compelled to point out that Batman coudl kill Superman as well. As for Spiderman vs. Batman, it's like most things involvoing Batman: With enough info and planning, Batman wins everytime. If it was just a straightup fight and they'd never encountered each other before, Spiderman's superpowers win it for him.

You forget one simple thing: Spiderman is very unlucky. Superpowers help, but bad luck hurts worse.

Aaron "The Mad Whitaker" Bourque

[6079smithw]

Ok, now that we've definitively resolved that Superman could kill Batman with a mere flick of a finger, who do you think would win in a fight between Spiderman and Batman? ;D

You know, retroactively deciding you won a debate is kind of annoying. (I would say it ended in a stalemate, since no-one convinced anyone.)

Anyway, I'd probably go with Spiderman, assuming this wasn't some sort of retroactive change where the two had always co-existed; as has been pointed out, Batman wouldn't know Spidey or his methods well enough properly to plan. Besides, Spiderman is a lot more adaptable and clever than certain other Batman opponents whom I won't mention right now; he fights opponents who are stronger than he is regularly, so would be capable of dealing with a real challenge.

Although Spiderman loses a lot, and Batman almost never does. So just on win percentage, Bats takes it in a walk. Spiderman would get a cold and his aunt would die (again) and Mary Jane would turn into a demon, etc., etc. Luck is not on that guy's side.

[ed]

celestial stick: you haven't been reading comics since sometime before the 90s, i see. :> image was created by rob liefeld, a middling artist who formerly worked at marvel, and publishes creator-owned comics. philosophically, i think iimage is a great idea. but as a former comics reader myself, it does make for a whole lot more splash pages than is good for storytelling, IMHO.

i think the bats/spidey question comes down to one thing: what is the essence of the character?

bats: sheer determination and ingenuity.
spidey: murphy kicks him in the junk when he's down.

just on that basis alone, i think bats wins.

ed

[Holy_Knight]

Could, if he did everything right and Superman did everything wrong.

Aside from the fact that Batman nearly always does do everything right, this has happened before. Batman has completely incapactitated Superman on multiple occasions. Like I was saying before, obviously Superman wins if it's just hand to hand combat with no planning. But with a plan, it's Batman for sure.

Nope. Remember that Bane broke the Bat. All the planning and superior intellect and gadgetry didn't prevent Bane from just using superior force to beat the Batman.

Nope. I'm an old man, not a kid. That means I don't read comic books anymore--I sit on the couch and watch tv. ;)

Ah, I see. Rex Hondo is right--to say that Bane vs. Batman was just "Brawn vs. brains/gadgets" is woefully inaccurate. It's basically a given that in a fight where Batman hadn't been completely broken down and exhausted way past his limits both physically and mentally, he'd mop the floor with Bane. In any case, if you're a fan of Batman, it's worth it to you to read the whole Knightfall-Knightquest-Knightsend arc, since you'd enjoy it and it's so important in the charcter's history.

I've never heard Batman be referred to as anywhere near the top in terms of fighting skill.
People like Batgirl are on another level to Batman, and he's pretty much acknowledged that fact, and she's Shiva's equal if not better. I've not seen anything that says that Batman is one of the world's best fighters. I'd rank him in maybe the world's top 30 or so, but when you get higher up there, he's not fought any of the Shiva-level people and won to actually warrant saying he's that near the top. As a baseline, when he fights someone like Cain, he can come through while being hurt, but someone like Cassandra (Batgirl) can throw him about effortlessly like a ragdoll.

Again, Rex is right about this one--Batman is supposed to be one of the top fighters in the DC universe. As for Lady Shiva, remember that when she retrains Bruce in Knightsend, she seems to admit that he had been either her equal or very nearly her equal before, which is why she agrees to help him regain his edge. As for Batgirl, it's seemed to me that Batman could take her down if he had to, but that it would take almost all of his energy to do so. I admit that I haven't been able to read many comics lately though, so there may be things which contradict that either way.

[KayJay]

Again, Rex is right about this one--Batman is supposed to be one of the top fighters in the DC universe. As for Lady Shiva, remember that when she retrains Bruce in Knightsend, she seems to admit that he had been either her equal or very nearly her equal before, which is why she agrees to help him regain his edge. As for Batgirl, it's seemed to me that Batman could take her down if he had to, but that it would take almost all of his energy to do so. I admit that I haven't been able to read many comics lately though, so there may be things which contradict that either way.

Firstly, I've never seen Bruce lay a hand on Batgirl at all- the best he's done is to go defensive and block her. Batgirl is BETTER than Shiva, and has beaten her twice, something that Batman thought was inconceivable even once. That shows the relative difference between the two, as I think Batman would know that if he was anywhere near the equal of Shiva, then Batgirl would stand a chance too. Look at how Batgirl moves in comparison to Batman, and you can see the difference in agility. She pretty much just jumps off buildings when she wants to get off them, while Batman just uses a grapple hook. Batgirl's pretty much charting on metahuman levels while I've yet to see Batman operating on similar levels. Hell, someone like Hush, Kain or Jason Todd has given Batman a hard time in hand to hand, so I wouldn't rank him that high in unarmed combat. Take the recent fight with Shiva and Killer Croc, one of Batman's villains. Shiva OWNED him with one hand. Don't see Batman doing anything like that even with both hands.
To say that Batman is the equal of someone Shiva level is just completely wrong on so many levels. Shiva is feared throughout the entire world solely on her fighting prowess, and apparently Batman is that good as well as being the "world's greatest detective"? Then he's a helluva lot more amazing than I've ever credited him to be in all the books I've seen.