Being a nerd, I participate in a lot of arguments about which superhero would win in a fight. And, inevitably, there’s always some guy who blunders into the argument and says the following “Any superhero could be taken out by a sniper.” But is that actually true? Let’s put it to the test.
Why Batman?
I’m picking Batman because he’s the most “realistic” superhero. Let’s face it, you can insist until you’re blue in the face a sniper could take down Superman with a Kryptonite bullet or something, but he’s super-fast, has super senses, and can shoot lasers out of his eyes. There’s no realistic scenario where a guy with a rifle wins.
Batman’s just a highly trained guy in body armor, and doesn’t have bulletproof skin or a rock allergy. That said, though, if we’re being realistic about Batman, we have to be realistic about the sniper.
Boom, Headshot. Except Not.
First of all, for the purposes of this argument, let’s say a sniper has all the toys; the fancy scopes, the latest gear, all of it. So he’s got that in his corner. Let’s also assume he’s the absolute top shot. So he has the best possible odds of hitting Batman. We’re also assuming he’s not Deadshot, who, yes, has never killed Batman and yes, is the best shot in the DC Universe. That should tell you how tough this is.
Sniper Guy up above is essentially assuming that sniping in real life is like sniping in video games, which it decidedly isn’t. Snipers are what happens when you turn physics into a martial art, but it’s incredibly complicated to kill someone at a distance with a rifle.
A bullet is a light, small object going very fast in one direction, and as a result, putting it exactly where you want it, even from a short distance, is a lot harder than it looks. The further away you get, the more complicated it gets; the weather, the raw physics, and a litany of other factors go into making any shot, and more often than not, a real-life sniper does not take the shot.
This is also why snipers rarely go for a head shot; the center mass is where all those squishy organs are, and they make a better target. The goal isn’t an instant kill, just a kill. Whether it’s massive organ damage or blood loss, they’re not picky.
You Don’t Get A Second Shot
So could our top sniper take Batman? Well, maybe. Here’s the fundamental problem; Batman’s a city rodent, and sniping in an urban environment adds another layer of complication to an already tricky problem. Either you’ve got to find an open space where he’s consistently holding still or moving through, and the fact that he likes to hide in darkness adds still another problem to the mix.
There are also a lot of cops and vigilantes running around Gotham, not to mention an elaborate private surveillance apparatus, so our sniper has to get into position without attracting any attention. That’s a feat in of itself.
The next question is target motion; Batman tends to glide or swing from ropes, so he’s moving fast and hard to hit. He’s also wearing body armor, and before somebody objects that a .50 caliber round can punch through any body armor, not so much. Batman can afford the very, very best, and he’s got a research lab with a bottomless budget, so that bullet is not getting through. You might bust a few ribs, but that’s about it.
No, to take out Batman, our sniper has to get creative. Shooting Batman directly is just going to make him angry, but what about taking out his anchor point on a building as he swings through the air? A twenty story plunge would probably do Batman in pretty effectively, although he has survived them in the past. Similarly, if you could fire a specialty round, say, one full of poison gas or something corrosive, you could probably at the very least severely injure Batman.
But Do You Want To Take The Shot?
That said, if you miss… well, you’re screwed. Batman is, among many other things, a genius detective and an expert counter-sniper, for precisely these situations. He would find you, break your ribs, and hang you from a ledge.
And that’s really the best case scenario here. Batman has a lot of friends, and even if we’re being “realistic” and leaving the space aliens and psychics out of the mix, that means his entire family, all of whom he has trained to be Batman and have limitless funding, are now out to get you.
Even worse, you’d have the Joker on your ass. Sure, he’s got no superpowers, but he’s also a homicidal maniac. And nobody has ever been able to kill the Joker, even when they slice off his face.
So, a sniper might be able to kill Batman. But really, he or she would be better off just never taking the shot.