There always seems to be a question running throughout fandoms which seems to attract the stupider side of fans. The “who would win in a fight between X and Y?” or more accurately “which of our fandom’s is better?” It’s one of those silly contests between fans that they think makes them seem superior. I never really got the need for them but they keep popping up, “Who would in a fight between Superman and Goku?” “What’s faster the Enterprise or the Millennium Falcon” “Kirk or Picard?” (My answer to that last one is either Sisko or Sheridan, or Archer if I feel like messing with people)
There’s just nothing interesting in the inherent question. These are fictional characters and subjected to the whims of writers so it doesn’t matter about power levels or any of the “facts” presented in the fiction. Any writer can justify the “win” of any character or thing, so arguing over the fight is pointless. Take, for example, Sherlock Holmes vs. a Tyrannosaurus. You could write a situation where Holmes would end up riding on its back with a saddle and using it to kill Moriarty. It’s stupid and unrealistic but not more so than the question itself.
There is also the unasked question of why. Why would they be fighting? Why are they in this situation? Why the contest? That question never get’s asked because it’s the outcome that matters not how it would actually happen. Why would Goku fight Superman? They’re both good guys and have no reason to beat each other up until a writer makes a convoluted one up. That same writer will make whichever one he has a bias towards win, or just make it a draw so the fans will be happy. It’s all rather dull and meaningless because they’re fictional characters under the whim of whoever’s writing them at the time. No Super Saiyan Level or Kryptonite can stop that so debating those issues is mute.
This is not the problem though. That’s just fan arguments that don’t do anything other than get people on the internet angry. The problem is when it spills out from those fans, when companies think they can make money off of it because that’s what the fans clearly want. So we get the current comic summer event trend where it’s “hero vs. hero” that ruins some of the decent lower tier books that get in its way. Avengers vs. X-Men was the last big one, even the titles have given up on subtlety. Warner Bros, in their infinite wisdom of not knowing what to do with its properties, had a film project running for several years called “Batman vs. Superman”. Not a team-up movie, which would be fairly easier to write and make, nope it’s a VS movie. That’s substantially harder to make since its two hours of setting up the fight, justifying why Batman could, and probably would, win, and also somehow making it a compelling story. But VS attracts more fan attention and since everyone in the world has, at the very least, heard of those two there’s a lot of fans. Thankfully it got stuck in development hell and the only thing that remains of it is a fake poster in the background of “I Am Legend”.
Despite this entire rant I’m not against fans having their imaginary fights with fictional characters. If it’s a bit of fun then what’s the harm, so long as no one takes it too seriously. I just have a problem with the ones who take it too seriously and also when this nonsense crosses over into actual fiction. I just don’t really care and want good stories.