Poor Superman...

I was just reading through the October DC solicits again, and a thought struck me. In two separate comics, you have superheros fighting poor Superman. Batman in the JLA, and Supergirl in Supergirl.

What's up with that? I mean I get the whole "Superman is very powerful so beating him is a benchmark of awesomeness" thing. But it's not like either character hasn't gone up against Superman before.

I mean, I get that the JLA is a flashback story, but is there any fan who actually doubts that Batman would think of a way to take out Superman? (I'm a fan who prefers Superman as a character to Batman, Bruce Wayne version at least, but I have no illusions about who'd win that fight. Heck, I always figured that was one of the things Clark liked about him.)

As for Supergirl, well, it seems like a rite of passage for many teen heroes to go up against either Superman alone or the entire Justice League (in the case of teams like the Teen Titans.) Can't we just assume the teenager will win and therefore prove him or herself?

It's an unfair fight anyway. Clark may be more powerful, but unless he's mind controlled or something, he's always going to fight hobbled since he's grown up with the idea that he might kill someone if he wasn't careful. (And when he IS mind-controlled, he's always going to lose through narrative contrivance anyway.) He's certainly not going to go all out against a much younger cousin or his non-metahuman ally.

Eh, I'm sure the comics will be enjoyable anyway, I just think it's an old overused gimmick.