The way Batman fights in DC Comics it can be incredibly easy to forget that his only real superpower is an incredible amount of money. The man is one of the best martial artists in the world and an unbelievable detective, but it's the cash that buys him all of those wonderful toys. Even all of his gadgets can't save him from receiving a savage beating on several occasions.
While Batman has come incredibly close to dying many, many times, it's honestly shocking it hasn't happened more. The man lives and fights in a universe filled with gods and monsters. That being said, there have been a few close calls when he has been knocking on the door of oblivion.
10 The Mutant Leader Absolutely Beats Him Up
Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns remains one of the most influential Batman stories of all time. Its depiction of an older Caped Crusader coming out of retirement to retake Gotham's streets has inspired numerous projects, including Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy and Batman in the DCEU.
But in that 1986 story, Batman took on a gang called the Mutants and the individual in charge who was only referred to as the Mutant Leader. Batman might have eventually defeated him, but the Mutant Leader initially beat him within an inch of his life.
9 Stabbed Repeatedly By The Joker
When it comes to being on the same level as Batman in the hand-to-hand combat department, Joker just isn't on his level. He simply does not have the vast training or experience that the Caped Crusader has. But very few of Batman's enemies do.
Joker more than makes up for it with violent insanity and a willingness to take things way too far. Joker repeatedly stabbed Batman during a fight in Endgame, burying a razor-sharp playing card in his eye. The bout only ended because they both got crushed during a cave-in.
8 Darkseid Hits Him With The Omega Effect
Final Crisis saw Darkseid make yet another paly for control over all of reality. While it feels like he tries to do this on an almost weekly basis, this time Darkseid actually came pretty close. But Batman made a sacrifice play that slowed him down.
After breaking out of the cell he was being held in, Batman faced Darkseid. While he put up one hell of a fight, Darkseid launched the Omega Beams which hit Batman with the Omega Effect. He appeared to die but was instead transported through time. Still, it was a close one.
7 Shanked By The Talons
Gotham is a city that's rotten to the core, with issues that run much deeper than even Batman knows. The Court of Owls is a prime example of this. This group of wealthy Gothamites kidnaps children, brainwashes them and trains them to be assassins. Honestly, that seems par for the course in this city.
When one of these assassins, aka Talons, tried to kill Batman, he went looking for their home base. The Court captured Batman, leaving him in a maze to slowly starve to death until one Talon showed up and stabbed him through the gut. Batman survived, escaped, and made them pay, but they almost had him.
6 Luthor Breaks His Bones With A Cosmic Doorknob
While the rivalry between Superman and Lex Luthor goes way back, the war between Batman and Lex actually makes more sense. It's two guys with no powers and way too much money fighting each other. This is a different feud, but an interesting one nonetheless. But one match saw Luthor get quite an advantage.
In DC, the Source Wall separates reality from the realms of the gods. Apparently, the wall has a doorknob of some kind which Luthor stole. He used its power to crush virtually every bone in Batman's body in one shot. It was an impressive, and strange, display of power.
5 Hush Tries To Put Him In The Grave
It's honestly hard to believe that Batman: Hush is closing in on its 20th Anniversary but that's true. This seminal storyline put the Caped Crusader is one of the weakest positions he had been in since Bane broke him over his knee.
When swinging over the city, a then-unknown assailant took out the line that was supporting Batman. The end result was Batman falling and ending up with head trauma that nearly killed him. Keeping in mind it was part of his plan, it was Hush in his civilian identity who saved his life.
4 Superman Utterly Destroys Him
While it doesn't always seem this way, Batman and Superman are each other's closest friends. As two of the top heroes in DC, Batman is essentially the safeguard against Superman going rogue and vice versa. If they both go to the Dark Side, that's when Wonder Woman steps in.
During the events of The Dark Knight Returns, Superman gave Batman quite a beating. But it paled in comparison to the one he gave Batman in Sacrifice. Maxwell Lord tricked Superman into thinking Batman was Darkseid. When Superman took "Darkseid" on, he did not hold back at all.
3 Spawn's Unrelenting Whupping
Back in the good ol' days of more frequent comic book publisher crossovers, Batman and Spawn ended up working together. As one would expect, this wasn't exactly a happy partnership as the two men had extremely different methods of operation.
One of the crossover books featured an even more grim and grumpy version of the Dark Knight. He tried to defeat the Hell-powered hero but failed miserably. The beating Batman took from Spawn has become the stuff of legends.
2 Bane Literally Breaks The Bat
It is not only one of the worst butt whuppings Batman has received, it's easily the most iconic. Bane sent wave after wave of escaped criminals after Batman until he was so exhausted and weakened that he could barely stand. That's when Bane showed up.
Bane utterly destroyed Batman, literally breaking him over his knee. Batman had to step away from the cowl for a long time to recover, which some people thought he never would. Even worse was the fact that it happened again, with Bane beating up Batman and breaking his back with a well-placed knee shot.
1 Predator Almost Wiped Him Out
While many may point to the injuries inflicted on Batman by Spawn, Bane, or Hush as the closest he's come to death, one other fight takes the cake. When a Predator showed up in Gotham on a hunt, anyone reading the comic knew he would eventually come into conflict with Batman.
Yes, Batman eventually defeated the Predator, literally beating him up with a baseball bat at one point. But that doesn't change the fact that their first faceoff ended with Batman getting utterly destroyed by a threat that he was not remotely prepared to face. He's lucky his spine didn't end up on Predator's wall.