WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Zack Snyder's Justice League, now streaming on HBO Max.

One of the biggest arguments in comic book movies, and pop culture in general, has always been who's the best Batman. Christian Bale's version has gone head-to-head with Adam West, Michael Keaton and even Kevin Conroy's animated take on the Dark Knight, only for Zack Snyder and the DC Extended Universe to chime in with a brutal, violent depiction by Ben Affleck in Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Snyder didn't hold back as he wanted his Caped Crusader as dark and aggressive as possible to hunt Superman down, only for Joss Whedon to walk that back with a more lighthearted Bat in Justice League. However, the Snyder Cut, the latest version of the film, keeps that tone for this character and reasserts Affleck as the most badass Batman ever.

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Out of all the versions, Bale was the most soldier-like in the Christopher Nolan films, until Affleck's take proved what a one-man wrecking crew could do. As he ran through criminals, branding them and even using guns to kill and flay -- per that intense warehouse scene to rescue Martha -- it proved as intimidating as could be. Until that point, we never got a Batman that moved so swiftly and hit so hard, which made sense as he was driven by pure, unfettered rage.

In Zack Snyder's Justice League, though, as heroic as he's trying to be -- with aliens invading courtesy of Steppenwolf and Apokolips -- he's out of his depth compared to gods like Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, metahumans like Flash, or WMDs like Cyborg. He does need power boosters and proper defensive mechanisms, which is where Alfred's energy-absorbing gauntlets come in. They allow Batman to absorb Superman's heat vision when he returns, enraged from the dead, giving him some sort of resistance against a warped Man of Steel -- but more so, he also uses it in battle to stop Parademons shooting at him at the site of the Unity.

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And, as the old adage goes, the best defense is a good offense, which the Bat takes to heart in the finale. After he spends most of Justice League assembling the heroes and transporting them around using his superpower of being rich, he then takes the spotlight for himself a bit, cutting loose with his arsenal -- the Batmobile and Bat-plane -- in the end to shoot down Steppenwolf's tower.

Knightmare Batman in Zack Snyder's Justice League

This lowers the shields for the League to attack, perfectly fitting the ethos of the character from animated movies and cartoons. It gives him a mission in which he can take down dozens of aliens, showing that a grounded hero can make a difference. Snyder simply enhances him as a war machine in tactical armor, paving the way for the League like a leader should.

He sticks to his strengths after assessing his flaws and delegates workloads. And as seen when he swings to the tower to knock off a Parademon and starts using his gun, Bruce is indeed versatile and someone who adds value -- much more than seen in Whedon's iteration, which gave a lot of heavy lifting to the others. Most importantly, this is how comics have portrayed Batman when the world's at stake, showing just how he could help stop the end of days against beings with much more power. Clearly Snyder wanted to delve into this idea more with the Knightmare realm we'll never get.

Zack Snyder's Justice League stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Ray Porter as Darkseid, Ciarán Hinds as Steppenwolf, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon. The film is currently available on HBO Max.

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