Who’d win?
Did I mention that this was a can of Bat-spinach?
Batman would win fer sure if Popeye ate any of this spinach: Good Stuff!
Maybe it would depend on how the spinach was prepared.
Seriously, though, Popeye (with spinach) would kick Batman’s rubber-armored butt into a trash can, wrap him up with his own Batrope, and make a yoyo.
As far as I know, Popeye has never lost while on that 60-second spinach rush. Batman has lost at least the opening round any number of times.
Yeah, but look at the soup cans he’s fought: Bluto/Brutus? C’mon! The guy can’t even decide what his name is, much less win a fight. Bats would swab the decks with Popeye.
Sorry, Popeye has that bad eye. Bats would blindside him. . . from the darkness.
Nah, I saw Popeye suck up spinach throuhg a sealed can with his pipe! My man popeye is a bad mother (( Chorus: shut yo mouth…))
…I’m jus’ talkin’ 'bout Popeye…
All sorts of nifty special effects happen when Popeye flexes his muscles.
I have yet to see that happen with Batman.
Results of my scientific poll:
My 5 year old said, “Popeye, because he always wins”.
My 7 year old gave me the what-a-stupid-question look (patent pending) and said “Mom, Batman is a superhero. Popeye is just a regular guy on drugs”. I asked him what drugs, and he said, “Okay then, a guy on vegetables. But he’s still just a guy.”
There you have it.
Popeye can’t ride the spinach rush if he doesn’t get to eat the spinach. The way I see this playing out, when Popeye reaches into his shirt for the spinach, Batzy will immediately do Something Painful to him that will render him unable to continue. Batzy doesn’t even have to know about the spinach gimmick; he may well think Popeye is simply reaching for a gun or other weapon.
Besides that, Batman is a skilled combatant, whereas Popeye is not. Like Superman, he tends to rely on raw strength and physical resilience…he gets the holy living bejeebus kicked out him at least once in every episode before trotting out the spinach. We’ve seen Batzy smack down Superman several times; here he’d be dealing with a Superman who is super for only a minute or so and, even then, preventably so.
Finally, and most importantly, Popeye is only effective in combat when he is saving Olive Oyl from being sexually assaulted by Bluto/Brutus. He’s otherwise pretty much of chump and tends to be B/B’s buttboy. Batzy isn’t the type to go around raping anyone, least of all Olive Oyl. Popeye, therefore, will never have the necessary motive to summon the righteous rage which does permit him to overcome B/B in his own cartoons.
BTW, the whole creepy rapist thing aside, B/B is tougher, better looking, and more charismatic than Popeye.
After 70 years of pipe-smoking, Popeye’s lung troubles have killed his wind.
He will surrender to Batman, in exchange for a hit of Bat-Oxygen.
A demonstration of Popeye’s strength (with & without spinach).
Even without his spinach rush, Popeye is powerful enough to open up a can of whoop-spinach without needin’ no can opener. One squeeze and… BAM!
I’d like to see Bruce Wayne do that.
Ah, yes, this is the early Fleischer Popeye (homo segarus fleischerus agressivus) who was a lot more agressive and would punch things for no apparent reason. One of the most bizarre cases of this is seen in the cartoon Sock-A-Bye Baby (1934), in which Popeye beats up various things in order to keep a baby asleep. He knocks down a skyscraper, rids an entire music hall of its denizens, and kills Harpo Marx. Obviously, Popeye had not yet learned what Stan Lee would later write, as Popeye might put it: “Wit’ great power comes great responskibillities.” Popeye would later evolve (homo segarus fleischerus samaritus) into a man of the people who used his strength for good, helping the “weakerist” and fighting only when needed- usually because Bluto would fight first. (Brutus is the result of a clerical error on behalf of King Features Syndicate- whether or not Bluto and Brutus are the same person or two related people remains a subject of debate amongst Popeyeologists.)
Popeye has lost at least once- but that’s because he wanted to. In Hospitaliky (1937), Popeye and Bluto both attempt to injure themselves in order to be in the hospital of Nurse Olive Oyl. For some reason, all of the wacky ways in which they try fail (when Popeye sits on the train tracks, for instance, rather than the train running him over, he ends up breaking the train.) Popeye has a clever idea…he feeds the spinach to Bluto, thus causing Bluto to beat Popeye to a pulp requiring medical attention. Although Popeye lost the battle, he won his goil!
Based on this evidence, it is safe to say that the brute strength of Popeye (including his extry spinach-based strength in times of peril) is more than enough to stop Batman and “all his wonderful toys.”
(Those of you who wish to delve further into the studies of the Sailor Man should pick up Warner Home Video’s DVD set Popeye the Sailor 1933-1938, the first ever licensed collection of Paramount Popeye cartoons and a good frontrunner for Best DVD Set of 2007.)
Well, when you get right down to it Batman is just a regular guy too.
And he very well might be on drugs also, it would explain a lot actually.
Removed to hide obvious evidence that I did not read the post I was responding too fully.
Popeye is often rendered unable to continue. Before eating the spinach. In this situation, he always gets his spinach by either
- He opens it, and consumes it,half conscious, with his pipe.
- He is fed the spinach by an animal or human ally
- The spinach, through unbelievable coincidence, manages to open somehow and make it’s way to Popeyes mouth or pipe, usually through some sort of Rube Goldbergesque sequence
I think it is safe to assume, with a relatively large sample size to go on, no matter what Batman does, Popeye will eat the spinach.
Agreed. Anyone who claims a Batman victory needs to look at this. In the carnival strongman game, Popeye (with his bare fist- no hammer) sends the weight to the MOON. I’m not sure of the exact physics involved, (someone in GQ would know I’m sure) but the force required to launch an object to the moon, and have it reach the moon in less than one second (!!!), is more than anything I’ve ever seen produced by Superman even, let alone Batman. And this was without Spinach!
This did happen. It’s canon. The moon. Less than 1 second. Without Spinach