Epic Pop Culture Fights that raise the bar for Batman V. Superman

Finally, after all of the hype and hoopla, we will get to see the big blow out between two of the most iconic superhero legends in pop culture history, thanks to Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice which will be in theaters this week.

Sure, there will also be other heroes such as Wonder Woman and Aquaman on board but their names aren't on the marquee(at least not now) and despite whatever story lines are in play, the main reason for this movie is to see these two DC Comics powerhouses duke it out. That's a lot to live up, especially since the trailers have shown us quite a bit of fisticuffs already. Also, this isn't the first time we've witnessed some major superhero/fantasy fighting between those meant to be allies and wind up slugging it out as enemies instead.

So, let's take a look at a few other legendary showdowns and see just what the Man of Steel and The Dark Knight are up against:

WORLD'S FINEST: Batman and Superman have squared off against each other in various crossover comics as well as on the small screen in animated form. In Superman:The Animated Series, a two-part episode entitled "World's Finest" had the Joker steal a "jade" statue(it was actually made of kyptonite) and head off to Metropolis in order to sell it to Lex Luthor.

Naturally, Batman followed his clownish enemy but upon running into Superman, the two of them immediately had a disagreement regarding each other's method of crime fighting. Things got more complicated as Supermans's ex-ray vision revealed just who he really was up against.

Not one to be out done, Batman used his wits to get the upper hand, plus a date with Lois Lane. While their first fight didn't have a lot of action packed punches, both heroes stayed true to themselves and made their points fully in character. Hopefully their live action counterparts will be able to say the same:

OF GODS AND MEN: Marvel will soon have it's turn at bat in this throw down game as Captain America: Civil War is due out in May. However, you could say that we've seen a preview of that in the very first Avengers movie, when Thor insisted upon taking Loki away to answer for his crimes in Asgard.

Iron Man wasn't having any of that to and naturally, both super powered egos clashed with each other,allowing Loki to escape and forcing Captain America to step in and stop them both. I have a feeling that Wonder Woman is going to be put in Cap's position in BvS, she does have a shield of her own here! If that's the case, those boys better be ready because it was Captain America who had the last word in that fight, so to speak:

SLAYER SMACKDOWN: Such fights are not limited to comic book fare as the sixth season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer had it's most personal showdown between The Chosen One and her best friend Willow.

 Fueled by dark magic and the desire to avenge the death of her beloved Tara, Willow's spell casting streak stalled for a moment due to a protection spell placed on her targets.

However, she quickly found a way around that as a self casting gave her super strength that was equal to Buffy's. Thrilled to have the physical upper hand, Willow went after Buffy, who was from reluctant to show her former ally the true meaning of being a slayer.

Judging from the BvS trailers I've seen, Batman is determined to go after Superman due to the chaos unleashed in the wake of the battle with Zod(in the Man of Steel movie) that endangered Gotham City as well as Metropolis. Such a personal vendetta could cloud his judgment during a fight and that could be just as dangerous as a blast of magical might there:

WHEN TWO SIDES GO TO WAR: While the match-up between Brienne of Tarth and The Hound never happened in the books that the HBO series Game of Thrones is based on(they don't even meet under pleasanter circumstances), this is a case of two warriors that could have easily joined forces but chose to fight each instead.

Most of that is due to mistrust on each side, along with mutual misunderstandings of the other's motives. No doubt BvS is going to have a lot of that when it comes to their face off and most likely, the outcome won't be as bad for either one of them as it was for The Hound in the end. Nevertheless, it would be wise for at least one of them to get over their innate suspicions and try to team up before things become truly out of hand:

Even when all is said and done with Batman V. Superman, there will still be debates over who really won and lost. I just hope that the ultimate loser is not the audience, whose attendance will decide the fate of the upcoming DC Comics films yet to come.  At the very least, fans ought to be given a big screen battle that holds up well for many viewings and not create laughs for the wrong reasons. If Cable Guy can still be well remembered for that Medieval Times bout, I think the folks at DC should be able to do something a little better there: