Is Batman's Kryptonite ring enough to stop Superman if he ever went rogue?

Question

It's well-known that Superman has entrusted Batman with a Kryptonite ring, in case if he ever went rogue. He even believes that he's entrusting his life to Batman, as can be seen in the scan below (Superman: The Man of Steel #21).

However, in receiving the ring, Batman loses all of his major advantages: the element of surprise, and time to plan and prepare. Should Superman turn evil, it is likely that he would recognize Batman as a threat, and immediately finish off the person holding the only weapon capable of destroying him.

Besides, even if the Dark Knight had all the time in the world to prepare, Superman has several insurmountable advantages. With his super-speed, he could crush Batman before he has any time to react. With his heat vision and ice-breath, he could destroy him from a safe distance. With his super-strength, he could throw projectiles from afar. Furthermore, Batman would not be able to escape, regroup and come up with a new plan when faced with an opponent that possesses super-hearing, super-olfaction, x-ray vision, and flight.

Indeed, in Batman #612, Batman admits that he is out of his league, even after scoring hits with the Kryptonite ring. He claims that if "Clark wanted to, he could use his superspeed and squish me into the cement", and that Superman's big weakness is that "Deep down, Clark's essentially a good person". It's also significant that this punch nearly breaks Batman's hand.

Answer 1

In ring form, almost certainly not. Superman is shown in all canons to be heavily affected by the presence of green kryptonite, but not instantaneously. His power wanes over a short period of time. Unless Batman could somehow restrain Superman (to allow the effects of the ring to take effect, presumably before attempting to kill him by conventional means) then Superman would almost certainly escape the vicinity and return superpowered.

As a source of raw kryptonite however, it would be infinitely more effective. Superman has been shown (in almost all canons) to be especially vulnerable to weapons comprised of kryptonite. In particular the military are known to have kryptonite bullets, precisely for the purpose of disposing of rogue Kryptonians.

Answer 2

Yes, the ring worn by Lex Luthor ONCE had enough Kryptonite to kill Superman, if necessary.

While the consistency in the writing varies widely, there are plenty of reasons to believe the Kryptonite ring was more than enough to solve the problem, especially in the hands of someone as adaptable and creative as Batman.

• The simplest and most logical answer: If it was meant to be a contingency plan against Superman, then Kal-El would want to give Batman enough Kryptonite to do the job. What is the point of giving a resource to Batman that wouldn't do the job, knowing how dangerous Superman is? What good is a contingency that doesn't actually do anything?

• Luthor is not known for half measures. He would not have ever created the ring unless it had proven effective against Superman. Luthor is an egotistical maniac with delusions of grandeur, but his hatred of Superman is only equaled by his genius. He would be sure to have calculated how much was needed to deal with Superman effectively.

• Superman's weakness to Green Kryptonite has been displayed to be a crippling one. If he is unaware the Kryptonite is about to be used, when confronted, he is almost immediately unable to perform ANY superfeats.

• Yes, he has super-speed and will use it, if he he is aware of the impeding threat. Once it's there, he is in crippling pain, powerless and highly vulnerable. If he wasn't he would simply vaporize any piece of Kryptonite that ever came into his presence with his heat vision. He has NEVER vaporized kryptonite in his presence, this must mean HE CAN'T. Hence, his energy manipulating powers are either gone or significantly reduced.

• In most versions of the comics continuity, Superman retains some degree of his powers (and invulnerability to conventional weapons) while exposed to Green Kryptonite. This is evidenced by his ability to continue to fight beings such as Metallo which use Kryptonite as a weapon while fighting. Range tends to be a factor when dealing with Kryptonite.

• While Superman is dramatically weakened and in severe pain, he does not become completely, instantly vulnerable. This avoids the logical shortcut which would result if a villain could, for instance, simply expose Superman to Kryptonite and then shoot him with a gun. The comics continuity has consistently held that only exposure to Kryptonite, in and of itself, would be sufficient to kill Superman.

Thus, in any conflict with a mind-controlled or possessed Superman, it will take Batman and a few other heroes WITH the ring in play, to have any hope of keeping Superman down long enough to be immobilized or killed.

While the Animated Universe is not completely canon, its depiction of Superman's vulnerability matches most comic depictions perfectly.

All of this information precludes the existence of the New 52 Superman. In the New 52 Superman, we don't know if the ring exists, if the transfer took place or carried over from the previous Universe reboot. Nor does Kryptonite seem as effective as it was before, so it may be a moot point in the New 52.

Answer 3

On its own, doubtful.

Superman has even wielded the Kryptonite Ring himself against what he believed to be Kryptonian threats... a tactic that would be useless if it rendered himself completely helpless.

Providing the ring to Batman isn't really a statement about efficacy. If it were, the ring would probably put to better use in absolute terms in the hands of another League member with greater power.

Instead, it is primarily a symbol of trust. Providing a weakness to Batman and entrusting him to use his discretion on when to use it. It's not like Batman couldn't acquire Kryptonite on his own. Or that Batman wouldn't try to stop Superman if he went rogue, even without the ring. The ring is tacit approval to take the measures Batman deems necessary when the situation arises. It's part of the reason Superman didn't take Batman's contingency plans as hard as the rest of the League after The Tower of Babel story arc.

Answer 4

Is Batman's Kryptonite ring enough?

According to this 1991 comic, it is....

Mind you, this is essentially an imaginary tale or "possible" alternate future, where Superman wasn't as strong [Doomsday never existed, he never trained with Batman, Wonder Woman or Mongol],Batman never met Bane, died, found his son and Tim Drake remained Robin for years as an adult. Still, it's the same universe in which he gave Batman the ring, and it took only about 10 minutes of battle to kill him. Yes, Batman killed Superman in this universe.

Again there is some inconsistency, but it seemed to be effective.

Considering this is a weaker version of Superman, I cannot reasonably say if this will still apply in current continuity. This Superman was far closer to Jon Byrne's severely de-powered version of Superman, Post-Crisis, 1986. In fact it was barely 5 years after. So this cannot be held as canon.