Tournament - Batman vs. Lex Luthor

[Bergy_Berg]

It’s a warm, sunny day in Metropolis. An old man sits in the park at a wooden table with a chess board in front of him, waiting as a breeze gently sways the branches of the trees above him. Shortly after he sets the pieces in their places another man arrives, looming over the table. He walks with a cane, his dark clothes the perfect expression of this grim individual.

“Luthor,” the new arrival says, “you really have outdone yourself this time. The entire league is running around Metropolis finding your bomb.”

“But not you Bruce,” Lex replies. “You don’t really do the heroics yourself these days. What’s the name of that boy in the suit, Terry?” Luthor’s mouth forms into a smirk, deepening the wrinkles that seem to go all the way around his bald head.

Bruce Wayne’s brow furrows in response. “I hope you don’t expect me to be impressed. I would be disappointed if you didn’t put that one together already.” Bruce sits across from Lex, taking position behind the black chess pieces.

“What, you don’t plan to beat the location out of me?”

“No point. I know the cancer returned Lex. I know you plan to die today. How long did they give you? A month?”

Luthor’s eyes lower to the board. “You always have been a great detective. Yes, that’s exactly it. I know time catches all of us, but I had hoped for longer. But if I’m going out-“

“It’s on your own terms. I knew you would be the most dangerous after your diagnosis. But even I’m a bit surprised that you would take out the whole city with you.”

“I always wanted to go out with a bang. And knowing that Superman is out there, failing to find the bomb and panicking as we speak, makes it all the sweeter.” Lex looks off at the towering, shining skyscrapers of Metropolis. “When that bomb goes off, not only will it take out multiple members of the Justice League, but it will tarnish the League’s-and most importantly Superman’s-reputation forever. Millions dead and there was nothing they could do to stop it.” Lex fixes his eyes on Bruce again. “So, if you’re not here for information, why did you come?”

“I want to see the look on your face when your last grand scheme fails,” Bruce replies bluntly. “I want to see the moment you realize that even now you failed. Your last move meaning nothing. And I want to make sure you know who foiled your plans.”

“Hmph, so you think I didn’t Bat-proof my plan.” Lex places his fingers on the Queen’s pawn, advancing it two spaces forward.

Bruce recognizes the bold challenge, responding with his own pawn coming out to meet Luthor’s. The Queen’s Gambit, Luthor offering a risky exchange. “No, I don’t think you can ‘Bat-proof’ your plans. Your arrogance has always been your failing Lex, and your assumption that you can fool every member of the Justice League along with myself is the height of that arrogance.”

Luthor advances his pawn to c4, stacking the pieces in the middle of the board. “When I had something to lose I may have been arrogant, or foolhardy, hoping that you wouldn’t notice the one little failing in a plan that could bring it down. But as you said, now I am at my most dangerous. Now there’s no need to hold back for safety reasons. This time I have done everything.”

Pawn to e6. “I doubt that.”

“Of course, you do. You would doubt that anyone could match you in a game of wits. But I took the initiative Bruce.” The white knight advances to c3. “Today I’m a move ahead. And I can see every move you have in front of you. Every permutation of your reactions to the traps, every trail of breadcrumbs I’ve left for you slowing you down.”

Bruce just barely nudges his bishop to e7. “But how many of those trails do you really think I fell for? We’re all here in Metropolis, it took no time at all to find the city where the bomb has been set. And every second we are that much closer.”

Luthor’s other knight comes out to f3. “I gave the league an open challenge, vague but horrible. Find the bomb in 24 hours or millions die. And you are so certain that the bomb is here that you’ve abandoned the search in any other city. Does that not seem arrogant to you?”

A black knight advances to f6. “You’re not as far ahead as you think, Lex. I caught on to your plan faster than you think, I was never far behind.”

White bishop to g5, black castles. Pawn to e3, followed by pawn to h6.

“I see you’re sharp as ever Bruce, but that can’t save anyone today. There is no Batman that can stop me now.” Bishop to h4.

Pawn to b6. “And you just as predictable.

A white pawn takes a black pawn in the center of the board. “The advantage of striking first,” Luthor says, the smirk returning to his face with even greater smugness.

Bruce lifts a knight. “The advantage of thinking ahead,” he says as the knight takes the attacking pawn.

The two trade bishops, then knights. “It’s already over Bruce, the game was set before you sat down. The rest is a foregone conclusion.”

Bishop to e2, black bishop responds by moving to e6. White castles, black pawn to c5, a white pawn moves to strike the black pawn. Luthor takes the pawn and smiles, but his moment is cut short as Bruce responds by taking Luthor’s pawn with one of his own, his pieces now forming up in a surprising arrangement.

“No Luthor, nothing is a foregone conclusion when you’re against me."

 

 

 

 

These two great geniuses simultaneously engage in two games of wits, one risking pride, the other devastation. Who will come out ahead?

[Callisto]

Learn More About
Batman
Read more about Batman at Wikipedia
Official Site: DC Comics Links: Wikipedia Batman Entry The Dark Knight Golden Age Batman Site

Lex Luthor
Read more about Lex Luthor at Wikipedia
Official Site: DC Comics Links: Wikipedia The Captain's Unoffical JLA DC Comics Profile

[patrickthekid]

I'm going with Lex. He's undisputedly the smartest man on DC Earth.

[Fox]

I could absolutely see this as the opening to an Elsewhere type graphic novel.  Really nice use of two characters in a scenario that fits their personality.

I would bet Lex has been thinking about this plan subconsciously for years.  His final plan.  I think he has the advantage.

[SSJRuss]

I see somebody's been watching the Queen's Gambit. Lol

I really like this though. The fact that you made them older was really nice touch. Well-crafted with chess being a bit symbolic. I think Lex achieves his goal and his gambit pays off.

Also, I read this entirely in there DCAU voices.

[Peypeypeypey]

Am I missing something, or does Bruce move his pawn to E6 twice before any captures have been made? 

EDIT: And then how does a knight capture immediately after that? I might have just set the board up wrong, but by my reading this chess game doesn't make sense

Edited November 29, 2020 by Peypeypeypey

[Bergy_Berg]

3 hours ago, Peypeypeypey said:

Am I missing something, or does Bruce move his pawn to E6 twice before any captures have been made? 

EDIT: And then how does a knight capture immediately after that? I might have just set the board up wrong, but by my reading this chess game doesn't make sense

Typo. The second time a black pawn moves to e6 it should be to b6. The game plays out ok from there, except I did skip the bishops moving before white castles. If you put the game out on a board it should work now.

As for the knight capturing a pawn: White pawn captures black pawn at c5, then black knight takes white pawn.

Here's the game I used for it. Pay no mind to who wins this one when thinking of the match here.

[DSkillz]

A good entry, Bergy. Given that you mentioned Terry, this match seems to be set in the DCAU. That being the case, I noticed a continuity error with Lex (which I'm not going to spoil on the DCAU by revealing here), but it doesn't really affect this story. If might have helped me more if knew much more about chess than the names of the pieces (which is my failing), but the match still looks like a very good battle of wits to me. 

As for the match, given that this appears to be DCAU Lex, he always lost against the heroes when it really mattered, so I don't see that changing this time out.

[Culwych1]

Nice setup, and definitely one that I'm surprised hasn't been seen already! 

In terms of who wins, I'd see it playing out as a long game which Lex wins. Batman then smiles and Lex realises Bruce was never trying to win; he was just trying to stall him there and make him play his hardest. All the while Bruce had another ingenious scheme going along (someone mind reading Lex and relaying info to the team/something blocking a signal which would have alerted Lex etc.). 

Lex wins the battle, but Batman wins the war.

[Callisto]

Match Final Results

Member Ratings:
Fox - CBUB Match Judge : 4 Stars x 2
Peypeypeypey - CBUB Match Judge : 4 Stars x 2
DSkillz - CBUB Match Judge : 4 Stars x 2

FPA Calculation:
0 + 6 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 6 Total Votes
( (0 * 5) + (6 * 4) + (0 * 3) + (0 * 2) + (0 * 1) ) = 24 Total Stars Score
24 / 6 = 4.00 Total Rating

MATCH SCORE
Batman: 2
Lex Luthor: 3