Batman's most dangerous foe?

[The Dark Knight]

The Joker and The Penguin have something in common. They got the public talking about Batman.

In B89, society lumped Batman and Joker in together. Who is the hero and who is the villain? Especially when the 'hero' dresses in black. Vicki's comment of "some people say you are as dangerous as the Joker" highlights this view people on the street had. The Joker played on this - "The man who has brought real terror to Gotham City- Batman." By the time Batman saved the city from the balloons, there was no doubt who was good and who was evil.

In BR, Penguin's image was compassionate and righteous. Batman at this point was perhaps not loved - people didn't rush out to the Batmobile during his patrols, but accepted. Once he turned 'rogue', people, not even the Commissioner, seemed to question it or seem surprised. They know this guy walks a fine line. He was shot at and chased. The Penguin, like The Joker's announcement, played on this during his press conference. But it was short lived.

[Catbat]

Hello and thanks for your warm welcome to the site!

Yours are all interesting thoughts, so here's my contribution...

In my opinion, Catwoman is Batman's most dangerous foe for three main reasons.

First, because she shows an incredible agility and ferociousness during both fights with the Bat, especially in the first one when she's able to land an astonishing series of kicks that forces him to dangerously retreat to the edge of the rooftop.

Second, because she's able to take Batman aback with her ambiguous seductiveness: towards the end of their first confrontation, she massages his rubber suit with her clawed hand and seems to invite him to have sex with her, then she suddenly pierces his batsuit on his flank. She's the only villain capable of doing such a thing, so I've always thought that was probably the most painful attack Batman ever sustained, as shown also by his frustrated reaction when he later recovered in the batcave.

Finally, she relentlessly undermines and ridicules Batman's moral code. Some examples: she lures him close with the infamous "How could you? I'm a woman!" line, only to exploit his chivalry towards women and attack him again; while fighting,  she frequently uses sexual innuendos to confuse him; she derides him for his failures and advises him to retire.

The Joker's black thug is a good second, a more traditional muscle enemy who's literally a physical barrier  – it took Batman a lot of tactics to finally defeat him.

Both Joker and the Penguin were more intellectual foes than actual physical threats to Batman, and served as crime masterminds. Their main goal was to challenge Batman first as a symbol and corrupt his public image, leaving the dirty job of eliminating him to their gangs...

Sounds plausible to you?

Have a nice day folks!

[OutRiddled]

Max Shreck.

The REAL villain of Gotham City.  I wouldn't be surprised if he was working with Grissom and his thugs during the events of the first film.  He practically owns the city, and is very careful about hiding his criminal activities.