Top 5 Best Batman / Superman / Wonder Woman Team-Ups!
IMHO
by Chris Morris
5) Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010)
This direct-to-video movie is a sequel of sorts to Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, only it now includes three kick-ass women; Big Barda, Supergirl and of course Wonder Woman. Superman has taken his new-to-Earth cousin Kara to Paradise Island, aka Themyscira, to be trained by the Amazons. But Kara is abducted by Darkseid and taken to Apokolips. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman recruit Barda, a former Female Furie, to help on a rescue mission. While towards the end the focus is more on Supergirl, for the bulk of the episode the DC Trinity kick some major butt together.
4) Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity (2005)
In 2003, Matt Wagner wrote and drew a three-issue series that saw the top three superheroes in DC team up before the formation of the Justice League. They team up to fight Ra’s Al Ghul, Bizarro and the Amazon warrior Artemis, but the point of the series is characterization, not action scenes and punch outs. Each hero is given time to shine and the focus is on their individual relationships. This concept was later turned into a series by Kurt Busiek and it’s good as well but the original is better.
3) Batman: The Brave and Bold: Triumvirate of Terror! (2011)
The great underrated series “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” focused on, besides Batman, lesser known DC characters and didn’t bring in the other 2/3 of the DC Trinity, Superman and Wonder Woman, until Season 3. This show begins with a fun teaser with the Justice League International (another reason I love this show, they used the JLI) facing villains in a baseball game, which is an homage to a mini-comic I owned as a kid, DC Special #13: Strange Sports Stories, with one of the best covers ever…
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…anyway, the main story has Lex Luthor, Joker and Cheetah teaming up and “Switching dance partners” with Cheetah fighting Superman, Batman fighting Luthor and in the best bit, Joker invading Paradise Island and fighting Wonder Woman. The overall storyline is about the three of them having dinner and trying to decide what to leave in a super-time capsule. While the answer is a bit underwhelming, the final shot of the show is great, showing the Trinity still together, still friends, fighting crime, decades into the future. And this scene is a direct tribute to the next entry…
2) Kingdom Come
The four issue mini-series “Kingdom Come” written by Mark Waid, story and amazing art by Alex Ross, has become legendary after it’s publication in May thru August of 1996 (it will be celebrating it’s 20 year anniversary next 
month!). For a full very-detailed description of the plot, go to Wikipedia and look it up. For the purposes of this article, it takes place in a possible future for the DC Universe, where Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, and a lot of their generation of heroes, have died or retired, leaving heroing to a new group of amoral and irresponsible supers. A major catastrophe causes the old guard to return to action and…I’ll let you discover the rest on your own. But (spoilers!), it does end on a very high note, with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman meeting up and discussing old times. A must read!
1) “For the Man Who Has Everything” (1985)
I wrote about this awhile back in my article about the Best of “Justice League Unlimited”. I’m gonna copy and paste that right here…
“*This was a great story by Alan Moore, illustrated by Dave Gibbons (yes, the team behind The Watchmen) released in 1985 in Superman Annual #11. I still have that comic, it’s meant that much to me over the years. And the Timm-verse team adapted it, specifically writer J.M. DeMatteis and director Dan Riba, in the second episode of the series, after “Initiation” and introducing the idea of the JLU having 30+ members. That meant that they were willing to take it back a notch and focus on just great stories.
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This one involves only the DC Trinity; Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman as they attempt to celebrate Superman’s birthday. And the villain Mongul, voiced by Eric Roberts, who delivers the Man of Steel a present; The Black Mercy. It must have been difficult and intimidating adapting such a classic story. Alot of it is a shot by shot remake but with some limitations, being thought of as a “kid’s show” at the time. But they pulled it off wonderfully. In fact, Alan Moore has gone on record saying that the episode is the only adaptation of his work that he approves of. And that’s saying something!”
Bonus: other Justice League Unlimited episodes that featured the Trinity are
“Kid’s Stuff” (also featuring Green Lantern John Stewart and the heroes as children)
“Ultimatum” (also featuring Aquaman and alternate versions of the Super Friends)
“Doomsday Sanction” (focuses on each Trinity member individually as they save the residents of a small island from a volcano)
“Dead Reckoning” (also featuring Deadman aka Boston Brand)
Some might argue that I should include DC Comics “Infinite Crisis”, a major 2005-2006 crossover event. Well, first, it’s my list so back off! Second, I won’t include this because I think it’s a bad teamup, in fact, along with “Identity Crisis”, turned DC Comics on the road to this whole “grim and gritty” tone they’ve been on and now the movies are on as well. Basically, Maxwell Lord becomes a villain, uses his mind control powers to make Superman evil (making the recent Supergirl S1 finale kind of ironic) and to stop him, Wonder Woman kills Lord, with Batman condemning WW’s actions (rememeber, Batman doesn’t kill) with Superman ultimately in the middle. I understand trying to add “layers” to these characters but this was going too far. Plus, “Infinite Crisis” starts about the Trinity and an examination about whether or not superheroes should kill but somewhere along the way it strays from that and becomes a sequel to “Crisis on Infinite Earths” about Superman of Earth-2, Superboy and Alexander Luthor. And it also became a way to fix all their recent editorial mistakes with the now famous “Superboy punch” to the “reality wall” that brought Jason Todd back from the dead and again made WW a founding Justice League member, but that’s a whole other article…so no that’s not on this list… ☺
Over the years, the Trinity have had many adventures, including in a recent blockbuster film you may have heard of. There will hopefully be more to come!
Follow Chris Morris on twitter, here!
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Chris Morris is a filmmaker, world-traveller and comic book writer. He’s currently working on “The Supers: the 3rd Best Super-Team in the World”
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