Bruce Wayne devoted his life to mastering multiple disciplines, including over 100 martial arts. As Batman, he has a well-deserved reputation for being prepared for anything. However, a recent comic confirmed just how far Batman has gone in his quest for knowledge.
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #22 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora continues the story of Superman and Batman’s journey to the world of Kingdom Come. Faced with an army of their allies’ doppelgangers, the two heroes are outnumbered but not outclassed. Even so, Batman seems to be at a disadvantage when facing a variant Supergirl.
Despite her powers, the Maiden of Might proves no match for Batman. The Dark Knight dryly notes that he previously studied Klurkor, a Kryptonian martial art similar to Karate. However, this is only one of the martial arts created by Kryptonians.
A brief history of Kryptonian martial arts
Klurkor was developed by the Kandorians during the Golden Age of Comics. Since they did not have Superman’s powers while in their shrunken city, they developed Klurkor as a means of self-defense. Despite this, Lois Lane was able to study Klurkor and claimed to have mastered it. The modern-age Supergirl also claimed to have studied Klurkor, suggesting the art was developed on Krypton in the current timeline.
More dangerous than Klurkor, however, is Horu-Kanu. Considered the deadliest martial art in Kryptonian history, it was built around the advanced knowledge of pressure points and hitting a person to trigger violent reflexes. The rogue Kryptonian Faora-Ul was able to defeat Superman thanks to her knowledge of Horu-Kanu.
Two more notable martial arts are Torquasm-Rao and Torquasm-Vo. Comparable to Tai Chi, both arts are meant to cleanse the body of the practitioner and improve their mental focus. It seems likely that Superman trained Batman in these arts in exchange for the rudimentary combat training Batman gave him following their first team-up.
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #22 is now available in comic shops everywhere.
