Isn't Batman's questioning Superman because he is an unknown entity basically the same reason Lex Luthor has against Superman?
All the DC billionaires think Superman is dodgy. Lex is a xenophobe who wants to destroy anything more powerful than him, Bruce sees a potential threat to humanity but respects the man. Oliver just thinks he's a pompous dick.
Batman questions anyone and anything and has a plan for any eventuality, PARTICULARY those that pose a global scale threat. It's nothing personal, it's just reasonable precaution. That's basically his true superpower. He also does trust Superman as a person, as a colleague and friend. I don't think he ever considers there to be a true risk that Superman turns on humanity of his own will. However, Superman is susceptible to mind control, to magic, to unpredictable forms of kryptonite. And he is not the only living Kryptonian in existence either. It would be stupid not to plan for such threats.
Lex depending on the version, may or may not think that Superman actually poses a willful threat to humanity. But even if he also trusts that Superman is what he appears to be, a selfless hero that only wants to help people, he probably hates that idea even more. He usually doesn't distrust Superman's intent. He hates what it says about and does to human-kind, and by extension, himself. He things depending on an alien demigod will make humanity weak and complacent. He thinks that Superman holds the Earth back from reaching their potential. That it permanently neuters them from become Supermen themselves. So he makes it his mission to ruin Superman however he can. If he can kill him, good. Not a problem anymore. If he can publically discredit him, sow distrust across the globe, that's good too, maybe better. People who distrust him won't depend on him and may, in fact, fear him. As a result they are more likely to better themselves, their technology, their science, to rival and fight back against Superman.
TL:DR: Batman takes precautions. Lex hates and attempts to kill or sabotage. They're not the same.
To drive this point home, batman has plans for everyone in the justice league; even himself. He made a recording and planted weapons and plans in remote locations that he describes in said recording.
He likes his coworkers, but understands everyone, even himself, can turn evil and need stopping.
The plans: https://youtu.be/PAVy8wY0mgw
What's the logic behind having plans for taking down an evil version of yourself? Who watches for that to carry out the plan when the time comes? What's the plan if that person becomes evil and now has the means to combat non-evil Batman? Does he have a plan for that too? Because if so, evil Batman will also have it.
Excellent summary. I think "Superman Allstars" dives into Luthor's opinion about Superman.
His hate for Superman stems from the fact that he's powers are all gifts and he didn't work for them. All other men, when compared to Superman, is a mockery of masculinity (Luthor's opinion). Such an outlier must not exist for humanity to work hard and move forward.
Unlike Bat or Super, people like Lex exist. Lex doesn't hate Super because he's powerful, he hates him because he's loved.
Lex's whole worldview is that the people who are smart and cunning should rule over those lesser. Super's existence contradicts this by serving the interests of people who are his inferior.
Lex must believe that Super is a fraud who doesn't deserve his position because otherwise Lex is the pretender.
For Lex Luthor, I think that he doesn't like Superman because he's a threat to him, not that he's a threat to people. Which may seem similar, but the end goals are completely different.
Has anyone told lex Luthor that Superman’s mother is named Martha
Billionaires stick together
It's actually worse than that.
Batman actually keeps green kryptonite in the Bat Cave as an insurance policy, should Superman ever go rogue. He has contingencies for everyone in the Justice League except Wonder Woman.
Isn't there an entire story line in the justice league where the others find out that batman has specific weapons against all of them?
Then there is the other side where batman has an invention to defeat himself and it gets triggered.
Probably. I haven't read JL in a long time.
He has a few possibles for Diana, largely centred around trapping her in a virtual world with an unbeatable enemy she is forced to fight until she dies of exhaustion.
Oh cool. I didn't know that. :)
The last issue I had where it mentioned this he explicitly said there was no contingency for Diana because she has no weaknesses, but that's an exceedingly cool idea on the part of the writers.
This reminds me of the movie where Cheetah (voiced by Claudia Black) laced WW with a toxin that made WW see everyone as Cheetah, causing her to fight until she nearly died of exhaustion, if not for the timely intervention of Cyborg
Batman actually keeps green kryptonite in the Bat Cave as an insurance policy
The difference is that Superman knows this and trusts Batman that he'll use it at the right time. One example is probably Batman Hush where Superman was under the control of Poison Ivy.
in the smallville series, he sees "clark" not trusting him(telling him hes an alien) so he develop some deep seated hate for him over that, like a grudge, which apparently carries on and may explain his adverserial nature in the future.
Entire point, wnd the key to understanding the BvS is that batman is broken in it. He's not the hero in the story.
One of them questions superman, the other strives to destroy him at every opportunity.