Marvel TV Chief Crowns DC Hero the Greatest Superhero, Beating Spider-Man

So here’s a little Marvel-versus-DC bombshell you probably didn’t have on your MCU bingo card: Brad Winderbaum — who, as the head of streaming, TV, and animation at Marvel Studios, is basically paid to believe in Marvel supremacy — just confessed he thinks the best superhero of all time is… Batman. Yes, Batman. Not Spider-Man. Not anyone from his own roster. He crossed the comic book aisle, right there in public.

Marvel’s TV Chief: Actually, Batman Is the Real ‘GOAT’

Winderbaum dropped this little shocker while chatting on The Escape Pod Podcast. When the hosts floated the classic 'Who’s the greatest superhero ever?' question, the Marvel exec went fully honest mode and backed a DC icon instead of his own studio’s beloved web-slinger. ('It’s Batman. He’s the goat. Spider-Man is a close second.' Actually, those were his words.)

He did at least acknowledge Spider-Man’s crowd-favorite status and even said the two share something big: a spectacular rogues gallery. Which, to be fair, is hard to argue with.

Here’s Why He Thinks Bats Beats Spidey

• Winderbaum says it all comes down to 'humanity.' Batman’s just a regular guy — no powers, just trauma, money, and barely-checked obsession — which, apparently, gives him what Winderbaum called “the aspirational edge.”
• He especially loves it when Batman fades into the background and lets the villains run the show. To Winderbaum, Batman acts as 'the existential threat to their journey,' which makes for a 'cool story mechanic.' (Not gonna lie, as a long-time comic reader, that’s a sharp take.)
• He’s seriously into what DC’s doing with the current 'Absolute Batman' series — especially how the story flips the status quo, making Batman more 'working-class' while the billionaire becomes the villain, and putting a fresh spin on Alfred. In his own words: 'I just read the first six issues on the plane. It was so good… Alfred is so great, so interesting.' You can practically feel his enthusiasm bleeding across company lines.

Look, Marvel’s top TV and animation guy admitting he puts Batman above Spidey — even if just for personal taste reasons — is the sort of comic book heresy you almost never hear out loud. You could hear the podcast hosts doing a double-take. But you know what? Sometimes even Marvel brass have to tip their cowl to the other team’s star player.