One Panel #646: The Proportional Strength of a Bat!

From "Brothers in Crime" by Don Cameron, Jerry Robinson and George Roussos, Batman #12 (September 1942)

Ok, time to talk about Batman's super-strength. Maybe you don't think he has that. Maybe you think he's just a human being whose physique is the "peak of human perfection". But look at this panel. That's a lot of knockback distance for a human being.

I'm not bothered, because I know my DC Heroes Role-Playing Game. Batman is normally described in the game as having a Strength of 5 (peak human), but the way the game scales, you're still within that 5 if you can lift a ton (reaching 6 only at 1.5 tons). And Batman can always boost that punch by "Pushing the Limit" and/or spending Hero Points to boost its Effect Value. Even without doing so, rolling doubles will get you additional rolls to drop on top of the first, which can give you a lot of Column Shifts, increasing the attack's amount of Knockback. Seeing as Batman seems to have aimed the guy in the direction of that cart, we might even assume he made a Planned Knockback Attack, going for distance more than damage. So if we take the role-playing game as a comic book simulator, this is totally within the bounds of reality.

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