For Batman, prep time is the one advantage that most people want to give him to make sure he wins. But he's also allowed to "lose the fight, regroup and come back" and it still counts as a win. That's bullshit.

However, anyone who had the advantage of surprise could easily kill Batman. He's just a normal man. One surprise attack from a super powered opponent and he's probably dead or incapacitated.

So for Hulk, one surprise punch and Batman is dead. It wouldn't be about prep time, just surprise.

For Superman, surprise would work. But basically, all he needs to do is just fly around overhead and blast away with his heat vision. No one could really hide from his x-ray vision (unless they can turn invisible or something) and most people can be burned/heat by his heat vision.

My point is, Batman has an advantage when he gets to prepare ahead of time, build/buy specialized shit specifically targeted to his opponent, and then stalk and surprise attack his opponent when the conditions are advantageous. Most anyone could win in those conditions.

By including prep time, you're biasing the fight toward whoever is smarter and has more resources. And guess what? Those are basically Batman's only advantages (though with equal prep time, the other smart opponents would destroy him - Mr. Fantastic, Spiderman, Dr. Doom, etc). With prep time and resources, a "genius" character can usually beat a super powered character through technology and exploiting that person's weakness. It's not about how great Batman is, it's about how the fight is being rigged for him.

By giving anyone surprise, that's a huge advantage.

Also, no one is really considering that Batman is just human - he can easily be hurt or killed because his weakness is basically everything. Anyone with the slightest bit of prep time could come up with a way to surprise attack Batman and its all over.

That's why I say it's not a fair fight.

A fair fight to me is only when the two characters square off in a neutral venue, no surprise attacks, etc.