Batman for reasons listed above; however, Spiderman's powers would be the coolest to have.

Also consider this. Batman has a more noble reason for fighting crime than the other two. Batman is fighting because of how crime affected his life through the lost of his parents. With Superman it was "Dude... I'm an alien with super human powers! Sweet! I think I'll fight crime!" and with Spiderman it was "Wow... I got bit by a radioactive spider! I got super powers now! I think I'll impress Mary Jane and kick some bad guy butt!". Get my point?

Besides, Superman is a dick.

Well, Spiderman knocked the Joker out with a backhand once. And Batman beat up Carnage..... they are both alright in my book.

Wow, so untrue. Didn't you even see the movie Spider-Man? In it and the comics alike, Peter Parker learns a very hard lesson: "with great power comes great responsibility." That's why he fight crime, because he doesn't want what happened to his Uncle happening to anyone else. He could of saved him just by holidng the robber for a few seconds, yet he let him by to get revenge. Unforutantly the same man murders his Uncle only minutes later.

At first he wanted to use his powers to make money. After the Uncle Ben incident, he doesn't want to impress Mary Jane with his powers, in fact he wants to give up being Spider-Man to be with her. That's what Spider-man 2 is all about, the struggle between the two decisions. In the end it is resolved and the movie ends on a very high note.

Batman and Superman had too perfect lives. Spider-man has problems we all face: girls, bullies, school, family, guilt, ect.

My vote is for Spider-Man.

I was going to say Batman because of the movies, but then I suddenly remembered The Death and Return of Superman on the SNES (which I played a lot for some reason) and the general awesomeness of some of the Superman comics. So... yeah, him.

Death and Return of Superman was awesome I agree. Main reason though I believe it rocked was because of how Blizzard executed it with its grim touch like in Blackthorne and Diablo. Imagine what they could have done with the Batman mythos.

On what level are they competing? Devastating power, costume design, popularity among forum members?

If it's who has the strongest power, Superman obviously wins. He was created at time when most heroes had one power, so by combining the powers of a lot of the most popular ones, the result was a sort of metahero... the super hero. Whenever it was convenient to do so, they gave him another power. Lots of heroes in DC are like this. Almost everyone flies, super speed is common, they're all extremely strong/durable, etc. But Superman is always the top of the heap.

Of course who would win in a fight is ultimately determined by who's writing.

Costume design and popularity are totally subjective, though I'll always favor Batman in both. Outside the campy 60s costume, he's has some of the better ones. He doesn't have a bright primary color scheme to appeal to young readers, he dresses down to help him fight at night.

I don't know who has the best reason for fighting crime. Spidey fights out of guilt for Ben and Gwen (Gwen Stacey, Spidey's girlfriend killed by the Goblin), Batman wants revenge he can't have, and Superman is all about power and control. Once comics started to mature, there were times when each of these heroes had the nobility of their motives questioned. Superman comes the closest to doing what is right because it's right, but his supreme power prevents him from being questioned... leading to views of him as a moral facist like in Kingdom Come.

In the end though, despite all the Spidey comics I have, my favorite is Batman. Here's some quotes from The Dark Knight Returns (set 10 years after Bats' retirement) that show why:
And another:
Which sums up why I like Batman. He's a goodguy (arguably) who scares Superman.