Actually Cowboy, playing lame and walking back is exactly what successful Green Lanterns do vs. Batman.
At the beginning of the match, we have to react to whatever GL decides to do. We can't backdash the b1, air stripper dust gets beaten by lift, and our j2 gets beaten by j1. From the start of the round, Green Lantern sets the tone of the match. So at the beginning, because we have to respect those options, Green Lantern can start walking back.
You have to understand that Green Lantern's backwalk speed is a lot better than our forward walk speed. So right from the word, "go," he controls the pace. Now yes, we can use trait to get in. Kind of. If he we release trait and dash, jump in, a couple things can happen:
Green Lantern can b1 under the bats and blow us up.
He can hold all of the dats and block the trait bats, allow us to start pressure. This is ideal.
He can block the trait bats and mash out a d2, something that beats Release Bats xx B3. Anyone in the cast can do this.
So if you have a Green Lantern that is walking back, you have to be extremely cautious of dashing in as Batman has a long dash with some recovery frames so that can be blown up with B1. We could jump, but that gets lifted/d2'd/dashed/and blown up by j1.
If we try to walk after him, we will never, ever close the gap. His backwalk is that much faster than Batman's forward walk.
Now as far as zoning goes...Batman does not keep up with Lantern. For one thing, Straight missiles recover faster than Batarangs. Also, if he reads you're trying to counterzone with Batarangs, he can jump and do air rockets. Now, unless you've spaced yourself properly, you cannot punish the air missiles. In fact, Batman does not have a consistent answer for air missiles. Straight grapple does not work. Batarangs do not work. Up Batarangs only work at a specific angle/distance. He can block both if you try to use them. In the case of grapple, because it's heavily -, he can throw out another projectile that we have to block. If you block an air missile and try to dash in, you will usually get hit with the straight missile depending on how high the air missile was done at. Also, while he's doing all of this, he has access to interactables that we don't to assist him in keeping us away, since he's a power character. This is one of those match-ups where stage does matter.
So generally speaking, we can at least agree that Batman has to use trait to get in. But wait! There's more! As he's walking back, Green Lantern can activate trait and use Gatling Gun, which pushes us near(not at, but close to) full-screen and we have to restart our approach all over again.
Now, let's look at the footsies game:
If we're outside B1 range, we only have so many options. Releasing trait can be b1'd under. If we jump, he has lift and d2. If we dash, see above. We have to get INSIDE b1 to get anything going. Now, I know what you're thinking, "Green Lantern has to worry about bats if he's trying to get in on you." It's true that we can backdash b1. But how does that help? If anything, the situation is at neutral unless we release trait as we're backdashing. Doing that gets a combo into set-ups/dammy/etc, which is good. If we don't have the trait, then the situation is back to neutral again. So it's a mixed bag.
To an extent, if we have a lifelead, sure. If we don't...why would he even need to rush us down? He can stand outside b1 range and as soon as we attempt to advance, he can walk back. This will cause a jump-in to whiff and allow him to trip guard with b1 or just use lift. We've already established that we have to use our trait to try and get in. If we do, it does help. I won't deny that. Which is why it's only 4-6. Once we're inside b1 range, we can get our business going.
But before we get there, we have to get past MB Minigun, Lift, j1, and b1. We have to deal with Lantern's tools before he has to deal with ours. So the wise Green Lantern player will walk back, use his footsie tools and zoning to keep us at bay. Green Lantern plays this match-up a lot like Aquaman does, only Aqua is a hell of a lot worse.
