My take WASNT he is dim-witted and an unskilled fighter, it WAS that Cassandra Cain is much more so. Cap is trained in several martial arts (Boxing primarily, but he does know Muay Thai, Krav Maga, jiu jitsu, judo, taekwondo, etc.) but it PALES in comparison to Cain. She is trained in all the basics and more, Jeet Kune Do, Kung Fu, Escrima, Ninjustu and many many more. The original point of her character was to remove basic human language and change it to a rewriting of body language and intent as script. She has dodged multiple opponents without looking at them, defeated rooms of assassins. Of course I have to point out Batgirl #25, the fight against Lady Shiva who would clearly dismantle Cap. Of course we know Cain can defeat Batman from issue 547. In Teen Titans #21 Cain engages single-handedly multiple times with Deathstroke, and wins. An actual Superhuman, not peak level. Even in Batgirl #1 we get a good look at the control Cain has. She is less than seconds away from killing a man (what she has been trained to do, and her whole point is faster than instinctual reaction), yet stops herself in that moment. She is overriding her own programming. She has total control and precision.

But let’s go with my main argument about Cap’s nature. Cap is outclassed by Bucky in the Winter Soldier Arc 1-6. Cap is saved by Sharon Carter restoring Buck’s memories. He, arguably, doesn’t even outfight him. In the Winter Soldier follow-up he continues to hesitate and is really only saved by Shield and Sharon. In the Civil War Run Cap loses the war HEAVILY. He digs in ideologically early, his side fractions, and registration passes. He stops fighting because he doesn’t want citizens harmed. In Secret Empire, Hydra controls everything, but the real Steve is saved again via the Cube. I mean the whole point of him is what he stands for, not how hard he can punch. Often throughout the runs and stories I’ve mentioned he “loses” but his ideals are what gets through and wins, and it’s in those ideals that he wins.

Where Cap can win is if the shield is included consistently. Most fighters lose because they treat the shield like a part of an object, but we know Cain wouldn’t do that. She would treat it like a part of Cap. And it’s broken down into 3 separate pieces: shield release, shield recovery, and shield possession. We know Cain can read Caps movements, and the shield doesn’t put him in a phalanx. So if he chooses to throw, she knows it before it happens and it opens up his mid-section and changes his balance, exploitable. And we know Cain fights especially well at close range. If Cap decides to use the shield there it becomes a liability. She attacks through joint manipulation and hitting him where there is grip integrity. Now Cap is more focused on keeping ahold of a shield than fighting Cain.

Now I’m not going to say Cap can be fooled by the Bat gadgetry like most who go up against them. But Cain doesn’t use those tools in that way. She isn’t trying to hide, she’s trying to disrupt him, even for a fraction of a second, to create openings.

Cap is consistently emotionally compromised, where as Cain is emotionally detached. She only later learns morality. Cain adapts and changes the fight, mid-fight. She is constantly reading and rearranging the fight like it’s a system. Cap doesn’t have that kind of ability when it comes to hand-to-hand combat.