Stark v. Wayne: Dawn of Billionaires

By Shrey Sankalp

“Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?”

“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.”

Joss Whedon’s seminal comic book film, The Avengers, has its fair share of quotable lines, but that’s the one that’s stuck with me the longest.

In one simple sentence, Tony Stark manages to burn Captain America and summarize why he is who he is, and what makes him so endearing to the fans.

I wouldn’t be overstating things if I were to tell you that Iron Man is a lot of people’s favorite superhero.

Superheroes come and go, but some leave a mark so indelible in the minds of both, hardcore and casual fans alike, that they become simply irreplaceable.

Iron Man might be one of them, but oh no, he’s not the only one.

There’s someone whose claim to the throne is just as strong, and hint: he dresses up like a Bat.

You guessed it, it’s the Batman.

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If you were to conduct a survey, (which I did [no I didn’t]) you’d probably find that the top two superheroes on anyone’s list are Batman and Iron Man.

And this is actually a big bone of contention among fans of both camps – we have two superheroes that are suspiciously similar, yet radically different, prompting many a debate whether the two are really alike, and if they are, is there one who is better than the other?

Before we dive in and kick the hornet’s nest, let’s clarify something first:

We are going to be discussing Bruce and Tony purely in terms of the characters they are, merely drawing references from films and comic books (if at all needed) because if we were to base our discussion solely on the provisions of either of those media, it wouldn’t be a fair fight – Batman has the stronger comic mythos and a moderately inconsistent film track record, whereas Iron Man has been more fully realized in the movies (god bless you, Mr. Downey Jr.!) than he has been in the comics lore (he was a B-lister before Marvel brought him to the forefront of their cinematic universe, after all).

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about why they’re similar.

If asked to put in one word the primary similarity between Iron Man and Batman, I (or anyone for that matter) would say they’re both filthy rich.

Sure, they’re casually classified very broadly under billionaires, but how rich are they?

As per Time magazine, Iron Man’s net worth is $12.4 billion and Batman’s is $9.2 billion. 

We don’t need to tell you that’s a lot. 

Fun fact: the richest character is Black Panther, with a net worth of $90 TRILLION – no, don’t even try counting the zeroes in there.

Blessed with business acumen and a quick thinking mind, both Mr. Stark and Mr. Wayne are (supposedly) as passionate about adding to their net worth as they are of ridding the world of evil, because come on, those flying suits and tank-like cars aren’t gonna take care of themselves now, are they?

Another interesting fact to note, is how both of them got their money – by way of inheritance.

Both Stark and Wayne had their parents killed in a tragic manner and they came to inherit their family’s money, which they’ve clearly utilized well, as we can see.

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Their money isn’t the only area where their similarities stop; they have both proven that brains are indeed more important than brawn. Yes, while Tony Stark is the prodigy inventor extraordinaire, Batman utilizes his intellect in battle, and capitalizing on his paranoid tendencies; he plans every situation in great detail and accounts for every contingency, thus enabling him to take on opponents much bigger than himself (both literally and metaphorically) and take them down like nobody else could.

Their intellect is a blessing.  A tool can be put in any hand, but it is effective only when the hands are controlled by a mind smart enough to know what to do with it.

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But while brawns, brains and billions are crucial, their battles are in the end still won with their expensive combat gadgets—and that’s another area where our mighty heroes are more or less evenly matched.

Batman has a strict no killing rule, and thus his weaponry and gadgets are mostly non-lethal and aimed to subdue and get him out of a jam; Iron Man goes the distance and can bring the rain when he needs to – he was an arms manufacturer after all and uses that knowledge well to “pimp out” his mech suit.

But offense isn’t everything, our heroes are no Deadpool or Wolverine to take a bullet and walk it off—and knowing that all too well, they are both armored up. 

Iron Man has a full flight-suit with a defense system built around his arc reactor, whereas Batman makes do with a Batsuit (he’s gotta protect his identity too, you know) that provides him with enough protection while maintaining the flexibility he needs to break out his moves when he needs to break some bones (see them here, for those living under a rock).

In addition, they have both got the quintessentials down like the repulsor rays, Batarangs and the like.

I know what you’re thinking, but trust me, neither of these characters is a rip-off of the other.

For all that talk of similarities, the biggest difference between Batman and Iron Man is just how the different the two are as human beings. Batman is a serious, contemplating and tormented man, who feels it is necessary to hide his identity to protect the ones he loves and is always paranoid (case in point: his actions in Batman v. Superman are a perfect example of his proactive paranoia), but to the world, he is a carefree businessman who couldn’t care less. I can’t imagine how difficult this dichotomy must be for him to maintain, but he sure pulls it off.

Iron Man on the other hand, is Tony Stark (who is Robert Downey Jr.) and that says it all.

Cocky, reckless and all about style, Iron Man is the flashier of the two who tends to be self-absorbed at times.

However, there’s one thing we must touch upon, and that’s that while Batman embodies the same principles and qualities in movies, comic books and videogames, with Iron Man, the equation is slightly complex.

While in the comics Tony Stark has changed and evolved since his inception, he has been a ‘background’ character mostly and not a very likable one, especially since he events of the 2006 Civil War comic arc.

In the movies, he’s played by an immensely likable actor (no offense to any of the Batmen) and while he started out the carefree narcissist with a quip for everything, he’s changed and feeling the weight of his actions, become a more solemn character. 

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Granted, our heroes’ personalities and attributes are an important factor in determining their likability, but any hero is as good as their villain, and I think this is one of the two clinchers we have:

There’s no denying it, Batman has the better rogues gallery.

You’ve got villains like the Joker, Two Face, Black Mask, Bane, Deadshot, Poison Ivy, Deathstroke—look, I could do this all day. And believe me, I’m not even starting. Batman has a very rich and varied gallery where every villain is a classic and has a story arc that will make you feel for them and love them.

The hard truth is Iron Man simply doesn’t.

Iron Man has his fair share of nemeses such as the Crimson Dynamo, the Mandarin, Justin Hammer, Whiplash and a couple of others, but they’re not in the big leagues like say, Magneto, Red Skull or any of Spider-Man’s villains and that’s a cold fact.

Be it the movies, or the comics, Batman simply wins in this regard.

I mentioned how there are two clinchers, and coming to the second one, I think this is a harder one for me to write. Looking purely at the scale and scope of their adventures, I’m afraid Batman cannot quite live up to the hijinks Iron Man gets up to regularly. 

It’s not a criticism, it’s an observation.

Batman’s stories are written to be personal and emotionally impactful ones, be they in the comics, the excellent Arkham games or any of Batman’s various movies, and they’re everything they’re intended to be.  But Iron Man (thanks to his affiliation with the Avengers) has become less of a street-level crime fighter and more of a global peacekeeper.

Batman’s objectives revolve around Gotham, its safety and its best interests, but for Iron Man, nothing is far-fetched – alien invasion? No issue. Army of murderous robots? Okay. Civil War? Bring it on. 

And it’s not just the movies, the theme extends to the comics as well of late.

It’s a personal preference, but there’s a sizable audience that prefers blockbuster shenanigans to personal stories.

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As much as I’d love to, in light of all discussion, I don’t think I can offer a concrete conclusion here. I love Batman, and I love Iron Man, and looking at their similarities and differences objectively, it’s hard for me to say with conviction who I feel is better—if either of them are anyway.

I think there isn’t supposed to be an answer here; it’s us, the fans who are so desperately seeking one.

I mean think about it, can you actually, definitively conclude whether a Rolls Royce is better or a Bentley?

Whether Paris is more fashionable or Milan?

Whether Scarlett Johansson is prettier or Margot Robbie?

I think it’s all subjective, and depending on our own afflictions and choices, we can choose to determine whether either of them is better—or neither of them is and every answer is the right one, because it’s our own answer.

We’re seeking the right answer when every answer is the right one.

That doesn’t mean we can’t still fanboy, it just means every fanboy is in his own way right, and we should all unite and celebrate the medium that has provided us this opportunity and enabled us to be here today.

Boy, what a time to be alive, and what a time to be a fanboy.

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