Battle of the Billionaires

This is my opinion and not the opinion of DC Comics

I was watching Batman: Under the Red Hood last night when a thought came to mind - Iron Man is totally a b-rate Batman!
I am not a fan of the DC vs Marvel back and forth but I never thought about this before. Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics #27 back in 1939 and Iron Man’s Marvel Comics premiere wasn’t til much later in Tales of Suspense #39 in 1963. Did Marvel love Batman so much they needed their own eccentric billionaire?

Anyway, I am getting off point, I know there are more of you like minded people who love ALL comics - but do you prefer Bruce or Tony?

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I absolutely agree. Long story short, Bruce comes from old money. The Wayne’s are one of the families that built Gotham City. Tony Stark is just another billionaire w/ an alcohol problem. I’ll put it this way, if Bruce Wayne woke up with Tony Stark’s money, he would jump out of the highest window at Wayne Tower.

Bruce >>>>> Tony

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Bruce Wayne. I like the depth of Bruce’s character.

That’s not a knock on Tony, I just prefer Bruce’s story.

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Iron Man was a D list character, so low in popularity, that when Marvel went bankrupt, they could not sell him to Sony or Fox.

Despite some brilliant artwork by Gene Colan in the early years and his charter membership in the Avenger, Tony became interesting only when he became an alcoholic.

Robert Downey Jr had similar problems in real life. Marvel took a big chance hiring him as Iron Man.

In that manner, Tony Stark IS Robert Downey Jr.

Batman is immortal. He will survive bad movies, bad tv shows, bad comic books.

His archetype is the dark hero, the vampire.

Iron Man is just a man in a suit in so many ways.

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Nothing much to add. All comments thus far are all on point.

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Bruce Wayne is it. Batsy takes out Ironman everytime. Lol, but I have read some fan fiction that makes these two interact and its hysterical!

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Well Tony is the same as Iron Man. Bruce just uses that persona as Bruce, but when he is Batman, he is completely different. Tony is the same character as Tony and Iron Man. Marvel might of copied just the billionaire part. But that is where the similarities end.

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Yeah the Robert Downey made Iron Man so popular. Marvel owe a lot to Robert

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Yeah, Downey kills it as Tony Stark

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Bruce Wayne by a universe wide long shot. When I think of a wealthy entrepreneur who can live an absolutely high class lifestyle the rest of us can only dream about that’s also a swinging bachelor, jetsetter extraordinaire, owner of fabulous wealth and possessions and a highly successful businessman that’s generous and charitable to his community and has a strong desire for a better world however his companies can help provide it to people, it’s Bruce Wayne.

Tony Stark can say he’s a “Billionaire, genius, playboy philanthropist.” but Bruce put that concept on the map and, like James Bond, nobody does it better.

Good question =)

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probably not Tony, whose support for requiring powered individuals to register with the government is a black mark on his legacy, I feel, and would not be the stance of Bruce Wayne … although I’m not aware of a Civil War type event in DC’s multiverse

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Perhaps his creation was inspired by Bruce Wayne/Batman but they’re both awesome in they’re universe’s. I see them for what and who they are and not as a knock off or any of that crap of 2nd rate

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I think you are right that marvel probably did take the concept of the eccentric billionaire who dresses up in a suit of complementary colors. Red and yellow. Blue and grey. They are both alcoholics. Both are womanizers. Both inherited a fortune. Both rely on gadgets.
Both have parents who were murdered. Both put together super teams

Now for the differences. Tony stark dosnt need a side kick. Batman dose. Tony takes responsibly for his actions. Batman dosnt. Tony has a clear moral code, Batman dosnt. Tony feels a great deal of remorse for when he harms others. Batman dosnt.
I never realized this before. While Tony and Bruce are almost exactly the same. Iron man is more like superman. Where Batman is more like Punisher.
Now after this comparison I think fair to say that marvel has clearly “borrowed” some concepts from DC but not in the way I would have expected.

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Sorry I went off point as well. Batman and punisher. Over Iron man and superman any day. Every day.

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My cousins and I had the same discussion over Thanksgiving! We all agreed that Bruce is so much better than Tony.

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Thanks @tx85 for pointing out that we don’t have to tear down one character to praise another character.

Iron Man 1 is a fine movie, very convincing while you are watching it. He is much more powerful than Batman is in his movies.

I prefer Iron Man as a team member and don’t remember any significant stories in his own title, other than his alcoholism. I’m sure he had many.

Tony reveals much more emotions than Bruce, who has a wall around his. Bruce will succeed where Tony might fail, but Bruce doesn’t allow himself to feel very often, to be human.

Batman is still the stronger Archetype. Tony is more a hybrid, part rich knight in armor, part inventor, part robot man.

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@TX85, I did not mean to offend and I probably should have worded it better but I am a great lover of both characters. I just never made the connection before and I am in no way hating on Marvel.

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Let’s be fair here, The Phantom, The Shadow, Zorro, Green Hornet , the Scarlett Pimpernel, and the Count of Monte Cristo all featured the wealthy vigilante with a secret identity well before Batman came about. Green Hornet was even written to be a genius level inventor and detective.
Stan Lee said he based most of his characters on classic literature. Hulk was inspired by Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, Iron-man was inspired by The Man in the Iron Mask, ect.
In a way, the entire industry can thank author Alexandre Dumas and the French revolution for these characters

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Also, there’s that scene in avengers
-“take away the suit, what are you!?
-” billionaire playboy genius"
…if it forget get the exact exchange, but Bruce can add “…worlds greatest detective and master ninja”
Bruce would destroy

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@manifest Read Dark Knight Returns. It will confirm your suspicions :slight_smile:

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