Lex Luthor calls Batman versus Superman, “The greatest gladiator match in the history of the world.” He was wrong. The greatest gladiator match is right here.

Last Friday was the release date for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and May 6th is the release date for Captain America: Civil War. Dawn of Justice pits two of the Justice League’s greatest heroes against each other and Civil War shows us two of Earth’s mightiest heroes butting heads. While each movie seems to be forcing audiences to choose a side between two members of the same team, your loving friends at the Mirada wanted to match up Iron Man and Batman, a gladiator from each, to display each character’s strengths and weaknesses in their upcoming cinematic appearances.

IRON MAN REFERENCES                                  BATMAN REFERENCES

-MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE                      -THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY

ROUND 1

Batman: Okay, since both men wear suits that greatly contribute to their abilities, let’s set those suits aside for a minute and acknowledge the fact that without that element, Batman would obviously win in a fight. He’s pretty much in the best possible physical shape and has extreme agility and endurance.

In “Batman Begins,” Bruce Wayne is taken on as an apprentice by Ra’s Al Ghul and the League of Shadows. Wayne learns various fighting techniques and ultimately becomes the Batman through this training. According to Henri Ducard, his trainer, Wayne was taught to fight 600 people at once. Tony Stark has no such combat training and relies heavily on his suit weaponry.     

Iron Man: Here’s the thing. If we’re going to pit these two against each other we must realize that there’s no instance where they would meet without their suits and still go a few rounds with each other. Without their suits, they are Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne, two well-renowned businessmen. The only way they could meet as businessmen is in a business meeting or charity event. There’s not going to be a grudge match between Tony and Bruce at a charity event. A fight between these two must take place with both of their armored suits on.

Batman: Alright fine, let’s talk about suits then. Batman’s suit is made out of Kevlar, is practically bulletproof, and is more maneuverable (suitable for his skilled crime-fighting moves) than the Iron Man suit which happens to be made out of clunky, awkward titanium. In addition to the suit’s material, Batman has many gadgets. The Dark Knight’s many useful items include a magnetic grappling hook, sonar vision and a memory fiber cape. These give Batman the edge he needs to best any opposer by granting him abilities similar to a bat’s.

Iron Man: Kevlar? Great. You just said Iron Man’s suit was made out of titanium, which, in terms of gunfire resistance, would be way stronger. It’s actually gold titanium alloy, which is far more flexible. Also, may I bring your attention to Iron Man 3, when he sends the Mark 42 suit to sit on the couch with his legs crossed; that’s real flexibility. In any crime-fighting encounter brought to the big screen Tony has never had an issue with “clunkiness,” and as the movies continue, you see his suits are becoming more and more attached to him and his body, allowing much more mobility.

Batman: Iron Man is well known for his firepower, but Batman isn’t lacking in stuff to shoot at people. The Batmobile has more firepower than most tanks and he owns a jet, the Batwing, which is basically a bigger, better Iron Man. As if that roof-top chase scene in Batman Begins isn’t enough, the Batmobile has armour that can bust through concrete barriers, rocket blasts out of the rear nozzle, and can boot up into a rampless jump.

Iron Man: Iron Man is all firepower, I’m not going to deny that, but that’s why he would win in a cage match against Batman. If they’re going toe-to-toe in battle, Batman’s not going to have time to get into his car, aim, and fire at Iron Man. You can’t compare the Batmobile, a car, or the Batwing, a plane, to Iron Man himself, this is a fight between him and Batman. To reference Iron Man 3 again, Tony doesn’t even have to actively deal with the Batmobile or the Batwing while he’s fighting Iron Man. “The House Party Protocol,” when all of his suits came and fought remotely, took care of Killian and all his henchmen while Tony went and tried to rescue pepper. Iron Man could be fighting Batman while the rest of his suits destroy the Batmobile and the Batwing.

ROUND 2

Iron Man: Iron Man is a devout leader to his teammates and friends. In Age of Ultron, he makes reference to Captain America being the leader of the team, but mentions that he pays for everything and every enhancement to one of their suits, so while he doesn’t give the orders he teammates still rely on and trust him. In much of the media coverage from Captain America: Civil War, they reference that Iron Man and Captain America are LEADERS of their respective sides. Spiderman even joins Iron Man’s team because he looks up to him and made him want to become Spiderman. Iron Man has teammates that he can call friends, Batman works alone.

Batman: Batman, in the trilogy, works with Commissioner Gordon (therefore, basically the entire police department). In addition, he works with Alfred and Lucius, who provide his equipment and tech. Robin IS in the series. He’s in the third movie, as the detective who’s helping him throughout the whole movie. Also, Batman works with Harvey Dent until he becomes Two-Face and Rachel Dawes, until she dies. Bruce Wayne also could be listed as one of Batman’s allies, and he owns one of the most powerful companies, supposedly in the world. Most of Batman’s power comes from powerful people in society/political positions, but that can be a powerful factor. What better way to win a fight than to rally an entire city to your side?

Iron Man: Iron Man does have an entire city on his side. Well, actually more like the entire world. At the end of the first Avengers movie, they show the aftermath of the fight with the Chitauri aliens in a montage of worldwide media (you might remember this because of Stan Lee’s cameo). And WORLDWIDE everyone was praising the Avengers, even going so far as to spray-paint Tony Stark’s face onto the walls of abandoned buildings as public art. If you still don’t believe me, there is a scene in Iron Man 3 when Tony is stranded in Tennessee and he sneaks into a camera crew van to research the documents he’d found on the Mandarin. The owner of the van finds him and instead of kicking him out, he helps him because he’s one of his biggest fans. He even had a tattoo of Tony on his arm. Tony lives in Malibu, California and he has followers in Tennessee…that’s a wider radius than Batman’s Gotham City. Lastly, we know that the Black Panther will make an appearance in Civil War and he will side with Tony when the battle lines are first drawn. The Black Panther is from Wakanda, Africa and that’s much further than Tennessee. So, while yes, Batman can rally a city in his defense, Iron Man can rally the globe.

Batman: So Stark has some fans. Big deal. Sure, Iron Man is smart. But at the end of the day, he just…builds cool stuff. Batman not only has intellect on his side but he is also extremely clever. As the world’s greatest detective, Batman has unparalleled deductive skills, not to mention an IQ estimated at over 200. His strategic, rational mind helps him outsmart his enemies whereas Iron Man is prone to impulsive decisions and just blows stuff up. So, in short, Iron Man is a big hunk of metal with outrageous firepower who impulsively blows stuff up while Batman is a critical-thinking, skilled fighter who is passionate about justice. Yes, both of them have accomplished great things for mankind. But when it comes down to who would win in a fight, Batman has more to recommend him than just a fancy suit and could easily outwit Iron Man.