Iron Man vs Batman!

[The Curmudgeon]

OK, not quite, it's just Robert Downey jr talking about The Dark Knight. But I don't think even Tony Stark would be as bitchy as this..

"My whole thing is that that I saw 'The Dark Knight'. I feel like I'm dumb because I feel like I don't get how many things that are so smart. It's like a Ferrari engine of storytelling and script writing and I'm like, 'That's not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.' I loved 'The Prestige' but didn't understand 'The Dark Knight'. Didn't get it, still can't tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I'm like, 'I get it. This is so high brow and so f--king smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.' You know what? F-ck DC comics. That's all I have to say and that's where I'm really coming from."


Shit, loyalty to a movie is one thing - loyalty to the brand of comic book that the movie was spawned from? That's something else. Perhaps Robert is just pissed that everyone was raving about Iron Man until the Dark Knight blew it (and every other movie) clean out the water?

[Benjamin Haines]

Well, I guess we won't have to worry about whether or not Downey will be on board for the Avengers movie when the time comes. Now, Edward Norton on the other hand...


Where'd you find this bit, C?

[trashcanman]

What a dope. I've actually had online conversations about IM vs. TDK and my conclusion is thus: I think IM is the best comic book movie ever. This takes into account the things I want and expect of the genre, which are fun, action, fun, respect for the characters and source material, and fun. IM delivered this flawlessly. TDK is almost less of a superhero film and more of a crime drama along the lines of "The Departed", "Scarface" and the like and either way it is not flawless. It is certainly a better "film" than IM artistically speaking, but I think by crossing over the two genres it overreached and didn't quite attain the ultimate heights of either. IM is a better pure comic book movie, but TDK will likely stand the test of time better.

[Benjamin Haines]

The way I see it, a comic book superhero movie can either be light, adventurous escapism or dark, serious drama. Iron Man is the best example of the former yet made and The Dark Knight is the best of the latter. They're both high-quality films but they're on completely opposite ends of the spectrum from one another.

[The Curmudgeon]

Yeah, I really don't think you can compare the two. Both embraced their origins; Iron Man was pure comic book from start to finish - the sort of film Stan The Man would create if he was a movie maker, while TDK explored the darker graphic novels. Both were perfect examples of their type.

Benjamin - the full thing can be seen here:

www.comicbookmovie.com/news/articles/4942.asp