Marvel Vs. DC

Marvel and DC are the two biggest mainstream comic book companies in the United States.

DC is famous for heroes like Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, um... Robin?... OK, so that's all I got for DC.

Marvel is famous for heroes like the entire X-men Team, Iron Man (Red Robot, as Jaron calls him), The Incredible Hulk, Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, DareDevil, and the list goes on and on.

I was thinking about it today and I realized they have some fundamental differences and yet one very noticeable similarity: Iron Man and Batman. They were both child prodigies born to bazillionaire families, both have no actual super power (therefore, completely self made heroes) both use a ton of cool gadgets, that they invented themselves(!), both have special armour (granted, Iron Man armor is a little more all inclusive than Batman armor). Now, I'm not going to discount the differences. Batman is motivated by revenge while, (if the movie portrayal is accurate to the comic book) Iron Man is basically just a spoiled rich kid out for a good time (although there is the whole "my company has been selling my weapons to the bad guys, I have to atone for this", but he is still out there thinking "I'm flying around in a metal suit I made and that's friggin' awesome!")

Of the two of them, I think I definitely prefer Batman over Iron Man. Don't get me wrong, I think Iron Man is awesome, perhaps it is just because I have more exposure to Batman. The dichotomy is, however, I definitely prefer Marvel over DC any day of the week. I was never of fan of Superman (c'mon, he's an alien with super strength, laser vison, xray vision, can fly, etc. etc. etc. and the only way to kill him is with a space rock). Marvel heroes are all normal people that have had their powers thrust upon them (for the most part) by accident, usually involving radiation. The X-men, obviously, is caused by a genetic mutation, but they are still just trying to cope with the burden they've been given. Another big difference, when you think of superheroes with capes, you think of the DC camp: Superman, Batman,...um...does Green Lantern wear a cape? But I can't think of any Marvel hero that wears a cape. And, as Edna Mode pointed out to Bob Parr on Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles, capes are a bad idea, they get caught in jet engines, snagged on missiles, caught in elevators, etc.




So what do you think: If Iron Man and Batman were to get in a brawl, who would win? Why? My money is on Batman. Also, which is better, the Marvel Universe or the DC Universe? Discuss.