Iron Man vs Steel

If you have not read any of my previous “VS” articles, you will find more here:
Hulk vs Doomsday
Batman vs Daredevil

When you think of a genius in robotics who just so happens to love pounding bad guys into the ground with his armored plated fists, no one comes to mind more than….Well both Iron Man and Steel, depending on if you are talking about the Marvel or DC Universe.

Steel:  When John Henry Irons was saved by Superman, he decided to devout his life to being like Superman.  He wanted to “live a life worth saving” as Superman had told him.  When the genuine article died at the hands of Doomsday, several new Supermen showed up in Metropolis, one of them being Steel.  With the power of flight, enhanced strength, and a giant steel hammer, Steel can handle himself against the best of them.

Iron Man:  Tony Stark is very different from John Henry Irons.  Tony Stark is a rich playboy with an ego problem.  Though he becomes a better person as time goes on, and learns to fight for the right reasons, he certainly has his share of demons to deal with.  Iron Man has had many different suits of armor, sometimes built specifically to handle a certain situation.  He has most of the same abilities as Steel, just with a bigger arsenal.

The Fight:  As I mentioned before, Tony Stark has the bigger arsenal of weapons.  This gives him a distinct advantage against Steel.  His armor also makes him stronger than Steel.  In many ways, Steel is just a poor man’s Iron Man.  He isn’t weak by any means, he just isn’t on Iron Man’s level.  Considering Steel comes from the Superman universe, this is odd, but it’s how it is.

It would be a tough fought battle, both guys would give it their all, but in the end Iron Man comes out with the victory.  Iron Man is just too strong, smart and durable for Steel to finish off.  Both of these guys can hang with the heavy hitters, Iron Man just hits a little harder and has more experience.  He also has longer range weapons that pack more of a pop.  The only way Steel could win was if he ran into Iron Man on a day where he was struggling with alcohol or something of that nature.

The Winner:  Iron Man

Chris Hemsworth on Thor: The Dark World

On director Alan Taylor:  “I love the way he adds an incredibly organic element to the fantastical world of Thrones, and I think that’s what Thor could benefit from. It’s grounded in reality, no matter how mythical or science-fiction-like it becomes. There’s a truth to it all. Certainly, working with him now, you can see he doesn’t want Thor or the Asgardians to seem like some distant race or god-like. He still wants them to be relatable.”

On into getting into character:  “For Thor there’s a lot of ongoing reading and rereading of the script. I have a guy that I work with a lot who’s a voice coach, but also far more than that. We pull scripts apart and go into who these people are; his whole attitude of approaching a character is, instead of trying to mimic something or work out technically how you do that, it’s more why does someone speak like that. What’s in your personality or nature, or your past that has moulded you into sounding like this? That then raises a whole lot of questions about the character – which is great. You do that all the way through the film, even afterwards it’s hard to switch off sometimes.”

On why Thor has an English accent:  “For whatever reason, it just seems to fit that world. Probably for no other reason than that it’s the way it’s been done in history. We associate Shakespearean speak [with god-like beings] because so many British actors have done it over the years. It resonates with the audience. Also, we had Anthony Hopkins, who is Welsh but has similar tones. I certainly couldn’t play him as Australian because people would think, “That’s Crocodile Dundee!”

The first Thor was a movie I didn’t expect a lot from but ended up being pleasantly surprised.  The change in directors is a little worrisome because you never know what you are going to get.  It could be better but it could be worse as well.  It doesn’t seem like this one takes place on earth at all, but deals more with Thor’s realm.  This is fine with me since Thor has already come to earth twice to deal with problems.

Hulk vs Doomsday

If you have not read my last installment of “VS”, you may do so here: Batman vs Daredevil

When you think of some of the biggest and baddest creatures from the Marvel/DC Universe, The Hulk and Doomsday have to come to mind.  These characters are almost mirror images of each other.  Both are giant raging monsters who smash everything in their path.  So what happens when what’s in their path is each other?  Let’s find out!

Hulk:  Born out of gamma radiation, whenever Dr. Bruce Banner becomes angry,  he turns into a giant green rage monster.  Though the Hulk is a good guy and has gone through several changes over the years, we will be dealing with the savage Hulk.  The version who doesn’t think so much and mostly just smashes.  The more angry the Hulk gets, the stronger he becomes.

Doomsday:  Created on Krypton, Doomsday was born out of pain.  His only real desires are to kill, destroy and bring pain to others.  Most famous for killing Superman in a one on one battle, Doomsday is obviously very dangerous.  Like the Hulk, Doomsday has had a few changes over the years but we will once again stick with the savage, mostly unthinking version.

The Fight:  Both of these guys are big, bad, and love to destroy everything in front of them.  While the Hulk can become stronger the more angry he gets, Doomsday can adapt to become more and more powerful so that he won’t lose to the same person twice.  Doomsday is basically just the Hulk on steroids and covered in bones (sharp enough to cut even Superman).  This fight is going to be a slug fest, there will not be a lot of technique used.  And wherever it takes place, not much will be left standing.

Doomsday was able to do something the Hulk never has (in crossover comics), defeat Superman.  I think Doomsday is stronger, can take more damage and is just all around more powerful than the Hulk.  Though it would be a good fight, while it lasts, Doomsday will be left standing when it’s all said and done.  On top of just being physically superior to the Hulk, Doomsday also has his bone claws, which serve as both offense and defense.  As much as I like the Hulk, I just don’t see how he wins this one.

Winner:  Doomsday

Guillermo del Toro on the Hulk TV Series

“Right now all I know is the official word I was given is that there’s a writer they want,” says del Toro. “They are very interested in me meeting with him. He’s very, very busy. The official word is we are holding, but I don’t know… After ‘Avengers’ having the success it had, perhaps the fate of the project may change. Right now officially what I know – and I’m not hiding anything off the record or anything – is that we were told we were waiting for this writer, and we were going to do it with him.”

I have heard about this Hulk tv series for a while now but I am not sure why they would develop a tv show instead of a movie.  The Hulk stole the show in the Avengers and is one of the most popular characters in the Marvel Universe.  Not to mention a tv series would be pretty expensive to produce.  Also, would it be separate from the Hulk in the first movie and the Avengers or would it be following the same version?  I hope they drop this idea and proceed with the Hulk 2 instead.

The Avengers

With the release of The Avengers on DVD/Blu-ray this week, I have decided to review the summer blockbuster.  The basic plot revolves around Loki, the brother of Thor, working for a mysterious alien and leading an army to earth so he can rule.  To counter this attack, a secret Government organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. assembles the earth’s mightiest heroes.  Pretty much everyone loves this movie and I like it as well.  It’s a big, fun, summer popcorn flick and there is nothing wrong with that.

Marvel has taken years to build up to this film by making movies about the individual characters first.  This was a very wise plan.  Team movies with big casts tend to have the problem of trying to develop all of their characters in a 2-2.5 hour time span.  By having one or more individual movies come out first, everyone is already familiar with all of the characters in the movie.  This allows them to move straight into the action.

The only real complaint I have about The Avengers is that I didn’t care for the Governments technology very much.  Besides Iron Man, who is supposed to be way ahead of his time, the technology that had been shown in the previous films was basically what we have in real life.  But S.H.I.E.L.D.  has flying air craft carriers and all sorts of crazy gadgets, it just felt like watching a G.I. Joe cartoon from the 1980s.  This isn’t a big deal, I haven’t even heard anyone else mention it, so it’s probably just me.

Each of our heroes gets plenty of screen time and fight scenes.  For the first half of the movie they are fighting each other more than the bad guys.  Once they finally all come together and face off against the alien force at the end, it’s nothing but a huge free for all.  I never really felt like the world was in danger from this threat but New York was.  Apparently you shouldn’t live in New York because it’s always under attack by super villains in the movies!

It’s during the last third of the movie that the Hulk really steals the show.  Everyone loved this character and his use as comic relief.  It surprises me that Marvel hasn’t already put the Hulk 2 into production.  Perhaps they will soon.  After the credits we get a hint at who the bad guy in the next one will be, and he is a big one.  For people who don’t follow the comic books and were wondering who “the purple guy” was, his name is Thanos and he is a major threat to anyone.  Thanos is a guy who can beat even powerful beings like Thor or the Silver Surfer in a one on one fight.

Like I said before, The Avengers is a big, fun, popcorn flick and there is nothing wrong with that.  I give it 3 out of 4 stars.