Thank
you to my opponent for proposing this debate. I will be arguing that Tony Stark
(Iron Man) could best Bruce Wayne (Batman) on the field of battle. I will seek
to demonstrate that Stark/Iron Man is both independently and situationally
superior to Wayne/Batman.
Point 1: Superior Standard Combat
Ability For
clarity, I am defining
standard in
this context as
most commonly
recognisable, which might well be interpreted also to mean the form
associated with minimal necessary force against fodder. Thus, in this case, it
would be the typical Batman we see in the movies, best represented in
Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, and Tony Stark’s Mark II suit.
In
the defined context of standard combat ability, Iron Man has a substantial
advantage over the Dark Knight. While my opponent has correctly identified
Bruce Wayne’s superior hand-to-hand fighting ability – mitigated in any case by
the Stark armour’s longstanding predictive avoidance measures – he quite simply
lacks the strength to harm Stark or disable the functions of his suit by brute
force.
Iron
Man, by virtue of mechanical thrust, can strike both faster and harder than
Batman, and is able to withstand greater levels of physical stress as a result
of his metal armour. He also possesses short-range firepower far in excess of
anything possessed by Batman, most notably the repulsor units embedded in the
suit’s hands and chest, which have been shown to be capable of severing limbs
and disintegrating flesh and bone. His manoeuvrability is greater owing to his
standing flight capabilities, and this remains true even against Batman’s
powerful, yet unwieldy vehicles.
Point 2: Superior Standard Range
of Operation Likewise,
Iron Man possesses a much greater range of operation than Batman. Even
accounting for Batman’s vehicles, Iron Man is able to travel faster and higher
than his counterpart, has no discernible inferiority in close-quarters
manoeuvrability (for example, flying through gaps), and is capable of
substantially more lethal long-range attacks, not least the target-seeking
cluster weapons, including missiles, which are a feature even of his earliest
suits.
Point 3 & Rebuttal 1:
Situational Adaptability As
my opponent has noted, Batman has beaten each member of the Justice League,
despite being greatly naturally disadvantaged. While admirable, this in itself
proves very little; a common trope of the superhero genre is the accomplishment
of goals against seemingly insurmountable odds, including against villains with
enhanced abilities. For every being of exponentially greater power whom Batman
has bested, we could easily find the equivalent for Iron Man.
There
is, however, reason to suppose that Iron Man could outwit Batman due to
evidence of his superior situational adaptability. Both characters are rich and
intelligent men capable of inventing elaborate and sophisticated technology to
neutralise the other; but where both men have extensive research facilities,
only Iron Man has any notable situational adaptability. To quote Obadiah Stane,
“Tony Stark was able to build [a working, portable arc reactor and fully
operational Mark I battle suit] in a cave with a box of scraps.” Stark has the
ability to use the elements of his environment in unorthodox ways to create
effective defensive and offensive tools [1]. When you factor in his self-developed
AI programs and later adaptive nanotech innovations, it becomes clear that ‘in
the field’, so to speak, Tony Stark has a greatly enhanced situational
adaptability that Batman simply cannot match.
Rebuttal 2: Electro-Magnetic
Pulse Using
an EMP device is a predictable strategy against a man who uses an electronic means
of combat, so it makes sense that Iron Man’s suit already contains several
failsafe defences against that sort of attack. For a start, transient surge
protection is pretty standard, even in the real world, to mitigate against the
threat of disrupted voltage flows [2]. Next, the tough alloys that make up Iron
Man’s suit act much like a Faraday Cage, protecting the internal electronics
from outside interference [3]. Further, as the listed source cites, there are
several occasions in which an EMP has been used on Stark in the comics, and the
suit has responded to them in several ways, not least by simply detecting the
threat and rebooting to avoid permanent damage – the process takes around 10
seconds, during which he remains sealed inside a tough metal armour [4]. An EMP
would have little to no effect on Iron Man’s suit.
Rebuttal 3: Technological
Prowess “With his jet, Batmobile, and other weapons and
gadgets, Batman could easily beat Iron Man.”
My
opponent seems to be forgetting that there are literally hundreds of unique
versions of the Iron Man suit, most of which can be operated remotely and by advanced
combat AI – as demonstrated in Iron Man 3. This diversity again adds to Iron
Man’s adaptability in combat, and renders any discernible advantage in
accessories null and void. Stark is a master of electrical and mechanical
engineering, and a developer of the among the most advanced Artificial
Intelligence system in his universe – there is nothing Bruce Wayne can develop
which cannot be at least matched by Stark.
Rebuttal 4: Intellect My
opponent claims that Bruce Wayne has a superior IQ to Tony Stark. He has cited
no evidence for this. It appears that his misconception comes from the fact
that Marvel do not rank their heroes by IQ, but by an intelligence score included
in their Power Grid rankings [5]. Thus, while DC have attributed to Wayne a 192
IQ, Stark is listed as an Intelligence 6 hero, which is defined as an IQ of 160
or above. My opponent seems to be conflating this with Stark having a 160 IQ,
though of course his IQ could be anywhere between 160 and outright omniscience.
Indeed, the company Alphatest have calculate that Stark’s IQ rests around the
270 mark, which gives him a substantial advantage in the domain of IQ over
Bruce Wayne [6][7].
Thank
you.
[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Man#Skills[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surge_arrester[3]
https://interestingengineering.com/how-does-a-faraday-cage-work[4]
https://www.quora.com/What-happens-when-an-EMP-hits-Iron-Man[5]
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Power_Grid[6]
https://www.iq-test.net/tony-stark-iq-pms77.html[7]
https://www.iq-test.net/batman-iq-score-pms73.html
I'm afraid I'm a normie of the most contemptible sort. I don't watch much television or film - I'm a gamer at heart - and what I do watch is generic dross like Pacific Rim, Godzilla and Marvel.
Either of you interested in movie comics outside of Iron Man? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get an Inhumans fan, as I've been trying to have an X-Men vs. Inhumans related debate.