SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

THE DESIGN SCHOOL

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

NAME: CHIN TZE WEI

STUDENT ID NO: 0315767

FILMS SELECTED: Batman Begins Vs Iron Man 1

WORD COUNT: 1120

ENGLISH 2 (ENGL 0205)

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY

LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA

SUBMISSION DATE: 18th APRIL 2014

BATMAN BEGINS VS IRON MAN

In this modern era, we have experience many entertaining blockbuster movies especially

superhero films from past Marvel and DC Comics films like the ever popular Marvel’s

Iron Man and DC Comics’ Batman Trilogies till Marvel’s recently release Captain

America: The Winter Soldier and DC Comics newly rebooted film “Man Of Steel” that

show no signs of slowing down. So that we have the opportunity to see the usual that “Good

always triumph over Evil” in the end with some unbelievable actions that defines the Law

Of Physics and brings the “WOW factor” to every superhero fan lovers all around the

world. As for me, I am quite intrigued with Marvel’s Iron Man and DC Comics’ Batman

Begins which are two of Box Office most popular films to date. Eventhough both films are

the beginning of their own trilogies, there are still some differences which are origin,

personality, ability and armour.

First of all both of them were not born to be a superhero but through contrasting

fortunes that made them what they are now. In Tony Stark’s case, the main character in

Iron Man as well as being a billionaire industrialist, was captured by a terrorist group

known as the Ten Rings while he was in Afghanistan showcasing his latest weapon, The

Jericho missile. But during the ensuing attack, he accidently triggered a booby – trap to be

exploded and end up having a piece of the shrapnel lodged dangerously near his heart.

However with the help of fellow prisoner the brilliant Professor Yinsen, Stark was able to

construct a suit of armour that saved both his life and allowed him to escape and defeat his

captors, but at the price of his ally’s life. So from that day onwards, Tony Stark vowed to

honour Yinsen’s memory and make up for his own youthful mistakes by donning the Iron

Man armour after seeing firsthand how his own weapons are used for deathly purposes.

However it was a totally different story for the so called The Dark Knight, as Bruce

Wayne has to endure the death of his parents at the hand of an armed mugger, Joe Chill in

front of his sight while he was still a kid. So in order to curb his thirst for revenge as an

adult, he ultimately abandons his wealthy playboy lifestyle and begins travelling around

the world for seven years in hope of getting a good grasp into the mind of criminals.

Until he was finally taught under the tutelage of Ra’s Al Ghul, the leader of an elite

Vigilante group, the League of Shadows. In the end, he abandons them after he realized

their evil intention in stored for Gotham City once he honed their skills and returns to

Gotham City as Batman in order to fight injustice by striking fear into the heart of

criminals. As you can see Tony Stark only becomes Iron Man once he saw the mass

destruction his weapons are causing to the life of innocence while Bruce Wayne on the end

dons it to keep Gotham safe from evildoers after experiencing the death of his beloved

parents at the hands of one of their kind.

Secondly both of these characters also have contrasting features especially personality-

wise. For Tony Stark, he seems to be the sort of outgoing person like for example when at

the end of the film, he reveals himself as Iron Man in front of thousands news

broadcasters even though he was not ought to. However it is the single-mindedness of

Bruce Wayne that drives him to track down his enemies at all cost that make him differs from

Stark. At the same time unlike like Tony Stark, Bruce Wayne also kept his dual life as an

irresponsible fun-seeking playboy and Batman a secret so as to keep the people who are

dearest to him safe from harm way. For instance, one is confident of his own abilities in

handling his enemies and the other seems quite determine to finish off his cases as soon as

possible.

In addition to that, both these heroes also possesses different level of abilities in their line

of work. For Batman, he can call upon his arrays of ninjutsu and other martial arts having

been trained by the League of Shadows and Ra’s Al Ghul when in a hand to hand combat

with his enemies. To show how good he is, his enemies need not another explanation as he

single-handedly subdued a SWAT team and a group of the League of Shadows ninjas with

minimal injury even before his training with Ra’s Al Ghul. On the contrary, in order to

compensate for his lack of knowledge in hand to hand combat, Tony Stark is able to use his

expertise in engineering to build and repair his armour or even go as far as modifying it to

suit his high-tech suit of armours in the line of battle. Both of these heroes also have

contrasting intelligence in one thing or another as well. Regarded as one of the world

greatest detective, batman can reliant on his bat-solving skills to even solve the toughest of

mysteries out there before the police do. Eventhough Tony Stark may not be great in

detective work, he sure is an industrial genius in creating new weapons and gadgets out of

anything for his armour. For an example, like how he managed to build his first Iron Man

armour in captivity without his high-tech equipments.

Finally what differentiate these two heroes apart is the armour or suit they are used in

both use. First off Batman get his gear from Lucius Fox’s Research and Development

program which was intended for military purposes. Batman’s armour actually

features a Kevlar bi-weave that can stop slashing weapons and reinforced joints for

maximum flexibility and mobility, a cowl that acts as a protective helmet and a cape that is

made of “memory cloth”. As for Tony Stark, he does not have his suit first hand-made to

him. He just invent them himself. In this film, he has infact invented a total of three iron

suits of armour which are Mark 1, 2 and 3. He first invented Mark 1 in order to escape

from the Ten Rings terrorist organization and Mark 2 as a test flight to perfect its flying

capabilities. This was so that it can be accommodated into his final invention, The Mark 3,

the near perfect model of Mark 1 and 2 made out of a gold-titanium alloy with red

highlights and was armed with a variety of weapons.

In conclusion all I can say is what made both Iron Man and Batman appalling to the eyes

of their audience is their different styles of attributes when it is either down to their

abilities or their suits as this what made any kind of superhero films special to one another.

CITATION

BATMAN BEGINS

1. Comingsoon.net. (n.d.). ComingSoon.net: Movie Trailers, New Movies, Upcoming

Movies, Movies, 2014 Movies, Films, DVD, Blu-ray, TV, Videos, Video, Game, Clips.

Retrieved April 6, 2014, from http://www.comingsoon.net

2. Batman (Christian Bale) - Batman Wiki. (n.d.). Batman (Christian Bale). Retrieved April

6, 2014, from http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Batman_(Christian_Bale)

IRON MAN 1

1. Beard, J., & Morse, B. (2012, June 21). The History of Iron Man Pt. 1 | Iron Man | News |

Marvel.com. HISTORY OF IRON MAN. Retrieved April 6, 2014, from

http://marvel.com/news/comics/2012/6/21/18937/the_history_of_iron_man_pt_1

2. Iron_Man – Iron Man Wiki. (2010, July 28). Iron Man. Retrieved April 6, 2014, from

http://avengersearthsmightiestheroes.wikia.com/wiki/Iron_Man

3. Iron Man (armor) - Marvel Movies Wiki - Wolverine, Iron Man 2 .... (2009, May 21). Iron Man

(armor). Retrieved April 6, 2014, from http://marvel-movies.wikia.com/wiki/Iron_Man_(armor)