10 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About Iron Man

9. He's Just Another Batman Rip-Off

Compare any of the characters in DC's library to that of Marvel's, and one of the first that will inevitably come up is Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark. Both are billionaires; both are orphans, and both lack any typical super-powers. Instead, they use their vastly keen intellect to outthink their opponents and, more obviously, create a technological suit of armour to protect them in combat.

On the surface Bruce Wayne is a philanthropic playboy who spends his days presiding over the affairs of Wayne Enterprises, a company with interests in the technology industry and, before he wrested control from the board, the arms industry too. Tony Stark, similarly, spends his days as a philanthropic playboy who controls Stark Industries, a weapons manufacturer turned scientific business that serves as an outlet to advance his own Iron Man tech.

The similarities are blatant - that much is true - but the pair couldn't be further apart.

To begin with, Tony Stark was created by Stan Lee to be a Cold Warrior. He was designed to be as unlikable as possible, and that he was; Stark was a figure of the Military Industrial Complex and was about as close to the idea of 'the man' as you could've gotten back in the sixties. He was purposefully meant to be antagonised, but only so Marvel's readers could be given a different perspective, and to see that nothing is ever always black or white, but that there are always shades of grey.

It was all part of the Marvel Age's intent to 'reflect the world outside our window', whereas Batman lacks any of that context. Factor in the duo's vastly different motivations, and it's plain for all to see that the Batman comparisons should've flown out the window a long time ago.