8. Interrogation Scenes
In
The Dark Knight, a key scene takes place in an interrogation room where The Joker lays out his entire philosophy, which is in complete contradiction with that of the man sitting across from him, Batman. The Joker predicts Batman's fall from grace and the reasons behind it. Much of what The Joker says eventually turns out to be quite accurate. In
Iron Man 2, Tony Stark confronts the incarcerated man who just attacked him, Ivan Vanko. During their conversation, each man gets a chance to prove his genius. In his own attempt at villainous philosophy, Vanko suggests the world will cease to believe in God (Stark), now that Vanko has made him bleed. These scenes, while similar, clearly differ in their level of effectiveness. The interrogation in
The Dark Knight is one of the most memorable scenes in the history of the genre. Its
Iron Man 2 counterpart is not due to a less interesting villain and the failure of the film to properly follow up on Vanko's statement. Favreau was aping
TDK director Christopher Nolan, but forgot to actually show the audience any hint of Stark's fans questioning their belief in their hero.