Three Reasons Iron Man is Cooler than Spiderman ..

Four Reasons Ironman is cooler than Spiderman and Four Reasons He Isn't - and a tiebreaker.

Now that the initial rush is over, it's time to assess the true validity of Ironman, now a movie star, and while I'm at it, let's compare him to his recent Marvel theater blockbuster counterpart, Spiderman.

In the Marvel series Civil War, Tony Stark and Peter Parker start out being buddies, and Tony trying to turn Peter into a corporate drone. He even started wearing s special Spidersuit that Tony made for him, with all kinds of big brother gadgets. Of course, that didn't last, and they put on a good fight in Amazing Spiderman #535.

In the theaters, despite Iron Man's good numbers so far, Spiderman is the grizzled veteran, with as many good movies made about him, arguably, as Superman. So, who's better?

Iron Man

Cooler Suit - Without this, there is no point in going on, of course he has the cooler suit. And int the Movie, wow, they do a good job with it, there are only a few Power Ranger moments in this movie. Credit better CGI and John Favreau for doing that.

Cooler Actor playing him - Robert Downey acts like he was built for this part, because he's an excellent actor. Still, he's mailed in some performances before, and this time, he just cruised through it. Have fun cashing that bumped up sequel check Robert, and if you're going to go out and do drugs, hire hookers, and trash hotel rooms, go to Amsterdam or somewhere that it's legal. Tobey Maguire was good in the first movie, then seemed more comfortable as the putz under Venom's control than as Peter Parker. Apparently he thinks Parker is just a whiner, and so, he doesn't really get it.

Cooler Life - No denying this either, millionaire playboy vs. struggling string photographer, hands down, Tony Stark wins despite hits for originality, yes, this is Batman, and plot options. Being Tony Stark is a lot more fun than being Peter Parker, at least as people.

Less Convolution in the Script - This goes just for the movie versions. First movies for comic characters are usually the honeymoon. Okay, take the origin, pick your favorite villain, let it roll. It also sets the pace for the rest of the series, but for the one movie, you have only your own picture to speak for, and Iron Man is good, comparable to them all.

Spiderman -
Powers, he has real powers - Everything else aside, Tony takes off that suit, he's just like us, Peter Parker, while wanting to hide his identity, can kick Tony's ass. He is ten times stronger, climbing walls, and in the movies, shooting webbing from his hands. Now that's an advantage!

Villains, he has a full entourage of Villains - of all the superheroes, only Batman's villains rival those of Spiderman. Truly, the Green Goblin, Kingpin, Sandman, Doc Ock, and Venom stack up against anyone. Spidey's writer's, while laying some eggs, have also come up with perfect foils to the Peter Parker persona.

Mary Jane - Okay, they may be apart now, again, but Mary Jane is the pinnacle of Superhero women. Okay, this is the old Mary Ann/Ginger argument, but in this article, Mary Jane outdistances any of the paint in bimbo's that Tony gets hanging around, even Pepper.

The Spiderman Relation to Real Life - Spiderman has been around longer, and popular longer. Iron Man as a superhero has never really been defined too clearly. As a follower of comics through the years, I can definitely picture a Peter Parker walking the streets around me. Tony Stark, well, you can only dream about being that guy.

Tiebreaker - Just not fair to let it end like this, so I'm going to make a call. There is one category, the one which took Spiderman to the movies first, and has him outselling Iron man over the years, Heart. Peter Parker is one of the living metaphors for Heart. Not just for Maty Jane, for his life, for his friends, for the world. This guy lives and dies for the world around him, superpowers and all. In reading or watching Spiderman you should always get the feeling that he would drop it all just to be able to save everyone.

Spiderman Crib Sheet

Spiderman, as one of the brightest stars of the Marvel universe, and maybe having the most to lose by revealing his identity, went through a lot because of Civil War.

The whole thing started with Peter Parker seemingly in the pocket of Tony Stark, depicted as both beneficial, with the new suit stark gave him and it's extra robot arms and sleek colors, to the overwhelming control. Peter was the face of the Superhero registration Act, the lynchpin of the whole plotline, and it started out with him and Iron Man acting like Batman and Robin.

A telling sign that the cooperation would not last was when Peter found tracking and recording bugs in his fancy new suit. Then he fought Captain America, winning by default as Cap had to get away, but webbing Cap's shield where he could retrieve it after he left it behind.

When he went rogue, he took Mary Jane and Aunt May into hiding with him, but before they were completely secure, Aunt May was shot by one of the Kingpin's costumed assassins. Peter was grief-stricken, May was hospitalized under constantly changing aliases as they tried to hide from Iron Man and the government. In the end, Tony Stark personally financed May's medical care, through his butler, but there was nothing they could ultimately do, she was going to die.

The series "One More Day," was Peter trying to find some way to save his Aunt May, and when you run in the circles he has run in, you surely start thinking there is a way around this mortality thing. Nobody could help him, until Mephisto appeared, offering a deal. If Peter were to agree to leave Mary Jane, breaking up what he called "true love", he would restore Aunt May's life.

Mephisto is one of Marvel's versions of the devil. It seems to me that he was the one that brought in the Ghost Rider, but maybe not the father of the former hero they called the Son of Satan. One cool place to find all of those facts out, from far more detail oriented people than me, is the Marvel Comics Database Wiki, one of the places I found to catch myself up.

Mary Jane made the deal for Peter, ending their marriage but making Mephisto agree to several other terms, such as getting Peter out of the jams he was in, mostly from revealing his identity. In the current series, Brand New Day, which may or may not be open ended, everything has changed.

There is a list on the second issue of exactly what happened, but let me put it in a nutshell: Peter is back to living with Aunt May, he never revealed his identity, is not even dating Mary Jane, and is just starting to break the rules against superheroes working without being registered.

Doing this plot turn, around one of the central characters of the whole Civil War saga, is a serious crime against consistency. Really? Making one person forget a secret identity is old hat, but an entire country? It strains the suspension of disbelief.

It was a price they had to pay, somebody had written Spiderman into a corner and he had to get out. If they planned it like they did it, shame on them, but I can accept that they needed to change it up. Peter Parker is essentially living the same five yers of his life over and over, for forty years now, inconsistency might be the rule, not the exception.

It's happened before, more than once. One broken plot string was "The Scarlet Spider," as Marvel tried to find a way to kick start sales for their character back in the 90's. I bought some of these issues, and they are some of the few older comics I have left.

JUST SO NOBODY THINKS I AM DELUSIONAL:
I realize that Marvel is just selling comic books, and have little or no respect for their characters. They will pull nearly any stunt it takes to sell comics and avoid the bankruptcy that they went through in the 90's. I hope they fired the writers who screwed Spidey up this last time and I hope they found someone who can guide his character back to health, of course, ending back up with Mary Jane.

Comic Crib Sheet

I don't think of myself as middle aged, but I am by every definition.
And I don't think of myself as a geek, but here I am writing a blog post about comic books. I also never tire of making light of my own contradictions, or definitions.

All that said, sitting here this evening, I have figured out why I really started this blog, other than a place to eventually show off my cool Ruby comic book Database application.
I can catch everyone up.

I know you're out there, former comic book readers, or casual readers, who every once in a while just want to know what's going on with those characters they grew up with. Unfortunately, like tuning into a soap opera after a couple years and finding out that wait, he's not dead? he's married to..?

here is the crib sheet for comics today:

Captain America, Steve Rogers, died.

Iron Man took over SHIELD, and pretty much the world.

Spider-man and everyone else not rebelling unmasked and registered.

Spiderman broke from the government, became an outlaw, and finally made a deal with the devil. Now he is living as Peter Parker, single, never having revealed his Identity, never having met Aunt May, therefore sparing her life.


Thor has come back from the dead, or wherever immortal Gods go, First thing he did was kick Iron Man's ass for making an android from his DNA and using it in the Civil War.

Bucky is now Captain America.

That's it, I'm trying to keep it short. Also, I don't know what's going on with DC, haven't been sucked back into that vortex, yet.