Hi-tech heroes such as Batman and Iron Man exist in the realm of science fiction, but how do they measure up when you take out the fiction and focus exclusively on the science? And more importantly, who would win in a real-life battle where they are confined to the boundaries of physics and not the imaginations of comic book writers.?
While much of their tech exists in some form or another in the real world, much of their wonderful toys are (as of now) pure fantasy. This is what makes “versus debates” so difficult to navigate. In his Hellbat armor, Bruce Wayne can go toe-to-toe with Darkseid. With the help of the Extremis serum, Tony Stark has full techno-organic control of his suits. To put it plainly, comics are not a reliable method to judge battle physics.
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As such, the only true method to test their might is to ground their weapons and abilities in reality, where fighting mechanics can be measured properly. So how do these two titans of industry stack up in a Nolanverse scenario? Some may be surprised with just how far along superhero-grade technology has progressed within the last decade, and even more surprised with just how far along superhero-grade technology is projected to progress within the next decade.
While much of Iron Man’s tech is plausible, Batman is far more grounded in real-world science. In fact, many sources have attempted to offer real-world breakdowns of Batman’s technology, including monetary costs. Most places the price tag of Batman’s crusade at around $135 million, but an article by Mashable suggested it would be closer to $682 million, which includes the cost of Wayne Manor as well as a full-time butler on staff. Still, another essay titled “The Cost of Being Batman” by Darren Hudson Hick put the cost at $296,207,612, which doesn’t factor in Alfred but does include the cost of the bat-Signal. The cost of a real-life Iron Man, however, would be in the billions—mainly due to the bleeding edge power sources required to use his weapons. That said, Tony Stark wouldn’t be confined to monetary costs in the same way as Bruce Wayne because much of his $12.4 billion net worth comes from government contracts—meaning his experimental future weapons are funded by US tax dollars.
To take on someone like Iron Man, the Dark Knight is going to need the most advanced training and technology the real world can offer, and at net worth of $9.2 billion, he can afford the very best. To be the World’s Greatest Detective, Bruce would need a degree in biochemistry from a top university as well as a graduate degree from a top forensics program. Mashable’s article also cites “several engineering degrees” in his resume, though it didn’t specify in what fields.
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While Bruce’s education is impressive by any standard, Tony Stark is likely the smartest person on Earth, earning 2 master’s degrees in engineering physics and artificial intelligence at MIT by age 19. And though Bruce’s 192 IQ and 23 languages vocabulary make him a bonafide genius, Tony’s IQ of 270 puts him in the top 0.01% of smartest people in the world. For perspective, real-life super-geniuses such as child prodigy Ainan Cawley (who began lecturing in biochemistry at the age of 6) and William James Sidis (who first theorized dark matter in the 1930s) both have IQs within that range. But while Iron Man has Batman utterly beat on the engineering front, Batman’s deductive reasoning would still come in handy when fighting an opponent wearing bleeding-edge tech.
On top of being the World’s Greatest Detective, Batman is also one of the world’s greatest martial artists. According to comic book canon, Bruce mastered 127 forms of martial arts in the first 10 years after his parents’ murder. Unfortunately, it is impossible to learn that many forms of combat within one lifetime. Italian grandmaster Gilberto Pauciullo, for example, holds an unprecedented 22 10th degree black belts and has been training since 1958. While Bruce wouldn’t be able to master 127 forms of combat, he could master 3 or 4 such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Krav Maga as a foundation to his training and then incorporate techniques from other martial arts into his fighting style, something MMA fighters already do.
The next real-world aspect of Batman to dissect is his bat-armor. Since Batman’s armor is supposed to give him the mobility to perform all those crazy martial arts moves, he’s going to avoid metal parts and instead use a mixture of Kevlar and a high molecular polyethylene composite 10 times stronger than steel called Spectra. Throw in boron carbide plating and fire-retardant Nomex and Batman’s bullet-proof, knife-proof, and shrapnel proof armor will also be fire-proof. And when Bruce tops his look off with a graphite cowl and Flamex-coated polysatin cape he’ll be ready to take on anything short of an alien demigod. It should be noted that even though memory cloth (the material of Batman’s cape in the Dark Knight Trilogy) doesn’t exist, researchers from North Carolina State University are currently working on a shapeshifting hydrogel that does basically the same thing.
But while Batman relies on a mix of raw physical power and mostly non-computerized armor and gadgets, pretty much everything Iron Man uses in combat is mechanical and powered by external fuel sources. And as far as exosuits go, Tony has some real-world options to give him a clear advantage in combat.
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin has a leg support system called ONYX that allows the wearer to carry an additional 140 lbs. beyond their normal limit. This will be important for Iron Man considering how much gear he’ll be carrying into battle. As for the upper body, Sarcos Robotic’s Guardian GT has robotic arms that can lift 500 lbs. Though they aren’t currently wearable we will add them to Tony’s suit anyway since Bruce can deadlift nearly 1,000 lbs. unassisted, according to the comics.
Though both men will be carrying a hefty amount of gear, Tony will have an overall advantage in armor. Obviously, Iron Man’s suit won’t actually be made out of iron. Likely, it would be made out of nitinol—a titanium/nickel alloy that’s 43% lighter than steel, but can easily stop most ballistics. Add an inner lining of sorbothane for shock absorption and Tony could smash through ceilings MCU style.
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The biggest hurdle for Tony to overcome is how to power his main suit since his staple ARC fusion reactor exists only in the world of fiction. Short for Affordable, Robust, Compact, the ARC reactor is a perpetual motion energy source powered by superheated plasma. It was perfected by Tony while dying in the cave of a warlord and is small enough to fit into a surgically engraved hole in his chest. But even without heart-sized ARC reactors, personal flight devices like those created by Jet Pack Aviation (or Mythbusters star Adam Savage) can still fly for up to 10 minutes and can reach speeds of up to 200 MPR. Some even come with their own Heads Up Display similar to Iron Man’s. Tony’s main suit would likely rely on a mix of lithium-ion batteries (like those found in Tesla vehicles) and hydrogen peroxide-powered jet propulsion engines. The problem, however, is both those power sources have a tendency to explode when damaged.
While Batman’s battle armor is relatively low-tech when compared to Iron Man’s, Bruce’s computer is one of the most highly advanced hardware systems in the world. Hick’s essay suggests the batcomputer would be similar to IBM’s gargantuan Blue Gene and include a state-of-the-art crime lab (total cost $655 million). Having a military-grade computer system would allow Batman to analyze his opponents and give him a tactical advantage in combat. And speaking of combat, Batman’s utility belt would come equipped with a variety of real-world weaponry such as a handheld grenade launcher, several concussion/flash/smoke grenades, remote-detonated explosives, and 1,000 bat-shaped shurikens.
It should be noted that while Mashable listed Batman’s TPLS grappling hook launcher at $50,000, we currently don’t have the technology to miniaturize a grapnel gun into the size of a small pistol. That said, major advancements in special operations technology suggest that a portable grapnel will likely exist within the next decade, so it just passes the reality bar test.
As far as Iron Man’s real-world arsenal goes, his signature repulsor rays (which not only act as flight stabilizers but also directed-energy weapons) are unfortunately a thing of fiction. That said, he has other options when it comes to real-life “heat rays,” such as the Active Denial System, a non-lethal weapon that emits high-frequency microwaves that can burn a target at 550 yards without permanently harming them. That said, portable flamethrowers like those sold by Elon Musk would likely be a better option if Tony significantly increased their strength without increasing their size (not possible yet, but plausible in the near future).
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Another energy-based weapon Tony could likely get his hands on in the real world is the MARAUDER, a government-contracted plasma rail-gun that creates compact high-density plasma and fires it using a powerful magnetic pulse. The plasma projectiles are shot at 3.3% the speed of light, is as powerful as 5 pounds of TNT, and create a mini electromagnetic pulse near the impact zone. The main drawbacks are its size and its extremely slow reload time. He would also need a considerably larger power source to fire the MARAUDER such as the Shiva Star, a $4 billion government-contracted energy research project 25 meters in diameter.
Lockheed Martin is also developing its own compact fusion reactor, which is the size of a large truck and can power a few city blocks. Though Iron man wouldn’t be able to fit it inside his chest, he’d likely be powering Stark Tower with something similar and could simply plug his weapons into it, though it would greatly hinder his mobility.
Finally, it’s important to look at the vehicles at Batman and Iron Man’s disposal. When it comes to customizing a real-life Batmobile, Bruce could take a high-performance car (the faster the better) to a company called Custom Armored Vehicles, where they would retrofit it for battle. Batman would likely mount several additional offensive weapons onto his ride, including a microwave energy disrupter that can disable a vehicle’s electronics at 50 meters called the RF Safe-Stop—good for both high-speed chases as well as brawls with giant mechs.
Speaking of giant mechs, Iron Man’s Hulkbuster armor does, in fact, exist in the realm of possibility. While nowhere near as nimble as the Hulkbuster, Method 2 is the world’s first giant bipedal robot. Though its limited mobility and 3-hour battery life would make it an easy target for the Batmobile (which supposedly can reach speeds of up to 275 MPR), armed with the MARAUDER rail-gun this real-life Hulkbuster could prove devastating to the Dark Knight.
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On top of ground vehicles, Batman and Iron Man also come equipped with air support. The Caped Crusader’s Bat-Wing would likely be based on the X-47B, an experimental Unmanned Aerial Vehicle the size of a strike fighter jet and vaguely in the shape of a bat. Though he wouldn’t be able to sit in the cockpit, he could have one of his allies such as Lucius Fox or his butler Alfred piloting the UAV remotely.
And for the same price of the Bat-Wing ($405 million), Tony could have 27 military-grade Iron Attack Drones at his beck and call. But unlike Iron Man 3, real-life drones aren’t actually piloted by a sophisticated hive-mind computer because artificial intelligence isn’t smart enough yet, so he would need someone like Colonel James Rhodes working at a control panel in tandem with JARVIS or FRIDAY. However, since this is supposed to be a mano a mano rumble with no additional assistance, we will have to save the Bat-Wing vs. Iron Drone fleet battle for another time.
So who wins in a real-life super battle? The answer is Batman. While Iron Man is bringing billions more in taxpayer dollars into this fight, ultimately he runs into a power consumption problem with his tech. In an IRL scenario, Batman and Iron Man would almost certainly open with their biggest weapons, their armored vehicles. Batman would role up in his armored assault car and blast the Hulkbuster with his microwave disrupter, confusing his electronics and making it almost impossible to aim his weapons. If Iron Man managed to get a shot off with his plasma cannon, he likely wouldn’t be able to make a direct hit on the Batmobile. But even so, he could effectively shut it down with the EMP blast. That said, Batman is the world’s craziest driver and would have no qualms about using the Batmobile’s momentum to ram the Hulkbuster with whiplash-inducing force.
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Once both men recovered from their concussions, the real fight would begin. As previously stated, Tony has 10 minutes of flight in his suit, and coincidentally, he would also have about 10 minutes of fuel for his miniaturized flamethrower hands. Since Batman’s suit is fire-proof, the only real threat coming from Iron Man at this point would be the heat. All Batman would have to do is survive 10 minutes of raining hellfire and then hook Tony with his grapnel launcher and reel him in like a trout.
Though Iron Man’s nitinol suit would shrug off batarangs like origami throwing-stars, if the Dark Knight wedged a bat-mine into Tony’s armor he could effectively detonate one (or all) of his fuel sources and set him off like a Roman candle. But not to worry, the sorbothane would likely keep Tony alive, meaning Batman wouldn’t break his no-kill rule.
In the world of comic books, Iron Man would almost certainly destroy Batman. But in a world without portable fusion reactors, Tony Stark is limited by real-world power sources, while Batman is only limited by his physical endurance. And even Marvel fans will have to admit that Batman’s willpower is nightmarishly unstoppable. While we’re still nowhere close to cracking the code of ARC reactors, in another 50 years anything is possible.
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