Iron Man and Batman? No, Iron Man and Green Arrow.

I see a lot of cartoon and memes comparing Batman to Iron Man. The biggest reason they seem to do this is because of the money factor. Both Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark are billionaires. They have no superpowers, but they built their own gadgets. That is actually where their similarities end.

What if I told you that there is another DC hero that has more in common with Stark than Wayne does? Oliver Queen the Green Arrow is more like Tony Stark than people realize. I know what you’re thinking, “Green Arrow is an archer and he didn’t make any fancy gadgets. How is he anything like Iron Man?” Allow me to tell you.

Both Green Arrow and Iron Man didn’t decide to be a force for good until later on in life. Unlike Batman who from the moment his parents were killed vowed to bring justice to their killer. Oliver and Tony were billionaire playboys for real, not as a cover like Bruce. They both partied, shirked responsibility, and womanized like the selfish rich players they were. So while Bruce was traveling around the world training these two were living it up.

That it until tragedy struck forcing both of them to grow up in a hurry. Oliver fell off his cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, but managed to make his way to Starfish Island. There we was forced to learn how to survive teaching himself archery. Tony got caught in the middle of a war zone that put shrapnel next to his heart forcing him to use his intellect to create the Iron Man suit to save his life.

It was only after these tragic life changing events that both of these playboys smartened up and decided to do good in the world. They changed their companies to try and make a difference in the world instead of doing whatever brought the money in. They saw the error of their ways and became reformed men.

The biggest difference between Oliver and Tony is that Tony relies entirely upon his armor whereas Oliver can scrap pretty well even without his arrows. Oliver relies on himself and his physical abilities. Tony relies on his intellect and what he can build.

Of course another difference is that Tony is an alcoholic who remains single while Oliver married and had a couple of kids. Oliver passed on his legacy while Tony merely shared his with his friend Jim Rhodes. Then again that really is the difference between DC and Marvel anyway. DC likes to pass things on to the next generation while Marvel has their characters hold on to their legacy except in the case of an alternate universe.

So as you can see Oliver Queen and Tony Stark have much more in common than Tony and Bruce Wayne do. Sure Oliver doesn’t have all of the cool gadget that Bruce has, but his origin is very identical to Tony’s origin. Granted when it comes to matching abilities it’s Green Arrow vs. Hawkeye every time. However, as far as heroes who have the most in common it’s Tony and Oliver. After all, did you forget Oliver is a billionaire too?

Black Widow

I’ll admit I hadn’t had much experience with Scarlett Johansson’s work before she was cast as Natasha Romanoff. In fact the only thing I had seen her in (that I can recall) was “The Island”. In my mind she just didn’t fit. Sure she’s pretty, but could she pull off the vicious skilled assassin that is Black Widow? I had my doubts. In my mind I wanted Mila Jovovich. Her Alice in the Resident Evil movies was how I pictured Natasha.

When I first saw Johansson in “Iron Man 2” she looked like the Barbie version of Black Widow. Even during the end scene when she beat up 15 guys I wasn’t overly impressed. She just didn’t seem to have that edge that is so essential to Black Widow. It could have been the hairstyle they gave her in that movie. Sounds stupid I know, but to me it make her look like a Barbie.

Then in “The Avengers” she got the shorter hair which is more practical for a spy. Her opening scene in “The Avengers” made me respect her a little bit. Using her wit and sultry appearance to get the information she needed from those thugs, but then skillfully beat the crap out of them gave me hope. The rest of the movie she showed that she did indeed have the chops to play a deadly spy.

In “Captain America The Winter Soldier” it felt like Black Widow was finally the way she was in the comics. Her hair was the right length, she was more secretive, almost to the point you wondered if she could have been a double agent, and you found it sorta hard to trust her because of that. In this movie they focused on the spy and Johansson executed it beautifully. It took three movies, but finally I got the Black Widow I was expecting all along.






So as I was saying, I didn’t like the casting at first, but through the evolution of three movies I grew to like her. Johansson went from Barbie to Black Widow in my eyes. Although I still don’t care for the poses they put her in for promotions. Such as the latest, “I gotta pee” pose they have her doing in the promos for The Winter Soldier.

The Sonic Screwdriver Encounter

Every now and then I like to share my encounters with normies. Why? Because sometimes I need to reflect on what happened. When geek and normal collide it can be a very confusing encounter for both parties. This is one of those times.

It happened last week in Newbury Comics at the Maine Mall. My boyfriend and I were drooling over and playing with various items on the Doctor Who display. I was looking at t-shirts on the end when these two brunette women start talking. They were in their early 20’s and one was holding the 11th Doctor’s sonic screwdriver.

It’s not that I was eaves dropping it’s more like they were talking loud enough to invite anyone into their conversation. I glance over at them and suddenly their attention turned to me. I am now part of their conversation.

“Is this the 10th or 11th Doctor’s wand?” she asked.

Yes she called it a wand and continued to do so. It was kinda like nails on a chalkboard for me, but didn’t want to be a douche bag and correct her.

“It’s the 11th’s.” I said.

“Ok well I wasn’t sure. It’s for my boyfriend’s birthday. It’s so hard to keep track of which Doctor’s wand he wants. One day he’s obsessed with 10, the next day 11, the day after 10, and I just can’t keep up with it.”

She was talking kinda fast at this point. I glance over at my boyfriend who is behind her and I think we both had the same awkward look on our faces. The look that says, “How did we get sucked into this?”

Sadly I know how I got sucked into it. She didn’t have the information she needed, I’m a geek, and I care about my fandoms. I did it for the fandom.

“Isn’t there a set that has four wands in it?” she asked.

“Yeah there’s a set where you can make your own sonic screwdriver.” I said.

“Well I don’t love him that much. He can deal with this one and if it’s the wrong one or he doesn’t like it I’ll return it and keep the money.”

After that she was gone with her friend. I looked at my other half feeling like I had just taken a hit right to the fandom. Sometimes a geek can get together with a non-geek and everything will work out, but I had an odd feeling about this one. As it was I had had to bite my tongue from asking her, “You watch reality shows on MTV don’t you?” Snarky? Yes, but it never was vocalized.

Anyone else have an awkward encounter with the non-geeky public they want to share?