Movie Madness: Darth Vader vs. Tony Stark

There are only two more Movie Madness matchups left until we have a complete picture of the Final Four in view. Somehow, John McClane overcame Voldemort’s evil powers on Wednesday’s match and barreled through to the next round. My wife (a ‘Harry Potter’ fanatic) voted for McClane and made a good argument for her decision. Voldemort only cares about things that he thinks are important because of his pride. He would never think a muggle like McClane was important, and McClane would use that to his advantage. Boom! No more dark wizard. Okay, now let’s take a look at Darth Vader versus Tony Stark.

I’m sorry, Tony. It looks like the end of the line for you. Don’t worry, you had a good run, but I think that Vader is an odds-on favorite to make it to the finals, even if he does face Indiana Jones in the next round. Vader seems to be too powerful. Couple that with his legions of fanatic followers, and I think this spells doom for Iron Man.

Darth Vader – I think I mentioned this in Round One, but I hesitated at putting Vader in the tournament. I thought that he’d have an unfair advantage against the rest of the field because of who he is, how popular he is, and how badass his powers are. I couldn’t do it, though. I couldn’t bring myself to exclude a cinematic figure like Vader. He’s just so iconic. When we’re talking about a tournament where movie characters battle to the death, how could I not put him in?

 

Tony Stark – He’s actually had a really good run through the tournament. He found a way to take out Freddy Krueger and then the Terminator. I was surprised. I thought that the Terminator would be Stark’s undoing, but logic held that if Stark is a master engineer, then he would surely know how to defeat another robot. But, even with the Iron Man suit and all of Stark’s smarts, I think he’s just outmatched when it comes to Vader. What do you think?

Final Word: Okay, Vader wins. I know. However, let’s make this a little interesting and dissect this further. Vader has never shown himself to be a quick moving attacker. The quickest he ever moves is a brisk walk down a corridor. It’s feasible that Stark could surprise him in the Iron Man suit and blow him away before he knew what was coming. But, then you’ve got to take into account the Force. Would Vader know he was coming? He certainly didn’t feel Han Solo bearing down on him in the Millennium Falcon. He wound up hurtling out into the abyss of space, flipping end over end like a punk. So, it is possible.

Darth Vader vs. Tony Stark

  • Darth Vader (69%, 90 Votes)
  • Tony Stark (31%, 40 Votes)

Total Voters: 130

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[Editor’s Note: Because The Bonus View will be taking the Monday holiday off, our next Movie Madness battle will run in the next regularly scheduled slot on Wednesday. -JZ]

14 comments

  1. RBBrittain

    Sorry, Tony. Despite all my rants & raves about other SW characters in the tourney (in “reel life” there’s NO way Han Solo could have beaten Harry Potter, and Fox would have fired enough bullets to make Boba Fett’s jet pack explode before he even saw her), Darth Vader is simply too legendary & powerful for even Iron Man to beat. Vader rightly deserves to be in the final four.

  2. Steve

    I have to say Stark over Vader – my only hesitation to this is Anakin from Revenge of the Sith where he could take Stark without a problem IMHO. BUT, as Tony Stark is against Vader (I’m going with Anakin after the “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” line), Stark wins.

  3. Much as I like Iron Man (From the films, anyway, I’m not a comic buff), Vader wins here, with ease.

    I mean, the guy can casually throw around multiple pieces of machinery with just his mind, in order to batter someone else with similar powers (Think Empire). Stark’s a tough guy, but he wouldn’t last long, even if Vader chose to go easy and avoid crushing his larynx. Unlike most villains, Vader can compete against both super powers, and straight forward fighting skills.

    Look at a comparison to someone like Voldemort… Sure, old Voldy has magical powers, but there’s nothing to imply he’d stand a chance in a good sword fight or hand-to-hand. In fact, you get the feeling that he’d be useless if stripped of magic. Vader, on the other hand, not only has mystical powers to match, but can easily hold his own in a sword or blaster/gun fight. Heck, he even stands a chance against anyone in a ‘car’ chase scenario (and he could do that when he was an ickle boy named after a singing girl with red hair!), or even an aircraft/spacecraft battle (After all, Han merely got the drop on him with the element of surprise, while he was distracted by the Rebel’s best pilot about to blow up their giant killer space station, and he was about to blast Luke to smithereens!)

    I’m sorry, but Vader, for all his teenage angst flaws, is still probably one of, if not the baddest dude in the known universe. πŸ˜€

  4. Pedram

    Vader is gonna go all the way with this. I don’t think even Indy stands a chance.
    Let’s stop him now so that things will actually remain interesting in the tournament.

      • Pedram

        Sorry, but Vader and his fanboy minions would wipe the floor with McClaine. Voldemort doesn’t have the hardcore fanbase or cool powers that Vader does.

  5. I know they’re not in the running, but some of the few characters who I think would stand a chance against Vader… One is Lynch’s version of Paul Atreides. πŸ˜‰ Then there’s literary and first film Conan who would stand a chance, because he’s superior to most in traditional fighting & been up against numerous supernatural foes of incredible strength and power, and always finds a way (not to mention defeated Vader once, in a round about way lol!)

    I don’t think Vader stands the best chance just because of Star Wars fanboys (though I’m admittedly one lol!) But because, as a character, he pretty much covers all the bases for superior or at least excellent skills in every combat area, whereas most film villains or even heroes are only competent in a few.

  6. When I try to figure it in my head, I could honestly see either one of these characters defeating the other. I eventually voted for Stark just because he seems to be the underdog.

  7. Vindibudd

    The reason that Tony Stark wins is because he is a super genius who undoubtedly has discovered that the Force is really just realized through a high midi-chlorian count and thusly he can neutralize them with nanobots. Once he has sprayed them in Vader’s intake valve, it’s curtains for “Annie.”

  8. EM

    This looked to be a close match, and so I tried to find precedents. So, I examined the comics history between Iron Man and Doctor Doom, who makes a good Marvel Universe analogue of Darth Vader (or, I suppose, the other way around).

    My impression is that, while either man could defeat the other, usually a decisive defeat does not occur. Sometimes this is because Stark and Doom strike a truce and/or some third party or event pulls them away from one another. But sometimes Iron Man has allies (such as his fellow Avengers) on his side, whereas Doom has no one, and Iron Man still cannot pull a win. Therefore, it would seem that in a head-to-head confrontation, Doom is more likely to emerge the victor (no pun intended). Likewise, I feel Vader, similarly an ingenious wielder of both technology and β€œmagic”, also has the edge over Stark, however slight.