Breaking down how smart 'n' snarky Stark would topple DC 's Finest.
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00:00 Now, when it comes to Marvel and DC, there's been the occasional crossover, and likewise,
00:04 that's seen some of the Avengers tangle with the likes of the Justice League. And should
00:08 a full-on battle between these two groups happen again at some point, here's how we
00:12 think that Iron Man would be able to defeat 10 of the greatest leaguers ever.
00:17 So let's take a look at them as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and this is how Iron
00:20 Man would defeat every Justice League member.
00:23 10. Green Arrow
00:24 The ever-touchy Emerald Archer, Green Arrow is somebody who Iron Man would realistically
00:29 get the better of with relative ease. Regardless of us being huge fans of Oliver Queen, it's
00:34 tough to imagine him being able to get even close to taking down the Armored Avenger.
00:38 Granted, the Master Bowman is prolific with his aim and can turn pretty much anything
00:43 into a weapon, but that just doesn't cut it when it comes up against somebody who is
00:46 as skilled and outright powerful as Iron Man.
00:49 Tony Stark is smarter than Oli, has a ludicrous amount of technology at his fingertips, can
00:54 handily keep his distance from Queen, and is able to fire his own missile projectiles
00:58 in the direction of Green Arrow and his trusty bow. It may sound harsh to say it, but Oliver
01:04 Queen is likely the easiest Justice Leaguer for old Shellhead to face off against. In
01:08 fact, the only way that the Arrow might be able to match or possibly better Iron Man
01:12 is when it comes to firing off snarky quips.
01:14 9. Atom
01:16 In the case of the Atom, his core power involves being able to shrink down in size while still
01:20 remaining extremely strong. To compare Ray Palmer to any of the characters who Iron Man
01:25 is already familiar with, the two that immediately jump out from the pages of Marvel Comics are
01:29 Ant-Man and the Wasp. Utilising this knowledge of his Avengers teammates, Tony Stark definitely
01:34 already has a one-up on Atom. Considering Palmer's size-altering abilities come from
01:38 the white dwarf star usually attached to his belt, Shellhead could feasibly hack into this
01:43 and force the Atom to continuously shrink indefinitely until there's nothing left
01:47 of this Justice Leaguer.
01:48 On the flip side of this, there isn't much at all that Atom could do to Tony as part
01:52 of his own offence. Stark has a collection of suits in his arsenal that are made from
01:56 liquid technology, meaning that there aren't any natural cracks in the armour of these
02:00 outfits for the Atom to get under Tony's skin. In particular, the Bleeding Edge suit
02:04 literally serves as a second skin for Iron Man. This is a fight that the Atom simply
02:08 cannot win. For Tony Stark, it's a matter of when, not if, he'd be successful in beating
02:14 Palmer.
02:15 8. Aquaman
02:16 Key to Iron Man beating Aquaman is Tony Stark making sure to minimise the King of Atlantis'
02:21 ability to use water to his advantage. On dry land, away from any coastlines, Aquaman
02:26 is far less powerful than he is when swimming around in the Seven Seas. That said, the marine
02:30 marvel is still one tough cookie, whether in or out of water.
02:35 Aquaman is a god-like being, similar in approach and powers to Thor in some regards. And one
02:40 thing that Thor has been able to do previously, of course, is literally crush Tony Stark's
02:44 armour. One has to imagine that this is similarly something that Justice League's Atlantean
02:48 would be able to do, but that doesn't mean Aquaman will get the W over Iron Man.
02:53 As previously mentioned elsewhere on this list, Stark has the Bleeding Edge armour up
02:57 his sleeve for any serious battles. Essentially a liquid skin suit controlled mentally by
03:02 the armoured Avenger, this would be enough to hold off any assault from Aquaman. Added
03:06 to this, the uber-smart shellhead would surely have some concussion missiles to hand to disorientate
03:11 and take down his foe. Even better, those missiles would be even more effective underwater
03:16 due to how quickly sound travels in such circumstances.
03:19 7. Martian Manhunter
03:21 On the surface, the Martian Manhunter has a frankly outrageous amount of powers at his
03:26 fingertips. For those not overly familiar with John Jones, he's a shape-shifting,
03:30 telepathic, telekinetic, super-strong, heat-vision-firing being who can fly and turn himself invisible.
03:35 By anyone's standards, this is quite the impressive laundry list of ability. But while
03:39 he is an opponent that can topple most beings in the galaxy if allowed to tap into his unique
03:44 skills, the one major weakness of the Martian Manhunter is a simple one - fire. To throw
03:48 out a comparison, fire to the Manhunter is similar to what Kryptonite is to Superman.
03:53 So for Iron Man to get one over on the Bronze Wraith, he just needs to conjure up an absolute
03:57 hellstorm of fire. And given the arsenal at his disposal, it wouldn't take much for
04:02 Tony Stark to make some sort of explosive firework that would have the Martian quaking
04:06 in his cape. Once fire has been thrown Jones' way, the fight would be over in a matter of
04:11 seconds and the Armored Avenger would be standing victorious.
04:14 6. Wonder Woman
04:16 In terms of abilities, Wonder Woman is likely the closest Justice Leaguer to Captain America,
04:20 with a splash of Thor thrown in for good measure. Both the Amazon and the Sentinel of Liberty
04:25 have superhuman strength and endurance, both are master strategists and leaders, and both
04:30 are pretty damn tough to kill. But whilst being tough to kill, both Diana and Cap have
04:35 indeed perished over the years of the comics. Of course, comics being comics, said demises
04:39 haven't exactly remained permanent.
04:41 Still, the point stands that it is possible to get the better of Wonder Woman. Pulling
04:45 a page from Batman's playbook in the opinion-splitting Tower of Babel storyline, Tony could use Diana's
04:51 own will to win against her. Forever up for a good fight, Wonder Woman simply cannot say
04:55 no to a battle. As detailed by the Dark Knight when compiling records on how to defeat each
05:00 of his Justice League cohorts should they ever go rogue, the best way to stop the 'Lady
05:04 of Justice' would be to trap her in a simulation based around continuous combat.
05:08 Using Iron Man's intelligence and resources, he could easily put together just such a machine
05:12 to trick Wonder Woman into an endless fight with herself.
05:15 5. Superman
05:17 While the Marvel Cinematic Universe has popularised Iron Man's Hulkbuster suit, it may well
05:22 be Tony Stark's Phoenix Buster that comes in handy should Shellhead ever butt heads
05:26 with Superman. In a case of 'does exactly what it says on the tin', Stark's Phoenix
05:31 Buster is capable of toppling the ridiculously powerful cosmic force known as the Phoenix.
05:36 You know, as in the one and the same Phoenix that's been known to regularly turn Jean
05:39 Grey into the most dominant being in the entire galaxy?
05:42 As part of 2012's Avengers vs. X-Men crossover tale, Hank Pym helped Tony in creating what
05:47 would be known as the Phoenix Buster. This particular suit is able to hold off the might
05:51 of the planet-devouring Phoenix, and is literally able to protect the universe.
05:55 So while Superman is one of the true powerhouses of comics, the Man of Steel's iron will,
06:00 heat vision, ice breath, super speed, flight and enhanced strength would fall short against
06:04 the smarts and resourcefulness of an Iron Man who has access to his Phoenix Buster costume.
06:10 Superman would not go down without a fight, but Stark has often been shown that he's
06:13 prepared to be truly clinical and underhanded if necessary. As such, don't put it past
06:18 him to have used his vast resources to unearth some green kryptonite to use against the big
06:22 blue boy scout as well.
06:24 4. Green Lantern
06:26 If Iron Man is best advised to don his Phoenix Buster to fight Superman, then it's even
06:30 more the case should the shellhead square off with any of the numerous Green Lanterns.
06:34 With their status as protectors of the universe, the Emerald Knights are some of the most powerful
06:38 beings in DC Comics and beyond. The ring sported by a Green Lantern allows them to dream up
06:43 anything they choose, whether that's a gun, a sword, or even a comically oversized fist.
06:48 Of course, each and every GL has one major weakness. Despite having limitless abilities
06:52 to their name, the Lanterns can be tripped up by yellow. For those comic book fans looking
06:57 to throw shade in the direction of a Green Lantern over the years, the low-hanging fruit
07:01 has always been to poke fun at how these near-invincible characters can be taken down by a colour.
07:06 Thus, Iron Man could pull a bunch of yellow-painted drones up, or fire a yellow-infused light
07:10 show if presented with the threat of Hal Jordan, Jon Stewart, Guy Gardner, and everyone else.
07:15 3. Batman
07:16 To some, Batman is the greatest hero in all of comics. At the physical peak of mankind,
07:22 with one of the brightest brains on the planet and an entire fortune behind him, Bruce Wayne
07:26 is a tough nut to crack, even for somebody as capable as Tony Stark. In a pre-arranged
07:31 hand-to-hand fight, Batman would be the favourite of this battle. Given his methodical approach
07:35 to, well, everything, time to prepare for such a stripped-back battle would allow the
07:39 world's greatest detective ample opportunity to formulate a victory plan. But the thing
07:43 is, any such meeting between Batman and Iron Man would feature the pair in their trademark
07:48 outfits 99% of the time. And whilst the Batsuit has plenty of wonderful toys, it simply cannot
07:53 hold a torch to any of Stark's armoured attires, when assessed for practicality and
07:57 sheer ability said suit gives its owner.
07:59 Bats has been known to disrupt similar threats with electromagnetic pulse technology, but
08:03 the catch here is that Iron Man's armour is immune to EMP interference. Added to this,
08:08 the suits also give Stark the ability to fly, which could keep him at a safe distance from
08:12 the Dark Knight. One other trick that Tony has in his back pocket for this encounter,
08:16 if really needed, is his bleeding-edge armour again. When wearing this, the nanite-constructed
08:21 armour, which is tethered to Stark's consciousness, is so powerful that it essentially makes him
08:25 the most powerful human on Earth.
08:28 2. Cyborg
08:30 Tony Stark is a tech wizard, while Victor Stone, aka Cyborg, is a literal living, breathing
08:35 piece of technology. Sure, one school of thought is that Tony and his genius could infiltrate
08:40 Vic Stone's body and destroy it with some sort of advanced virus, but the problem is
08:43 that Cyborg can connect to pretty much any piece of tech on the planet. For once, the
08:47 armoured Avenger might find himself out of his depth when it came to tech-based attacks.
08:52 But one way he could give himself a needed boost in this battle is that he could utilise
08:56 the many satellites dotted up in the galaxy, and call in reinforcements in the shape of
09:00 his numerous drones. If - and it is a big if - Iron Man is able to distract Cyborg and
09:05 infiltrate Stone's own system, he could feasibly look to pull Cyborg apart from the inside.
09:10 It would be brutal, but separating the ravaged human body from the all-powerful tech might
09:14 be the Marvel hero's only way to win out against Vic. In some regards, Cyborg is a
09:19 fight that would be far trickier for Iron Man than the supposed bigger names like Batman,
09:23 Superman, and Wonder Woman.
09:24 1. The Flash
09:26 Whether the Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, or Wally West version of The Flash, this sultan of
09:30 speed could well prove to be Iron Man's greatest test were he to go up against the
09:33 Justice League. Not just do these iterations of The Flash all have the obvious ability
09:37 of super speed - being able to travel faster than both the speed of sound and light - but
09:41 with these powers comes the capabilities to phase through pretty much anything. That means
09:45 that Tony Stark, in his wide array of suits, could be in quite the pickle should he tangle
09:49 with a Flash. If the Armored Avenger was to have any hope of taking down The Flash, he
09:53 would have to catch them on a bad day, basically. Whereas Iron Man has the dependability of
09:57 his vast array of outfits to choose from, the one mild downside of being The Flash is
10:02 that his super speed can at times be an erratic force that fluctuates or even outright stops
10:06 working. Other than that, Stark could look to whip up some sort of disruptor device,
10:10 or call upon his army of his patented drones to help overcome The Flash. But even then,
10:15 it's up in the air as to whether Iron Man could really topple this particular leaguer.
10:19 And there we go, my friends. That was how Iron Man would defeat every Justice League
10:22 member. I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about
10:25 it down in the comments section below. As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow
10:29 me over on Twitter @RetroJ but the O is a zero, and it'd be great to see you over
10:33 there. As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll
10:37 speak to you soon. Bye.