Hello ComicBookMovie.com users! Hybrid here with another editorial, this time due to the very common comparison of The Avengers with The Dark Knight Rises. Before we begin, I just want to say I will try being as neutral to either film as possible, and that there are spoilers so if you (for some reason) haven't seen the film and don't want to be spoiled turn away now. Ok, let's begin!
Note: I base everything I say in this article regarding the characters from the films, not comics...
The Dark Knight Rises & Marvel's The Avengers being compared doesn't work for various reasons, here is why...
1) The Film In General:
The Dark Knight Rises can be classified as a superhero, action, adventure, drama, thriller, mystery, suspense, crime, or in Concept artist Tully Summers words, "The Dark Knight Rises is a war film." The Dark Knight Rises was also turned to a more mature crowd of viewers. Also, The Dark Knight Rises was inspired by the Batman comics, such as The Dark Knight Returns, Knightfall, Legacy & No Mans Land for the "original" plot seen in the film instead of heavily borrowing from one comic plot and adding a little bit of others. Lastly, remember it's the end to a trilogy, so if anything compare it to Spider-Man 3, Blade: Trinity, X-Men: The Last Stand, etc.
The Avengers can be classified as a superhero, action, adventure, fantasy, science fiction, and epic. The Avengers, unlike The Dark Knight Rises, was a wide-range audience film, meaning everyone from kids to adults could watch it and understand/enjoy it. The Avengers borrowed heavily from the original 1963 comic with some tweaks via The Ultimates and barely any other source if any. Lastly, The Avengers is one of first crossover films with really no other like it around, and in Joss Whedon's words, "It's completely unprecedented."
2) The Film Protagonist:
The Dark Knight Rises has only one protagonist and that is Batman/Bruce Wayne. In this film Bruce Wayne is a billionaire (for most of the film) and older/middle-aged man with various health issues (no cartilage, scarred tissue on his kidneys, & concussive damage to his brain tissue), very smart, and gets his back broken via Bane (we'll get to him soon) and wears a Nomex survival suit, made of hardened kevlar plates on a titanium-dipped fiber and is broken into multiple pieces of armor over a more flexible bodysuit for greater mobility. He also has various gadgets, and vehicles to aide him in his crime fighting. He also has extensive training in the ways of the ninja due to being a member of the League of Shadows.
The Avengers has not one, but six protagonist, so I will go over each one.
First is Iron Man, a genius in mainly technologies, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist that is a super genius and has an highly advanced suit of armor. This armor is extremely durable, can fly at supersonic speeds, fire repulsar blast/beams, twin rectangular tri-barreled laser weapons on the wrist gauntlets (very powerful), Four arc shaped shoulder-mounted missile launchers (two on each shoulder carrying over 23 air-to-air high explosive computerized missiles seemingly superheated to the tip), a wrist gauntlet with an laser-guided anti-armor missile, etc. Also it has very advanced AI (Jarvis) available, and various other abilities.
Second is Steve Rogers/Captain America, he's the perfect human specimen or peak human POTENTIAL, meaning his physical and mental abilities are the highest a human's can be ever before being classified as superhuman. Cap also has extensive USA army training (from the Super Soldier Program training) which covers combat, strategy, weapons, etc. up til the WWII era presumably. Besides that, Captain America wields an virtually indestructible shield made of vibranium, which absorbs vibrations, and can use it for defensive or offensive purposes.
Third is Thor Odinson, the norse god of thunder. Thor, due to his divinity and being asgardian, has high levels of superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, senses, etc., being able to crush Iron Man's armor with his bare hands. Along with those natural abilities, Thor has a highly durable armor and his hammer Mjolnir. Mjolnir allows Thor to manipulate the weather to a limited extent and summon/redirect lightning, also the hammer is indestructible as it was forged from the heart of a dying star and in Odin's words I quote, "Mjolnir's power has no equal." Lastly, due to living for thousands of years, Thor has much experience in things such as combat.
Fourth is Bruce Banner/The Hulk, a genius in mainly science until he gets upset, excited, or stressed and turns into a super strong green "rage monster." The Hulk has an seemingly unlimited amount of strength, which only increases with his rage, very high durability, being able to withstand a hit in the face from Mjolnir with Thor swinging it and yet still kept on fighting, and other highly enhanced physical abilities. Through various practices like yoga Bruce can now control The Hulk transformation as long as he transforms himself by his will and it's not accidental, like in the helicarrier.
Fifth is Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, a highly trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that specializes in espionage or being a spy and also an assassin. Black Widow knows various fighting styles and has shown a extensive knowledge in many things that would help with espionage, such as her linguistic skills, she also has gun training and electroshock gauntlets that can electrocute a target via contact. She's also a very good actress as she was able to trick Loki with a convincing performance in order to get information on his plans.
Sixth is Clinton Barton/Hawkeye, also a highly trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that specializes as a marksman and assassin. His accuracy and precision is considered unparalleled (especially in archery). Hawkeye also is a highly trained combatant, and has many advanced "trick" arrows that can serve different purposes and help him in his varying situations.
Wow....that was a lot, but now let's move on...
3) The Film Antagonist:
In The Dark Knight Rises, the antagonist is really Miranda Tate aka Talia Al Ghul. She now leads the League of Shadows since her father's death and prepares to finish his plan for Gotham City (destroy it) and also avenge his death (seen in Batman Begins). She uses Bane as her second-in-command, giving him much control of the League of Shadows, thus making him the "fast knife" while she's the "slow-knife." Miranda/Talia is born in the prison that Bruce gets sent to during the film and appears to be very smart and patient, able to create a highly complex plan that would take months, if not years to accomplish.
In The Avengers, the antagonist is really Thanos, the mad titan warlord who sends Loki to Earth to bring him the tesseract. Thanos also gives Loki the Chitauri to use for aide in conquering Earth. Even though we've seen Thanos in the comics and know he's a great threat, we can't say much about him as Marvel didn't show much of the character in The Avengers, but due to what he has resource wise (Chitauri) and the fact The Other (Thanos's henchman) said, "If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevasse where he can't find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for that..." So with that, I would say he's powerful and also, he loves death a lot!
4) The Film Antagonist's Henchman:
In The Dark Knight Rises, Talia's "henchman" is Bane, shown to be a mercenary. Bane was born in the "dark" and sometime during his life was put into the same prison that Batman is put in later. Bane's very strong, punching and breaking a concrete column and Batman's mask/helmet without any sign of pain (maybe due to his gas intake). Bane also underwent the same training as Batman, as both are members of the League of Shadows, allowing him to be Batman's equal if not more than that, proven by him breaking Batman's back and defeating him with relative ease during the first fight between them. Bane also appears to be smart as he tricked a wealthy businessman in Gotham for his resources, started a massive revolution in Gotham, did the math to calculate when the fusion bomb would go off, etc. Bane wears a mask that sends a painkilling gas to him which relieves major pain that occurred to him while in the prison.
Note: A neutron bomb is a fission bomb not a fusion bomb, so when the doctor said it was a neutron bomb I think it was an accident.
In The Avengers, Thanos's "henchman" is Loki Laufeyson, the norse god of mischief and chaos. Loki's not asgardian but instead Jötunn (frost giant), even though he doesn't have the average appearance of one. Loki has superhuman strength, speed, durability (he took The Hulk throwing him around like a rag doll without serious injury), stamina, etc. and also various other abilities with or without his magic such as mental suggestions, manipulation, astral projection, etc. Loki appears to be very smart as he planned and caused the incident on the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, knew to use stark tower for the portal, and planned the main events that took place in Thor. Loki has shown to be dark, manipulative, lying, cruel, violent, and dedicated to his cause too.
I'm not going to compare the deuteragonist or the tritagonist, as I'm pretty sure with the comparisons I've just made it shows these aren't really comparable films, you can still compare them if you like but it's practically apples and oranges. Lastly, I think we should just enjoy the fact we received The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers this summer. I hope you (the reader) enjoyed the article and check out my other editorials, also comment below with your thoughts, thanks!
Also Check out CBVS #12 (Iron Man VS Cyborg)!
Comic Book VS #12 (Iron Man VS Cyborg):
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