Sam and Zach pit their favorite superheroes against each other in the greatest verbal cage match of the century.

Zach: My favorite superhero has got to be Iron Man. His character is snarky and serious, likable as well as detestable. Iron Man has such a diverse story making him one of the greatest superheroes of all time.

Sam: The best superheroes combine backstory, flaws, reader relatability, and a good love story. Matt Murdock’s Daredevil is a blind kid from Hell’s Kitchen, a poor and crime-ridden neighborhood in Manhattan, who performs as a lawyer for the innocent who cannot afford a good lawyer. Daredevil went blind because of radioactive waste. What’s more classic of an origin than radioactive waste? Tony Stark, Iron Man’s not-so-secret identity got his powers through money and smarts. Matt Murdock’s dad was a boxer who was killed by gangsters because he refused to throw a fight. In comparison, Tony Stark is a rich arms dealer whose dad was absurdly wealthy.

Z: Daredevil may have cool acrobatic tricks, but Tony Snark (Iron Man) is a survivor and he made himself a hero. One may think that because he is a billionaire playboy that Tony Stark is soft, but that is simply not true. While imprisoned by the Viet Cong (or Islamic extremists, depending on your story), Tony Stark built his suit in secrecy so that his captors would not know of his plan to escape. Not only that, but with the help of Nobel prize winning physicist Ho Yinsen, Tony Stark built a mechanism that kept shrapnel from piercing his heart.

S: Tony Stark has the capability to do real good with his money. His estimated net worth is $9.3 Billion. He could help people with charity and the advanced technology in his suit. Instead he just puts on his billion dollar privilege suit and blows up people. So many problems could be solved with his money, and he spends it on a tower with his name on it. Egotism at its finest. Daredevil does good by day and by night. He defends the innocent for almost nothing in a court of law during the day. By night he visits justice upon the denizens of New York City.

Z: Tony Stark does help people with his money. He is constantly investing in clean, renewable energy that is based on the technology in his suit. One can’t expect a billionaire to use his money for good all the time, they are allowed to have their fun. Tony Stark’s fun is building suits which he uses to fight crooks. The suit is not a “privilege suit” if Tony Stark designed and built it using his creative engineering.

S: Daredevil’s story is far more compelling than Iron Man’s. Matt Murdock grew up on the streets. Tony Stark grew up on the Persian-carpeted floor of his father’s mansion. Daredevil fights through the adversity of being blind. Daredevil is the classic underdog story. Iron Man is hard for the audience to root for. In Daredevil’s case, it feels natural to cheer for him. Iron Man alienates the audience, while Daredevil people feel passionate about.

Z: Tony Stark’s childhood is not even a part of his story; Tony Stark’s story, no, his saga, begins in a cave in Afghanistan, imprisoned by terrorists, with nothing but his wits and scrap metal. The fact that a man who “grew up on the Persian-carpeted floor of his father’s mansion” was able to fight his way out of imprisonment with a super suit he designed himself is simply incredible. Iron Man is even more of an underdog than Daredevil. Daredevil knows the streets, he grew up there. It’s easy for him to fight crime in his element. Tony Stark is completely taken out of his  environment, making the audience root for him even more than Daredevil, who does not even have the guts to leave his childhood neighborhood.

S: Doesn’t have the guts? Matt Murdock is too busy being a lawyer for the poor to globetrot on his leisure time. Hell’s Kitchen is absurdly dangerous; Daredevil feels obligated to protect the innocent, and isn’t afraid to lose his life in the process. Daredevil grew up on the streets and tries to keep them clean despite his disability. Daredevil: The Man without Fear.

Z: Daredevil is too good to be related to, but Tony Stark has flaws, just like real people. Also, the only danger in Hell’s Kitchen is drunken Irish workers and the only absurdity is the high rent in the neighborhood. Daredevil is nothing more than a Marvel version of Batman, only he does not have the awesome villains that define the Dark Knight’s story. In the annals of “superherodem,” Daredevil will be a sad and lowly footnote, while Iron Man settle into a cozy chapter about the hero who saved the Marvel comic book company, more than once.

Written by Sam J. Swoap & Zach Armet