“Tony Stark could clean up Gotham in less than a year.”

[MichaelC]

If Stark moved to Gotham, he'd spend half his time going after global threats like Vandal Savage and the other half cloistered in his laboratory inventing things. If he has a little spare time, he'll go on a few dates or stop a random bank-robbery. He's not going to even try to clean up Gotham, because that's just not his wheelhouse. Even if his house is in Gotham, he likely wouldn't spend a whole lot of time actually in Gotham.

[numberthirty]

"Could...?" is always a different question than "What publisher would allow that?" when it comes to comics.

[Tony Stark]

He's not fighting the Mandarin or Joker. To clean up Gotham for good, he has to take on the writers and editors at DC.

I know that. I was pointing out what an earlier poster said.

[Soubhagya]

Yes, there are a lot of other superheroes in New York, but there are even more super villains in NY, and those villains typically operate on a lot higher level than Batman's foes do. Nothing against Batman here, but most of his enemies are normal people with a gimic, often some kind of eccentric mobster or bank robber types (even though they've tried to move away from those, it's the base element of many of his foes.) Hisguys are designed to fight a really smart human with gadgets.

New York is filled with villains that are designed to fight people like Spider-man, Iron Man, and Thor. With perhaps one or two exceptions, most of Gotham's enemies could move to NY and it wouldn't even make a blip in the crime statistics.

This must be Krypto' Fleas' cousin's argument. Iron Man and thus his villains operate in a higher level altogether. So, if Iron Man comes to Gotham as seen in Batman comics one can make a strong argument that he can clean up Gotham city.

We can go meta and say that this can't happen. A clean Gotham city or even a clean New York is bad for stories. This is the real truth why Batman or any hero never succeeds in his mission.

But if we go objectively an argument can be made that Tony Stark might be more effective then Batman. Iron Man is way beyond most of Batman's enemies. What can Joker do to Iron Man? Or Ra's Al Ghul too. Though Ra's has a chance. But then he is not exactly a Gotham problem unless we are speaking of Nolan trilogy. Iron Man has those automatic armors by which he might be able to clean out all criminal element in Gotham.

So, imagine a scenario that Iron Man and Batman are swapped and Iron Man ends up in Gotham. Blame it on Dr. Manahattan just for fun. What next? Iron Man may desire to clean up Gotham city. He targets crime including the Batman villains first. The challenge before the Bat villains would be to fight against Tony who operates on a higher level. Will they get access to technologies and villains like say Whiplash or Iron Monger who can challenge Iron Man? And question would be could they access it fast enough before Tony effectively breaks the back of most crimes in Gotham? And how far will Tony go? Will he just target the mob bosses and supervillains? Or will he go to the smallest of crimes like bank robbery or thievery too?

My guess is the criminals in Gotham would be fast enough. It is not that technologies to tackle Iron Man does not exist in DCU? They are. Why Metropolis villains are of a higher level. They would put up a fight against Tony. Once the villains start using tech regularly it would be the same as NY. Tony Stark is not able to clean up NY. One of the reasons is that there are powerful challengers who can fight or even defeat Iron Man.

So, the new villains will emerge or the old villains will adapt and its back to square one. Tony can't clean up Gotham. Tony starts wearing armored suits. Riddler gets his own. Escalation.



A repeat of my previous post. But just wanted to make myself more clear.

[protege]

So could Batman if his writers and editors didn't keep Gotham exactly the way it is. And if Tony Stark would be allowed to have a go at gotham he would be dealing with those same writers and editors.

Also, Tony Stark so far has failed to wipe out crime in New York.

And tony stark hasn’t tried to clean up all crime in new york. Plus, i don’t know if iron man could handle batman’s rogues. Tony’s villains are all techbased. I think ra’s is the only one of batman’s rogues who could cross over. If you took tony out of his comfort zone and made him the mayor of gotham or something, it might be more interesting.

[MichaelC]

And tony stark hasn’t tried to clean up all crime in new york. Plus, i don’t know if iron man could handle batman’s rogues.

You mean because they are horrifying? Yeah, I think Stark could handle that.

[protege]

Yes, there are a lot of other superheroes in New York, but there are even more super villains in NY, and those villains typically operate on a lot higher level than Batman's foes do. Nothing against Batman here, but most of his enemies are normal people with a gimic, often some kind of eccentric mobster or bank robber types (even though they've tried to move away from those, it's the base element of many of his foes.) Hisguys are designed to fight a really smart human with gadgets.

New York is filled with villains that are designed to fight people like Spider-man, Iron Man, and Thor. With perhaps one or two exceptions, most of Gotham's enemies could move to NY and it wouldn't even make a blip in the crime statistics.


I can't think of a single time New York was leveled.

Um, actually, most of batman’s rogues are psychotics with a gimmick...

[Agent Z]

Um, actually, most of batman’s rogues are psychotics with a gimmick...

Which is all that most of them are. Add in that most New York heroes don't have an issue with lethal force and the Gotham guys that aren't Ivy or Bane wouldn't stand a chance.

[wvchemteach]

This must be Krypto' Fleas' cousin's argument. Iron Man and thus his villains operate in a higher level altogether. So, if Iron Man comes to Gotham as seen in Batman comics one can make a strong argument that he can clean up Gotham city.

We can go meta and say that this can't happen. A clean Gotham city or even a clean New York is bad for stories. This is the real truth why Batman or any hero never succeeds in his mission.

But if we go objectively an argument can be made that Tony Stark might be more effective then Batman. Iron Man is way beyond most of Batman's enemies. What can Joker do to Iron Man? Or Ra's Al Ghul too. Though Ra's has a chance. But then he is not exactly a Gotham problem unless we are speaking of Nolan trilogy. Iron Man has those automatic armors by which he might be able to clean out all criminal element in Gotham.

So, imagine a scenario that Iron Man and Batman are swapped and Iron Man ends up in Gotham. Blame it on Dr. Manahattan just for fun. What next? Iron Man may desire to clean up Gotham city. He targets crime including the Batman villains first. The challenge before the Bat villains would be to fight against Tony who operates on a higher level. Will they get access to technologies and villains like say Whiplash or Iron Monger who can challenge Iron Man? And question would be could they access it fast enough before Tony effectively breaks the back of most crimes in Gotham? And how far will Tony go? Will he just target the mob bosses and supervillains? Or will he go to the smallest of crimes like bank robbery or thievery too?

My guess is the criminals in Gotham would be fast enough. It is not that technologies to tackle Iron Man does not exist in DCU? They are. Why Metropolis villains are of a higher level. They would put up a fight against Tony. Once the villains start using tech regularly it would be the same as NY. Tony Stark is not able to clean up NY. One of the reasons is that there are powerful challengers who can fight or even defeat Iron Man.

So, the new villains will emerge or the old villains will adapt and its back to square one. Tony can't clean up Gotham. Tony starts wearing armored suits. Riddler gets his own. Escalation.



A repeat of my previous post. But just wanted to make myself more clear.

The thing is Tony would have to stay in armor 24/7 since he isn't concerned about a secret identity. As a result rogues like the Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, etc. could target him outside of the suit and target those around him with impunity. Furthermore, those rogues with means like Black Mask and Penguin could hire outside muscle to match Iron Man. You wouldn't get a clean Gotham, you'd get an escalation.

[MichaelC]

Stark already has to deal with that sort of thing from villains quite a bit above Batman's rogues. He's still alive.

[protege]

You mean because they are horrifying? Yeah, I think Stark could handle that.

I haven’t read iron man in a long time, apparently.

[protege]

Which is all that most of them are. Add in that most New York heroes don't have an issue with lethal force and the Gotham guys that aren't Ivy or Bane wouldn't stand a chance.

Villains these days seem to be mostly psychotics, because that’s the way writers try to make them intersting. Give me yhe good old days when spider man had to stop the vulture or the scorpion. I’m sick of the looney tunes bad guys. And other than the punisher, which of the mu heroes use lethal force?
I think it would be interesting to see the marvel heroes take on the dc villains, and vice versa.

[Carabas]

Villains these days seem to be mostly psychotics, because that’s the way writers try to make them intersting. Give me yhe good old days when spider man had to stop the vulture or the scorpion. I’m sick of the looney tunes bad guys. And other than the punisher, which of the mu heroes use lethal force?
I think it would be interesting to see the marvel heroes take on the dc villains, and vice versa.

Most of them?
I mean, for the Punisher it is absolutely the only tool in his arsenal, but most of the others will go there if the situation calls for it.

[protege]

Most of them?
I mean, for the Punisher it is absolutely the only tool in his arsenal, but most of the others will go there if the situation calls for it.

I don’t remember any of the marvel heroes killing someone.

[Alan2099]

I don’t remember any of the marvel heroes killing someone.

I remember most of the Marvel heroes killing (or at least trying to kill) somebody at one point or another.