As Captain America: Civil War lands in Irish cinemas this Friday, we thought we'd scientifically analyse the actual abilities of both Captain America and Iron Man / Tony Stark to see who'd actually win out in a fight.
We pretty much covered the actual film in our glowing review, which you can read over here, but we wanted to delve a little deeper.
First, we should point out that we're basing our knowledge specifically on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and not the comics because, let's face it, we'd be here all day and get lost in all the retcons and continuity shifts and everything else. With that in mind, let's begin...
CAPTAIN AMERICA
Real Name: Steve Rogers
Age: 97
Abilities: Super-strength / agility, old-style All-American values, great hair
Cap got his super-abilities through a government super-soldier project conducted back at the height of World War II. Prior to this, Rogers was medically unfit to join the US Army. After Tony Stark's father and Caesar Flickerman Dr. Abraham Erskine injected the plucky Rogers, he basically came out like a Greek statue with the jawline made of American values and justice. As well as this, Rogers also has his fancy shield that also acts as a boomerang, safety net, flotation device, prop for keeping up a giant electrical pipe, symbol of freedom and democracy, actual shield that stops bullets and, if he needed to, could probably work as a door-jam.
IRON MAN
Real Name: Tony Stark
Age: 45
Abilities: Genius-level intellect, could literally buy the Moon if he wanted
TONY STARK BUILT HIS FIRST SUIT IN A CAVE. WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS. But, as well as this, Tony Stark's also got actual piles and piles and piles of money. And those piles of money? They've got piles of money too. What makes Tony Stark is the suit. There's no question of it. He's not physically strong, he's not a born fighter and he never received any kind of special training or the like. He put on the suit and then he gained the ability to fly, shoot lasers out of chest and hands and, y'know, look amazing. As he said himself in Iron Man 2, the suit and he are one. You don't get one without the other so, essentially, he's only as good as the technology he's wearing. In a straight fight between Tony Stark and Captain America, the 97-year old World War II vetern would win - no question.
So, let's actually work this out. Who would win a fight? It's hard to say, really. You've got to think that Captain America has more experience fighting than Iron Man does. For one, he actually fought in a World War. Sure, Iron Man fought space-aliens and an actual Norse god, but Captain America fought uber-Nazis. Which are more terrifying to you? Uber-Nazis. They're not just regular Nazis, they're UBER-Nazis. Not to be confused with Uber-driving Nazis, which we genuinely hope are not a thing.
That being said, Iron Man doesn't just have one suit - he's got hundreds. Not only that, he's also got the giant Hulkbuster amour that he used in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Using that, he managed to actually beat the crap out of The Incredible Hulk. Of course, that was when Stark was well-prepared and knew that Hulk going bananas was going to be an issue. So, let's say that in this hypothetical fight, Iron Man's got on his regular suit. With that, Captain America could take him. In fact, even with the Hulkbuster suit, it's likely Captain America could still take him.
He's got the tactical know-how to take on Iron Man, with or without his fancy suits. Our verdict? Captain America would win. Easily and without question.
Who do you think would win? Let us know in the comments and vote in our poll!
Captain America: Civil War hits Irish cinemas on Friday, April 29th and is rated 12A.