Man of Steel vs Iron Man: The final verdict

One needs to check the DC Comics/Marvel back catalogue and find if there was any superhero that had ‘gold’ as his defining element.

Throw in the Gold superpower to join Man of Steel and Iron Man (re-issue of Bond’s ‘Goldfinger’, anyone?) and you will have gold, steel and iron propping up the global box office in much the same way those metals keep commodity traders glued to their screens.

Still, until then just let’s run the rule over Steel and Iron. ‘Man of Steel’ vs ‘Iron Man’.

Henry Cavill vs Robert Downey Jr

Cavill has the muscle and the steely look to flesh out this version of Superman – a more serious superhero caper (aren’t they all these days, cue the Dark Knight).

Henry Cavill (AP)

However, in the cool stakes can anybody beat Mr Downey Jr. He is so cool, he gave life to a dead Iron Man 3 script – which was far more difficult than anything he had to do in the movie.

Robert Downey Jr (AP)

Superman has the muscles, but Iron Man has the charm.

Our Vedict: Iron Man

Amy Adams vs Gwenyth Paltrow

That Amy Adams probably generated more press and pictures than Cavill in the run-up to the ‘Man of Steel’ release, settles this one even before the curtain goes up.

Amy Adams (REUTERS)

As Lois Lane, Adams breathes some life into the film and not just for looking hot on screen, but also for her sparring with Laurence Fishburne (her editor in the film).

Gwenyth Paltrow, Gwenyth Paltrow, Gwenyth Paltrow…. between being married to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and parenting Apple and Moses, playing Downey Jr’s side-ish kick is perhaps all she can handle these days.

Gwenyth Paltrow (BANG)

Paltrow has a goofy chemistry with Iron Man which sort of works  - though in '3', her turning into a super-freak, although just for a few minutes, reminded us that she can still kick it.

Lois Lane, though, packs the real punch.

Our Verdict: Man of Steel

Lights, camera, CGI

Zac Snyder's 3-D Man of Steel took the story intergalactic – and not just in terms of Krypton. We mean real stars.

Jor-El (Russell Crowe) is Superman’s natural dad and Jonathan and Martha Kent, Superman's Smallville parents are: Kevin Costner and Diane Lane.

With those kind of parents, anyone would be Superman.

But they flatten out faster than a pancake against the film's many overlong action set pieces, as they plow across countless building facades.

‘Iron Man 3’ on the other hand seemed to let fly the action fantasy, literally, as its final ship action climax and the early attack on the Stark residence do employ some pretty scintillating special effects.

Nothing delights in the movie more than Stark working in his laboratory and it is there that ‘Iron Man 3’ really falls short of going to the next level.

Our verdict: Draw

At the Box Office

'Man of Steel' had a Thursday night debut that hit $21 million, which according to Forbes.com is better than the midnight numbers for 'The Hunger Games' ($19m) and 'The Avengers' ($18m) along with the Thursday/midnight numbers for 'Iron Man 3'. ($16m).

Today, of course, is Sunday and those numbers might change.

But early indications are, Steel trumps Iron on ticket sales.

Popcorn Verdict: Man of Steel

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