East Coast VS West Coast

I am not a comic book nerd, so don't take this too seriously.

Batman - East Coast
(Christopher Nolan's Batman)
Batman lives in this place called Gotham. Okay, it's basically an exaggerated New York. It's dark, it's grimy and gritty. Batman (as characterized recently-- not the jiminy-jillickers Adam West kind) is this weird trust-fund orphan with a deep-seated obsession about crime and Justice. He has all of this nifty technology at his disposal, some of which is ethically dubious. He also has the physique to carry it. But he's dreadfully grave-- even his brief flights on his fantastic (and frightening) wings are only a means to jump from fight to fight. His life is tragically single-minded, a dogged sisyphean task to rid his decadent city of every criminal, petty or felon.

Iron Man - West Coast
(silverscreen, Robert Downey Jr.)
Iron Man is also an orphan, but while Batman's parents' deaths are what fuels his quest for Justice, the fact that Tony Stark doesn't have parents basically means he can do whatever the fuck he wants. Batman is appealing because he has a moral compass-- it may waver on this or that side of being dubious, otherwise it's pretty true north. What the fuck does Stark see in the world? Probably too many weapons and he'll do some nice stuff if he's compelled. The biggest difference in my mind between Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne is how fucking thrilled he is with his work. Batman? He outsources his gadget making to Wayne Industries. Wayne will always be looking to see how well his new equipment works clobbering people or being clobbered. Very pragmatic. Shooting yourself into the stratosphere just because you can is not Wayne's style.

Batman will never give himself a break (now especially since his only love got 55-gallon barrel crude oil fried-- sorry, I don't like Maggie Gyllenhaal). Iron Man still just does whatever the fuck he wants.

What brought this on? Two words: "panic attacks"