Why Iron Man Would Actually Destroy Captain America

We're fans of both Captain America and Iron Man. However, with the upcoming Captain America: Civil War, we may be forced to choose sides. Now, while we love both heroes equally, we have to admit that this is going to be a pretty lopsided match. And it's for that reason that we need to show why Captain America is going to lose his fight with Iron Man.

Not only does Tony Stark build the first Iron Man armor in a cave, he builds the arc reactor that powers it (and all the suits that followed) in the same cave. While he may not be good at hand-to-hand combat, he knows how to build things so that he doesn't have to get dirt under his nails. And each suit of armor he builds is fully-loaded with all kinds of weaponry and defense systems. He has repulsor rays that he can fire from his hands, feet, and chest if he has to. He also stocks his armor with small missiles wherever he can fit them. He's pretty much set for any eventuality. And aside from armament, Iron Man has other tactical advantages.

It may not seem like much, but being able to fly is a huge advantage in this fight. For the most part, all Iron Man has to do is keep a safe distance, simply stay up in the air, and fire his weapons at Captain America until he goes down. Of course, it's highly unlikely that Cap will just sit still and take it. He's going to move around to avoid fire. He'll probably even throw his shield at Iron Man's boot jets in order to ground him and level the playing field a little. But even grounded, Iron Man still has his weapons to rely on. He can make it very difficult for Cap to get close.

As tough as Cap's shield is, it's just a shield. It's a hand-held weapon, so it has limited range. Sure, he can throw it at Iron Man, but unless Cap throws it at just the right angle, it won't have any effect. It'll either miss Iron Man altogether, or the shield won't ricochet back to Cap so that he can throw it again, leaving Cap weaponless.

And with his talkativeness, comes distraction. While he may not be able to talk Cap to death, Stark can talk circles around Cap until the old man doesn't know which way is up. And once that happens, POW. The Captain is done. How good at talking is Stark? In The Avengers, he's able to distract Loki, and Loki is a god who's known for pulling tricks of his own. That's how effective Tony Stark's motormouth is.

Besides being super smart, Stark made sure the operating system for his armor, and really his whole company, is even smarter. Previously known as J.A.R.V.I.S., and since Avengers: Age of Ultron known as F.R.I.D.A.Y., his armor's operating system is always feeding Tony Stark a hurricane of data any time he goes into combat. It measures everything, from how long until the suit's power runs out to the relative temperature and humidity, and Stark receives all of this information so that he knows the best move to make. The OS is probably capable of calculating every punch or shield Cap will throw before he throws them.

As strong as Captain America is, Iron Man is stronger. Cap's just flesh and bone. As brave as he is, bravery won't save him from a laser blast. Yes, Cap does wear protective gear, but it's not head-to-toe protection like the Iron Man armor. The stuff Cap wears is probably only made to withstand conventional weaponry, likes knives, bullets, and indirect blasts from explosives. The Iron Man armor is much stronger than that. Iron Man could probably punch through the stuff that Cap wears. And how do we know it's stronger? Because he's stood up to two of his fellow Avengers, that's how.

Like in all comics, in The Avengers, when Iron Man and Thor first meet, they fight. During the fight, Thor is able to dent some of the Iron Man armor with his bare hands. However, when Thor's lightning strikes the armor, it does no damage. In fact, Iron Man's armor is able to absorb the electricity and repower his armor. Sure, Iron Man probably won't be able to redirect the impacts from Cap's punches, but that could just be what he wants everyone to think.

We've all seen the throwdown between Iron Man and the Hulk in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Although Iron Man takes some hurt, by the end of the fight, the city in which the two of them fight seems to have suffered more damage. Yes, parts of Iron Man's armor are torn off by the Hulk, but they're quickly replaced, and they're quickly replaced because Tony Stark thinks ahead.

As we saw in the Iron Man movies and both Avengers movies, Tony Stark doesn't just have one suit of armor. He has lots of them. A bunch self-destruct at the end of Iron Man 3, but as we saw in Avengers: Age of Ultron, he didn't stop making suits of armor. He has new armor, in addition to a robot army, right at the beginning of the movie, and he has the Hulkbuster armor ready and waiting. We doubt he stopped at just those two. It's a safe assumption that he probably has a few dozen more stashed away somewhere.

As we've seen, Iron Man has armor specifically made for dealing with the Hulk. Who's to say he doesn't have one made for each of the Avengers? Sure, he may not need one to deal with Cap specifically, but still, it speaks to how well Stark thinks ahead. In addition to the Hulkbuster armor, Stark has a plan for dealing with the Hulk. It isn't nuanced or subtle—it's basically just a ground-and-pound attack, but it's still a plan. With that in mind, it wouldn't be a surprise if Iron Man already has six different plans in place for how to put Captain America back on ice.

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention that Cap does have a few things going for him. Cap is an actual soldier, going through bootcamp and fighting some of the toughest battles of World War II. Thanks to the Super-Soldier Serum, Cap is much stronger than the average person, having faced off against the Winter Soldier, aka Bucky Barnes, whose left arm is cybernetic and is capable of catching Cap's shield when it's thrown directly at him. And Cap's shield is also indestructible, and can withstand just about anything, including direct gunfire, explosions, Thor's lightning, Thor's hammer itself, and laser blasts, which are Iron Man's main method of assault. So with all of that, we know that Captain America is no pushover. He'll be able to give Iron Man a fight, but ultimately, Iron Man will win.