User blog:Nkstjoa/Lex Luthor vs. Iron Man

Starting off...
Leading large corporations and shaping the futures of their very universes', these two genius' have also built incredible suits of armor... but who has the superior tech?

Lex Luthor, Superman's greatest enemy.

Iron Man, the Iron Avenger.

I'm no Wiz or Boomstick, so I'll just look up a few things and try to see if I can come closer to figuring out who would win... a possible Death Battle.

Lex_Luthor_Iron_Man.png Lex Luthor
Note: The Doomsday I'll be using will be the New Earth DC version, so there'll be no New 52, other alternate universe, or non-canon attributes.

Born and raised by his abusive mother and father, Alexander Luthor's views on life would forever be changed. He planned out their deaths, making it look like an accident, and took out an insurance policy that he had made on their lives the day before. With that money, he invested in his own business, LexCorp, which in a few years ran nearly all of Metropolis. He saw himself as intellectually superior to everyone else and as a beacon for all of mankind... until a Man of Steel showed up, giving both Metropolis and the world a hero.

Feeling cheated out of his rightful place, Lex views himself as the hero and Superman as the villain, and has dedicated his entire life to ridding the world of the Man of Tomorrow.

Background

 * Full Name: Alexander Joseph Luthor
 * Height: 6'2
 * Weight: 210 lbs
 * Occupation: Head of LexCorp, former U.S. President

Lex's very few sets of armor have all been designed around the same single purpose: take down Supes.

Armor

 * Designed by Lex Luthor for fighting Superman
 * Capable of travel through space

If you're gonna build a suit for fighting Superman, you'd better make sure it's built for such an occasion... which Lex has worked on for quite some time.

Armor Abilities

 * Superhuman Strength
 * Superhuman Durability
 * Flight
 * Force Field
 * Generated across entire armor
 * Shields his seemingly unprotected head
 * Energy shield on left gauntlet
 * Energy Projection
 * From Right and Left Gauntlet and across entire suit
 * Varying kryptonite blasts from Right Gauntlet
 * Electrical surge generated across armor

Not much to talk about with lefty aside from the energy shield. The real weaponry comes with the right gauntlet:

Right Gauntlet

 * Gauntlet housing pieces of Kryptonite:
 * Green
 * Weakens Kryptonians, prolonged exposure fatal
 * Deadly to humans as well, but takes longer to develop
 * Red
 * Negatively affects a Kryptonian's ability to absorb sunlight, rendering their power uncontrollable
 * Blue
 * Affects Bizarro in a similar manner green kryponite affects Kryptonians
 * Black
 * Creates evil doppelgänger of Kryptonian he's fighting
 * May affect humans in special circumstances
 * Energy Blade
 * Kryptonite Energy Spikes

Even outside of his Supermanbuster (work in progress), Lex has still got it.

Non-Armor Abilities

 * Genius-Level Intellect
 * One of the smartest minds in the entire DC universe
 * Hand-to-hand Combatant
 * Trained by Amazon instructors
 * Technique considered sub-par

Feats

 * Fought Batman and Nightwing single-handedly (in armor)
 * Shielding withstood punches from enraged Superman
 * Defeated Supergirl
 * Once incapacitated Brainiac

Faults

 * Arrogance
 * Obsession with Superman
 * Suit has yet to equal or defeat Superman
 * Kryptonite weapons not as effective against non-Kryptonians
 * Doppelgänger likely to attack Lex Luthor as well

Iron Man
Note: The Hulk I'll be using will be the mainstream Marvel version, so there'll be no Ultimate Marvel, other alternate universe, or non-canon attributes.

The son of the legendary Howard Stark, Tony excelled in technology, even at a young age. As an adult, he would take control of his father's company, Stark Enterprises, and began putting his technical prowess to work, designing state-of-the-art weaponry for the U.S. military and S.H.I.E.L.D. But on the way to one of his weapons demonstrations, Tony tripped a booby trap laid there by terrorists, which lodged shrapnel into his chest. He was then captured by the terrorists, who demanded that he create weapons for them or die... but Tony didn't plan on doing that. While in captivity, and with help from fellow captive scientist Yinsen, he went to work on a massive suit of armor. Thanks in part to Yinsen sacrificing himself to give the suit more time to charge, Tony broke free from the encampment and returned to civilization.

Changed by the event, Tony quit weapon-making all-together and turned his attention to other fields with his resources. Unknown to the public for some time, he created a new set of armor and over the years has protected the innocent as the iron-clad hero Iron Man.

Background

 * Full Name: Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark
 * Height: 6'1 without armor, 6'6 in armor
 * Weight: 225 lbs
 * Occupation: CEO of Stark Enterprises, former Head of S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Multiple PhD's in in physics, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering

The armor has gone through many variations over the years, advancing from his bulky gray and gold armor to the red and gold armor most associated with him today. The Mark 42 is his latest version of his standard attire.

Mark 42 Armor

 * Latest version of his standard armor
 * Powered by set of five Repulsor Tech generators

As one would immediately think, it definitely boosts Iron Man's strength, speed, etc. far beyond that of an ordinary human... provided it has juice. Anywho, here's what the suit can do and what nifty devices it includes:

Armor Abilities

 * Superhuman strength
 * Average lift: 100 tons
 * Can lift higher amounts with more power
 * Superhuman speed
 * Can keep up with and even outmanuever Spider-Man and the Human Torch
 * Flight
 * Average speed: Mach 10
 * Jets can aid in his lifting strength
 * Energy Absorbsion
 * Can absorb far away energy sources to recharge suit
 * Environmental Protection
 * Protects from underwater and even space
 * Shielded from radiation, biological, chemical, corrosive, kinetic, and electrical attacks
 * Magnetism & Anti-Magnetism
 * Can generate magnetic fields to push and pull metal objects
 * Can even negate Magneto's magnetism
 * Onboard Computer
 * Provides strategies, background on opponents, surroundings, and status of the suit
 * Helps prevent lock-ons from enemy targeting systems
 * Sensor Array
 * Includes radar and night-vision
 * Can monitor vitals of other people, including heart and brain scans
 * Override
 * Systems increased by bypassing safeties
 * Can result in system failure
 * Range of override can be controlled
 * Safer range: 800% to 3,200%
 * Highest and most dangerous range: 5,000%

Aside from the occasional punch or kick, Iron Man can also take down his foes with a large plethora of weaponry:

Offensive Abilities

 * Repulsor Rays
 * Particle beam weapon
 * Single-stream or wide-field
 * Full Form repulsor beam attacks at 360 degrees
 * Strong enough to blast through steel like paper and blast a hole through a mountain
 * Unibeam
 * Searchlight that can destroy objects in its path
 * Tri-beam
 * Multi-beam
 * Pentabeam
 * Omnibeam
 * Generate heat over 25,000 degrees Farenheit
 * Causes irreversibe blindness
 * Can even disintegrate
 * Lasers
 * For offense or welding
 * Pulse Bolts
 * Plasma discharges that increase in strength over distance
 * Can implode if overloaded
 * Energy Blade
 * Can also be flattened into a shield
 * Can spread across entire armor for protective covering
 * Pulse Barrage
 * Iron Man's standard long range attack
 * Extremely low energy consumption
 * Upgraded version can penetrate targets and ricochet off walls
 * Smart Missiles
 * Targets weak points of structure, opponent, or foe
 * Hyper-velocity Impact
 * Program that allows Tony to move and think at faster rate

Now we move on to the defensive abilities of the suit. His suit's nowadays itself aren't made of iron as one would think with a name like IRON Man; it's actually evolved to... well... as put by the Marvel Wiki:

"...a highly complex matrix of molecularly-aligned fully crystallized ultra high carbon iron/steel hybrid alloy enhanced by magnetic fields over layers of other ultra hyper alloys reinforced with carbon nano-tubes."

What the heck does that mean? You tell me, but I guess that means its pretty durable.

Defensive Abilities

 * Can withstand high caliber bullets, rockets, missiles, torpedoes, and high powered lasers with little to no damage
 * Capable of withstanding almost unlimited kinetic and thermal impact
 * Refractory coating protects from radiation
 * Automatically protects wearer from hostile environments (deep sea, space, etc)
 * Energy Shield
 * Capable of reflecting attacks

For the longest time, Iron Man has his peacemaker over his heart, which kept the shrapnel at bay. This in turn caused a former weakness in which if low on power, Tony would have to retreat and recharge or risk serious harm, if not death.

Why former weakness? Because he finally had surgery to remove all of the shards. But with that, he still had a gaping hole in his chest left from the years wearing the peacemaker... so he filled that hole with something even better: the Repulsor Tech node.

Repulsor Tech node

 * Runs Iron Man armor
 * Can project beams at will
 * Can destroy bullets and repel people
 * Can pick up invisible frequencies
 * Can levitate short-term
 * Enhanced strength, durability, healing, and senses
 * Offers superhuman multitasking and learning capabilities
 * Protects from psychics

Even without his armor, Tony is still a very capable combatant.

Non-Armor Abilities

 * Super-Genius Intelligence
 * One of the smartest minds in the Marvel universe
 * Engineering Expert
 * Expert Tactitian
 * Skilled Combatant
 * Trained by Captain America, Black Widow, Black Panther, and Shang-Chi
 * Fought trained guards, five trained Skrull soldiers, and numerous Voldi gladiators
 * Trained Marksman
 * Acrobat
 * Indominable Will

Feats

 * Lifted a 16,000 ton nuclear reactor
 * Withstood a nuclear explosion at 2% power
 * Shielding resisted a blast from Mandarin's Spectral Ring
 * Once defeated She-Hulk with a single punch
 * First human to wield the Infinity Guantlet

Faults

 * Dependent on RT node
 * Override can lead to system failure if left unchecked
 * Struggle with alcoholism

Lex Luthor Advantages

 * Armor and shielding could withstand the majority of Iron Man's arsenal
 * Shielding withstood punches from enraged Superman (even if he was still holding back)
 * Lock-on system may be advanced enough to overcome Iron Man's onboard computer
 * Probably smart enough to deceiver the RT node is important to Iron Man and attack or disable it
 * Stronger and more durable suit
 * Arguably fast enough to keep up with Iron Man

Iron Man Advantages

 * Armor and shielding could withstand the majority of Lex Luthor's arsenal
 * Shielding withstood blast from Mandarin's Spectral Rang, which can destroy the bond between atoms and molecules
 * Onboard computer could give Lex trouble locking on with his weapons
 * RT node and hyper-velocity may allows Tony to out-think Lex
 * Suit protects from radiation, so kryptonite weapons are almost completely useless
 * Arguably better fighter than Lex

With upmost regret, as you can see, Lex Luthor's section is bare-boned compared to Iron Man's... not for a lack of effort in researching him, but due to the simple fact that, like Doomsday before him, it's hard to find strength, speed, and other feats for Lex and his suit. So with that, I can't even begin to compare the two's armors in, for example, speed, because for all I know, Lex can keep up with Iron Man. Like with Hulk vs. Doomsday, if any DC experts could help me with those, I’d greatly appreciate it. Last thing I want to do is make Lex's suit appear weak.

But even then, there are a few questions:

1. Why no Hulkbuster armor for Iron Man?

The answer is quite simple: because that's specifically for the Hulk. Now you might say, "Yeah, but Lex's suit is made for Superman.", but let's face it, what else does Lex ever make suits for? Space travel appears to be the only exception, but even then, I wouldn't be surprised if his Supermanbuster-type armors are capable of traveling at high speeds or in space as well. But simply put, Iron Man's basic armor has improved over the years and I want to see how that holds up against Lex's tech. If the two were to run into each other, I doubt Iron Man would be wearing any type of armor other than that.

2. Does Black Kryptonite have any chance of affecting Iron Man?

Putting the fact that Iron Man's armor protects from radiation aside, if Lex somehow penetrated the armor or tore off a piece of it, leaving an opening, could the Black Kryptonite create a duplicate of Iron Man? I'm indecisive about that particular type of kryptonite because the only feat I could find of Black Kryptonite creating a duplicate of a human was in Smallville... which isn't exactly comic book canon. The closest I could get to an official answer was "It can affect humans during early phases", and it's likely Lex has had that Black Kryptonite in the armor for some time (unless pre-battle, he's putting in fresh Krpytonite). And even if it could, Lex would be playing a gamble because if the evil Iron Man isn't fighting the real one, he is at risk of having to face two Iron Men at the same time.

3. Should I include Lex Luthor's specialty Venom?

Yep, Bane's far from the only DC character to utilize it against its universes' biggest guns. During one occasion, Lex injected himself with his own version of Venom when fighting Superman, obviously to increase his own durability while in the suit. Worked fine, but like any kind of Venom, the side affects will eventually come, which in Lex's case included megalomania. So should I give it to Lex, who may be smart enough to hold off on using it until Iron Man's on the ropes? Not sure if I should.

Who would I pick?
Bust out the Spider-Man balloons because here comes a Marvel fanboy! Yeah, I'm rooting for Iron Man.

Even though I'm actually not sure if Tony can pull this one off, I wanted to give him a challenge and I saw no better comic book combatant to fit the bill than Lex Luthor.

Anyway, thanks for reading this. Think this would make a great Death Battle? Think you know the outcome? Got anything I may have missed? Leave a comment below.

Would you like to see Lex Luthor vs. Iron Man be an actual episode? Yes No

Next time...
To be determined...

Click below to read one of my previous possible Death Battle's: