Spoiler Warning for Batman/Superman #14
It's no secret that Batman and Iron Man are two of Marvel and DC's most similar heroes. Both Batman and Iron Man have vast wealth, unparalleled intelligence, and rely on technology to compensate for a lack of superpowers. While the Dark Knight might not have Tony Stark's arrogant bravado, Bruce's ego often causes as much trouble as Tony's. More specifically, Batman has repeatedly made Tony's biggest mistake from the MCU. In Batman/Superman #14 Batman made an A.I. to prevent crime before it happens, and it went rogue.
The comic, from writer Joshua Williamson and artist Max Raynor, sees Batman and Superman dealing with the aftermath of Batman creating an A.I. program to track and stop supervillains. The program first led them to stop a doomsday cult from unleashing a radiation monster on the world. Their problems really began when they go back to the Batcave though. The Batmobile and Batplane act on their own and start attacking Batman and Superman. Though the duo win the fight, they are quickly overwhelmed by the rogue A.I. and taken to the moon. On the moon, Batman is able to send out a distress call to Batwoman and Superman's replacement Steel.
Together, Batman, Batwoman, Superman, and Steel battle robotic doppelgangers of the DC Universe's worst villains. The quartet are just barely scraping by when Superman ralizes that one villain escaped their notice - the horrifying Composite Batman/Superman. Realizing it's heading straight for Metropolis, Superman has no choice but to abandon his comrades so he can save his city. After Steel unleashes an E.M.P. to temporarily bring down the robot villains, Batman interfaces directly with the A.I. as Superman does battle with its physical embodiment. Both heroes quickly come to a realization: the A.I. only wants his creators to respect him. Since it's a villain now, Batman asks it how it would stop itself, creating a paradox that shuts the A.I. and all of its robots down.
Rogue A.I.s are such a common problem in fiction that it would be easy to forgive Batman for making a mistake many other heroes have made. The problem though is that this isn't the first time Bruce has done this. Batman's biggest mistake, Brother Eye, was partially responsible for Infinite Crisis and it even conquered the Earth in one of the DC Universe's darkest dystopias. This issue even opens with Superman asking his partner what will make this A.I. different, to which Batman doesn't really have a meaningful response.
While the comparison to Iron Man might seem superficial, it really is a similar situation to Tony's creation of Ultron in the MCU. Both heroes created an A.I. to stop villains before they cause problems, both A.I.s created an army of robots, and both A.I.s went rogue because of daddy issues. Another comparison is that neither hero really learns their lesson. After Ultron, Tony created a fleet of drones that he then entrusts to a teenage boy while Batman keeps the A.I. he created on an old computer because he doesn't want to kill it.
When a character has existed for nearly a century, they're bound to repeat their mistakes. Batman/Superman #14 shows that just because a hero is smart doesn't mean that they'll learn.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/2J6WDaM
0 Comments